Fei Xiaotong
Encyclopedia
Fei Xiaotong, or Fei Hsiao-Tung (November 2, 1910 – April 24, 2005) was a pioneering Chinese
researcher and professor of sociology
and anthropology
; he was also noted for his studies in the study of China's ethnic groups as well as a social activist. One of China
's finest sociologists and anthropologists, his works on these subjects were instrumental in laying a solid foundation for the development of sociological and anthropological studies in China, as well as in introducing social and cultural phenomena of China to the international community. His last post before his death in 2005 was as Professor of Sociology at Peking University
.
province in China on November 2, 1910. His world was one plagued with political corruption and abject poverty. He grew up in a gentry but yet not wealthy family. His father, Fei Pu'an (费朴安) was educated in the Chinese classics, earned a shengyuan civil service degree, studied in Japan, and founded a middle school. Fei’s mother, Yang Niulan (杨纽兰), the Christian daughter of a government official and also highly educated for her time, established a nursery school in Wujiang which Fei attended.
in Beijing, which had China’s best sociology program, he was stimulated by the semester visit of Robert E. Park, the University of Chicago sociologist. For an M.A. in anthropology, Fei went to nearby Tsinghua (Qinghua) University 清华大学 where he studied with Pan Guangdan
and learned fieldwork methods from a White Russian
, S. M. Shirokogoroff
. Fei’s first fieldwork experience, in the rugged mountains of Guangxi
province in the far south, ended tragically after Fei’s leg was crushed by a tiger trap, and his young bride Wang Tonghui 《王同惠》 died seeking help.
under the pioneer anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. "From Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, Fei learned to focus on the functional interrelationships of various "parts" of a community and on the meaning of a culture as seen by its members. He devised survey methods which incorporated the functional approach . . . . " Fei wrote his 1938 Ph.D. thesis, based on earlier fieldwork in Kaixian’gong 《开弦弓》 village, China—not far from where he had been born and raised—and published it as Peasant Life in China (1939).
Among Fei Xiaotong's most important contributions to anthropology is the concept that Chinese social relations
work through social networks of personal relations with the self at the center and decreasing closeness as one moves out. Among the criticisms of Fei Xiaotong's work is that his work tended to ignore regional and historical variations in Chinese behavior; nonetheless, as a pioneer and educator, his intent was to highlight general trends, thus this simplification may have had significant justification for Fei's intent, even if they contributed to a bias in studies of Chinese society and culture.
An important work of the period, China's Gentry, was compiled from Fei's field interviews, and was published in the United States in 1953. It went on to become a staple of American university courses on China. The compilation and U.S. publication of China's Gentry grew out of a relationship Fei developed at Tsinghua University with the University of Chicago
anthropologist Robert Redfield
and his wife, Margaret Park Redfield.
in Yunnan
in the far southwest, where he and his students studied three villages. In the United States for a year in 1943-44, Margaret Park Redfield helped him to translate these studies into Earthbound China (Fei and Chih-i Chang 1945), which again made the case for rural industry.
But in China it was not for his ethnographies that Fei was known (Peasant Life in China appeared in Chinese translation only in 1986!). Fei’s Chinese fame was, rather, as master of lively and engaging articles commenting on society and current affairs. As his popularity increased, so did the quantity of his writings; averaging five to eight articles a month, many were reprinted in books, of which Fei published no fewer than sixteen in the 1940s.
Soon thereafter, however, departments of sociology were eliminated (as a "bourgeois pseudo-science") . Fei no longer taught, and published less and less. During the “Hundred Flowers
” thaw of 1956-57, he began to speak out again, cautiously suggesting the restoration of sociology. But then the climate suddenly changed with the “Anti-Rightist Movement
.” In 1957, Fei stood with head bowed before countless assemblies to confess his “crimes toward the people.” Hundreds of articles attacked him, not a few by colleagues, some viciously dishonest. Fei became an outcast, humiliated, isolated, unable to teach, do research, or publish. Twenty-three years of his life, he would later write, years that should have been his most productive period, were simply lost, wasted. At the height of the Cultural Revolution
, physically attacked by Red Guards
, forced to clean toilets, he contemplated suicide.
His second life was more than ever that of the public intellectual, with important political posts and contact with policy makers. His influence is thought to have been important in convincing the government to promote rural industry, whose rapid growth in the 1980s raised the income of hundreds of millions of villagers all over China. Virtually every week in the 1990s his name was in the newspapers and his face on television. He traveled all over China, went abroad, to the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, and elsewhere, and was showered with international honors: the Malinowski Award of the Society for Applied Anthropology, the Huxley Memorial Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, an honorary doctorate from the University of Hong Kong, and other honors in Japan, the Philippines, Canada. He played a role in promoting and directing the reestablishment of sociology and anthropology in China, training scholars and developing teaching materials after thirty years of prohibition.
Above all, it was as a writer that Fei flourished in his second life. Virtually all of his old books were republished during these years, and he turned out new books and articles in even greater quantity. Of the fifteen volumes of his “Works” (1999–2001), new writings from the 1980s and '90s fill over half. Many of the themes were familiar. He repeatedly and forcefully set forth the case for sociology and anthropology in China if modernization were to succeed. He reminisced about his village fieldwork, his studies, and his teachers. There were articles and books on rural industrialization, small towns, national minorities, and developing frontier areas. He championed the cause of intellectuals. He recounted what he had learned from his trips abroad, and made some new translations from English. There was even a little book of his poetry. What is different in all this new writing is political caution; Fei had too much to do and too little time in these last decades to risk playing with fire again.
He was Professor of Sociology at Peking University
at the time of his death on April 24, 2005 in Beijing
at the age of 94. A memorial has been set up in the Department of Sociology
at the university, where he has taught and directed since the 1980s.
Before his death, Fei held a number of political positions, although these are mostly honorary; he was considered by many to be "active politically".
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
researcher and professor of sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
; he was also noted for his studies in the study of China's ethnic groups as well as a social activist. One of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
's finest sociologists and anthropologists, his works on these subjects were instrumental in laying a solid foundation for the development of sociological and anthropological studies in China, as well as in introducing social and cultural phenomena of China to the international community. His last post before his death in 2005 was as Professor of Sociology at Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
.
Early years
Fei Xiaotong was born in Wujiang County of JiangsuJiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
province in China on November 2, 1910. His world was one plagued with political corruption and abject poverty. He grew up in a gentry but yet not wealthy family. His father, Fei Pu'an (费朴安) was educated in the Chinese classics, earned a shengyuan civil service degree, studied in Japan, and founded a middle school. Fei’s mother, Yang Niulan (杨纽兰), the Christian daughter of a government official and also highly educated for her time, established a nursery school in Wujiang which Fei attended.
Fei's Career in Academic Sociology
At missionary-founded Yenching University 《燕京大学》Yenching University
Yenching University was a university in Beijing, China. It integrated three Christian colleges in the city in 1919. Yenching is an alternative name of Beijing - derived from its status as capital of Yan state, one of the seven Warring States from 5th century BC to 3rd century BC.The university...
in Beijing, which had China’s best sociology program, he was stimulated by the semester visit of Robert E. Park, the University of Chicago sociologist. For an M.A. in anthropology, Fei went to nearby Tsinghua (Qinghua) University 清华大学 where he studied with Pan Guangdan
Pan Guangdan
Pan Guangdan was one of the most distinguished sociologists and eugenicists of China. He was also a renowned expert on education. His wide research scope included eugenics, education policy, matrimony policy, familial problems, prostitute policy, intellectuals distributions and etc...
and learned fieldwork methods from a White Russian
White Emigre
A white émigré was a Russian who emigrated from Russia in the wake of the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War, and who was in opposition to the contemporary Russian political climate....
, S. M. Shirokogoroff
S. M. Shirokogoroff
Sergei Mikhailovich Shirokogoroff was a Russian anthropologist. A White émigré, he lived in China from 1922 until his death.-Early life and education:...
. Fei’s first fieldwork experience, in the rugged mountains of Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
province in the far south, ended tragically after Fei’s leg was crushed by a tiger trap, and his young bride Wang Tonghui 《王同惠》 died seeking help.
"Functional" Anthropology
From 1936 to 1938 Fei studied at the London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
under the pioneer anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. "From Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, Fei learned to focus on the functional interrelationships of various "parts" of a community and on the meaning of a culture as seen by its members. He devised survey methods which incorporated the functional approach . . . . " Fei wrote his 1938 Ph.D. thesis, based on earlier fieldwork in Kaixian’gong 《开弦弓》 village, China—not far from where he had been born and raised—and published it as Peasant Life in China (1939).
Among Fei Xiaotong's most important contributions to anthropology is the concept that Chinese social relations
Chinese social relations
Chinese social relations are social relations typified by a reciprocal social network. Often social obligations within the network are characterized in familial terms. The individual link within the social network is known by guanxi and the feeling within the link is known by the term ganqing...
work through social networks of personal relations with the self at the center and decreasing closeness as one moves out. Among the criticisms of Fei Xiaotong's work is that his work tended to ignore regional and historical variations in Chinese behavior; nonetheless, as a pioneer and educator, his intent was to highlight general trends, thus this simplification may have had significant justification for Fei's intent, even if they contributed to a bias in studies of Chinese society and culture.
An important work of the period, China's Gentry, was compiled from Fei's field interviews, and was published in the United States in 1953. It went on to become a staple of American university courses on China. The compilation and U.S. publication of China's Gentry grew out of a relationship Fei developed at Tsinghua University with the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
anthropologist Robert Redfield
Robert Redfield
Robert Redfield was an American anthropologist and ethnolinguist. Redfield graduated from the University of Chicago, eventually with a J.D. from its law school and then a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, which he began to teach in 1927...
and his wife, Margaret Park Redfield.
"Plaintiff for the Chinese Peasants"
Fei’s analysis of the village economy had convinced him that rural industry was needed to supplement agricultural earnings. Returning from England in 1938 to a war-torn China partly occupied by Japanese armies, Fei went to the wartime intellectual center of KunmingKunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
in the far southwest, where he and his students studied three villages. In the United States for a year in 1943-44, Margaret Park Redfield helped him to translate these studies into Earthbound China (Fei and Chih-i Chang 1945), which again made the case for rural industry.
But in China it was not for his ethnographies that Fei was known (Peasant Life in China appeared in Chinese translation only in 1986!). Fei’s Chinese fame was, rather, as master of lively and engaging articles commenting on society and current affairs. As his popularity increased, so did the quantity of his writings; averaging five to eight articles a month, many were reprinted in books, of which Fei published no fewer than sixteen in the 1940s.
The '50s and '60s: Politics in Command
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Fei played an important role in national intellectual and ideological life, and before long he began to hold a growing number of political positions. He was made vice president of the Central Institute for Nationalities in Peking in 1951, and in 1954 attended the First National People's Congress as a member of the Nationalities Affairs Commission.Soon thereafter, however, departments of sociology were eliminated (as a "bourgeois pseudo-science") . Fei no longer taught, and published less and less. During the “Hundred Flowers
Hundred Flowers Campaign
The Hundred Flowers Campaign, also termed the Hundred Flowers Movement, refers mainly to a brief six weeks in the People's Republic of China in the early summer of 1957 during which the Communist Party of China encouraged a variety of views and solutions to national policy issues, launched...
” thaw of 1956-57, he began to speak out again, cautiously suggesting the restoration of sociology. But then the climate suddenly changed with the “Anti-Rightist Movement
Anti-Rightist Movement
The Anti-Rightist Movement of the People's Republic of China in the 1950s and early 1960s consisted of a series of campaigns to purge alleged "rightists" within the Communist Party of China and abroad...
.” In 1957, Fei stood with head bowed before countless assemblies to confess his “crimes toward the people.” Hundreds of articles attacked him, not a few by colleagues, some viciously dishonest. Fei became an outcast, humiliated, isolated, unable to teach, do research, or publish. Twenty-three years of his life, he would later write, years that should have been his most productive period, were simply lost, wasted. At the height of the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, physically attacked by Red Guards
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
, forced to clean toilets, he contemplated suicide.
The '70s and '80s: A Second Life
In the 1970s, Fei, internationally known, began to receive foreign visitors, and after Mao’s death he was asked to direct the restoration of Chinese sociology. He visited the United States again and was subsequently able to arrange the visits to China of American social scientists to help with the gigantic task of training a whole new cadre of Chinese sociologists. In 1980 he was formally rehabilitated, and was one of the judges in the long, televised trial of the “Gang of Four” and others held responsible for the crimes of the Cultural Revolution.His second life was more than ever that of the public intellectual, with important political posts and contact with policy makers. His influence is thought to have been important in convincing the government to promote rural industry, whose rapid growth in the 1980s raised the income of hundreds of millions of villagers all over China. Virtually every week in the 1990s his name was in the newspapers and his face on television. He traveled all over China, went abroad, to the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, and elsewhere, and was showered with international honors: the Malinowski Award of the Society for Applied Anthropology, the Huxley Memorial Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, an honorary doctorate from the University of Hong Kong, and other honors in Japan, the Philippines, Canada. He played a role in promoting and directing the reestablishment of sociology and anthropology in China, training scholars and developing teaching materials after thirty years of prohibition.
Above all, it was as a writer that Fei flourished in his second life. Virtually all of his old books were republished during these years, and he turned out new books and articles in even greater quantity. Of the fifteen volumes of his “Works” (1999–2001), new writings from the 1980s and '90s fill over half. Many of the themes were familiar. He repeatedly and forcefully set forth the case for sociology and anthropology in China if modernization were to succeed. He reminisced about his village fieldwork, his studies, and his teachers. There were articles and books on rural industrialization, small towns, national minorities, and developing frontier areas. He championed the cause of intellectuals. He recounted what he had learned from his trips abroad, and made some new translations from English. There was even a little book of his poetry. What is different in all this new writing is political caution; Fei had too much to do and too little time in these last decades to risk playing with fire again.
He was Professor of Sociology at Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
at the time of his death on April 24, 2005 in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
at the age of 94. A memorial has been set up in the Department of Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the university, where he has taught and directed since the 1980s.
Major works
- Peasant Life in China: A Field Study of Country Life in the Yangtze Valley. Preface by Bronislaw Malinowski. London: G. Routledge and New York: Dutton, 1939, and various reprints and a Japanese translation.
- Fei and Chang Chih-yi [Zhang Ziyi 《张子毅》], Earthbound China: A Study of Rural Economy in Yunnan. University of Chicago Press, 1945.
- China's Gentry: Essays in Rural-Urban Relations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953.
- Neidi de nongcun 《內地的農村》(Villages of the interior). Shanghai: Shenghuo, 1946.
- Shengyu zhidu 《生育制度》 (The institutions for reproduction). Shanghai: Shangwu, 1947.
- Xiangtu Zhongguo 《鄉土中國》 (Rural China). Shanghai: Guancha, 1948. (Translated as From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society, U. of California Press, 1992)
- Xiangtu chongjian 《鄉土重建》 (Rural recovery). Shanghai: Guancha, 1948.
- Fei Xiaotong et al. Small Towns in China: Functions, Problems & Prospects. Beijing: New World Press, 1986.
- Xingxing chong xingxing 《行行重行行》 (Travel, travel, and more travel). Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe, 1992.
- Fei Xiaotong wenji 《费孝通文集》 (Collected works of Fei Xiaotong), 15 vols. Beijing: Qunyan chubanshe, 1999.
Awards
- 1980: MalinowskiMalinowskiMalinowski is a Polish surname. It may refer to the following:People:*Bronisław Malinowski , a Polish anthropologist.*Bronisław Malinowski , a Polish athlete.*Donald Malinowski , a Catholic priest and politician....
Prize of the International Applied Anthropology Association - 1981: HuxleyHuxley- People :* The British Huxley family:**Thomas Henry Huxley , British biologist, supporter of Charles Darwin and inventor of the term 'agnosticism'**Leonard Huxley , British writer and editor, son of Thomas Henry...
Memorial Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandRoyal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandThe Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is the world's longest established anthropological organization, with a global membership. Since 1843, it has been at the forefront of new developments in anthropology and new means of communicating them to a broad audience... - 1988: Encyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia BritannicaThe Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
Prize in New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... - 1993: USA and Asian Cultural Prize in FukuokaFukuoka, Fukuokais the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... - Doctor of Letters degree, honoris causa by the University of Hong Kong
- Doctor of Social Science degree, honoris causa, University of MacauUniversity of MacauThe University of Macau, ;, established in 1981, was the first and currently the largest university in Macau, a former Portuguese colony. It was formerly known as University of East Asia , and was renamed the University of Macau in 1991. The university offers about 100 Doctoral, Master's and...
- 1994: Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
Political Positions
Fei also made significant contributions to the study and management of the development of China's rural economy.Before his death, Fei held a number of political positions, although these are mostly honorary; he was considered by many to be "active politically".
- Vice-President of the 6th Chinese People's Political Consultative ConferenceChinese People's Political Consultative ConferenceThe Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference [], shortened as 人民政协, Rénmín Zhèngxié, i.e. "People's PCC"; or just 政协, Zhèngxié, i.e. "The PCC"), abbreviated CPPCC, is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China...
- Vice-Chairman of the 7th and 8th Standing Committee of the National People's CongressStanding Committee of the National People's CongressThe Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is a committee of about 150 members of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China , which is convened between plenary sessions of the NPC. It has the constitutional authority to modify legislation within limits set by...
- Vice-Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
- Honorary Chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic LeagueChina Democratic LeagueThe China Democratic League is one of the eight legally recognised political parties in the People's Republic of China.The party was established in 1939 and took its present name in 1944. At its formation, it was a coalition of three pro-democracy parties and three pressure groups...
, a minor partyPartyA party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....
which is part of the United FrontUnited frontThe united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
led by the Communist Party of ChinaCommunist Party of ChinaThe Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China... - Deputy Director of the Experts Bureau of the State Council
- Deputy Director of the National Ethnic Affairs Committee
- Chairman of the Central Committee of the Democratic UnionDemocratic UnionThe Democratic Union can be:*Croatian Democratic Union*Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina*Mongolian Democratic Union*Democratic Union *Democratic Union *Democratic Union *Democratic Union...
Sources
- R. David Arkush, Fei Xiaotong and Sociology in Revolutionary China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
- Pasternak, Burton, "A Conversation with Fei Xiaotong," Current Anthropology 29:637-62 (1988).
- "Fei Xiaotong [Hsiao-tung Fei]," American Anthropologist, 108.2:452-461 (2006).
- A press release of the Chinese University of Hong KongChinese University of Hong KongThe Chinese University of Hong Kong is a research-led university in Hong Kong.CUHK is the only tertiary education institution in Hong Kong with Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, including Chen Ning Yang, James Mirrlees, Robert Alexander Mundell and Charles K. Kao...
. - "Noted sociologist Fei Xiaotong dies"