Explanation
1. The basic spirit of this draft is to arouse and mobilize the masses, to strengthen local organization and hasten district autonomy enterprises so that the cornerstone of the revolution and national reconstruction may be laid. Some may be of the opinion that as education has not been popularized, it would be difficult to allow the masses participation in government affairs. But the political system stressing on people's privileges must be founded on the will of the masses. If participation in government affairs is allowed only after education has been developed on a nation-wide scale, the slogan "revolutionized people's privileges" will be of no meaning. The people need only be trained practically in the exercise of their political privileges, and the main task of the government during the political tutelage period lies in teaching the people how to exercise their four rights [election; recall; initiative; referendum]. Tutelary government [Party-dictatorship] and constitutional government are different only in degree but not in fundamentals. During the period of tutelage, therefore, the interest of the people in participation in government affairs must be gradually aroused and increased. Thus measures enforced with this purpose in view during the political tutelage period may not contravene the aims of constitutional government, and the progress from tutelage to constitutionalism may be attained smoothly. This explains the transitional process from the beginning to the complete realization of autonomous government and it was for such an explanation that this draft was prepared.
2. With a view to the solution of the personnel and financial problems confronting the various basic administrative units, the hsiang chief, hsiang central school principal, and the hsiang leader of the able-bodied citizens' corps, excepting in those areas more highly developed in education and economic resources, should be the same man. The same thing applies to the pao. All those charged with administrative duties should pay attention to education which should serve as the means to attain the objectives of the revolution and national reconstruction. Those with educational responsibilities should give their time and energy also to the organization and training of the masses. They should consider the masses as their students, the society as a school and all existing circumstances and conditions as references of instruction. Emphasis should also be laid on instructing the people how to live properly, how to accomplish their duties. The basic principles governing the revolutionary movement and national reconstruction as laid down by our late Leader [Sun Yat-sen], measures on the control of rice and the control of land as stipulated in the ordinances and regulations governing district autonomy, together with the seven measures previously announced by the Central Government, should all be included in the scope of instruction. It was with these considerations in mind that this draft provides that teachers of the hsiang middle [secondary] and pao mass-education schools should concurrently act as secretaries of the hsiang guild and pao office. It would not do to maintain the old system when school teachers only taught in the classroom, with the result that in many places where schools have been conducted for many years people still refuse to be conscripted, to pay taxes, to observe the New Life principles. This could be attributed to the fact that teachers and others in charge of the schools failed to do their duties.
It is also provided in the ordinances and regulations governing the initial enforcement of district autonomy that "aside from enabling people to read and write, schools should also emphasize what has been known as the 'omnipotency of both hands' campaign." We should try to make all the tools or machines that can increase the productive ability of both hands, instead of relying on others. From now on, therefore, local schools should emphasize vocational training by which the students may be taught how to manufacture simple machines. This is not merely scientific education but also an important way of carrying out the doctrine of the people's livelihood. It is therefore provided in this draft that in the ch'ü (township) there should be established the district vocational training class so that education and living may be closely wedded.
In the past, educational organization has been too complicated. Besides primary schools, there have been mass education schools, short-term primary schools, rural schools. Now, since it is stipulated that the pao has pao mass education schools and the hsiang has hsiang middle schools, the children and adults should be taught in separate classes but at the same school so that all the former units of education may be absorbed. The tutor (tao shêng) system should be used as much as possible in the hope that the entire people of the nation may be given at least the minimum education for citizenship within a limited period of time. Thus all the personnel and finances may be concentrated; the teachers may conveniently do their duty in directing the masses into proper participation in various local enterprises. In this way, education and autonomy may be closely affiliated with each other.
3. The organization of the various local administrative units is roughly in accordance with the decimal system. In such provisions of this draft, allowances have been made whereby the difficulties in the way of enforcement of the system may be solved. Once the scope of the various local administrative units is fixed, all plans and programs such as establishing schools, training personnel, appropriation of funds and statistics may be mapped out according to definite standards. The conduct of a big nation with its variegated enterprises depends on strict organization in war-time as well as in peace-time. In the army, for instance, the number of units composing each army corps is definitely fixed. Scientific administration must be governed by rules and regulations.
For the convenience of execution, certain elasticity has been allowed in provisions concerning organization in this draft. The hsiang, for instance, is composed of from six to fifteen pao, and so on with other lower administrative units. In cases where the village and the street cannot be separated, joint organizations for the handling of affairs of common interest is allowed. All these provisions are arrived at in order to allow some flexibility whenever and wherever necessary. Within the bounds of these regulations, the various local district governments may exercise their discretion in disposing their respective affairs without consulting their superior governments. But they will not be permitted to trespass beyond the limits because disorderly organizations will make control and supervision hard.
After the scope of the various local administrative units is fixed, their respective spheres of education, health, cooperative movements and police must also be uniformly determined so that control, instruction, support, and protection may have an equal and well-balanced development.
4. Concerning the organization and training of the masses, it is indeed regrettable that no wholesome accomplishments have been achieved during the past many years. According to this new draft, the following explanations have to be made:
a. Demarcation among people's groups and organizations: the former is determined by professions and the latter according to age and sex. From the standpoint of the requirements of the country, the latter should be organized first. Especially urgent is the demand for such organizations as the able-bodied citizens' corps and women's associations. From the standpoint of the needs of the people, the organization of the professional groups should be put on a sound basis as soon as possible, particularly the farmers, laborers, and merchants groups which are vitally concerned with the economic reconstruction movement of the country. Steps, therefore, should immediately be taken in the order of urgency. Next, for people's organizations, emphasis is to be laid on organization and training; for the groups, direction and supervision are to be stressed.
b. The work of organizing the various people's groups should proceed from the bottom upwards because wholesome organizations can only be had when the foundation is soundly laid. In peace-time, this will help forward self-rule. In war-time, it will help meet military needs. In the past, the various people's groups (such as farmers' associations and women's associations) had only nominal existence, hanging their shingles in the hsien city, but few really worked. The reasons might be many, but the main one has been the failure on the part of those responsible to penetrate into the lower strata of activities and help develop them. It must be realized that the various people's groups are necessary to the various administrative units in the district autonomous government system just as parts to the main body of a machine. Without the parts, the machine would not be able to operate. From now on, therefore, efforts must be made to substantiate the people's bodies so that they may be enabled to function efficiently.
c. The able-bodied citizens' corps are necessary in peace as well as in war-time. Attention should be paid both to training and to the supervision so that their usefulness may be fully developed. The constituents of the able-bodied citizens' corps are the pillars of society, and on them depends the successful realization of most enterprises concerning district autonomy. In this lies the importance of our late Leader's [Sun Yat-sen] teaching about "omnipotency of both hands." During the training, emphasis should not be on military alone but also on general and vocational ability, in order to turn corps members into useful members of society.
5. The people's organs for various local administrative units serve best the purpose of training the people in the exercise of their rights in government affairs. They constitute the prerequisites for democracy. In the past, it has proved difficult to secure hsiang, pao and chia chiefs; or, after they were elected to their respective offices, they failed to do their duties and some of them even committed acts harmful to the people which slipped the notice of the superior government offices. All these shortcomings must be overcome by virtue of democratic measures. The higher supervisory organizations, limited in personnel, can hardly keep an eye on every small detail. The hsiang and pao chiefs and other staff members under them are most closely associated with the people. In order to prevent them from undermining the people's interest for their selfish gains, the democratic (Min-chu) control and supervision system should be enforced as the most efficient and effective method. That the pao people's meeting should be attended by the families as representative units is a preliminary step. This is so because China is an agricultural country, different from other industrialized nations where the individual citizens constitute the representative units. Representatives to the hsiang people's representative meetings are to be produced at the pao people's meeting. Councilors from the hsiang and higher administrative units for the hsien people's council are to be produced by indirect instead of direct election. Next comes the question of increasing the people's economic stability and developing local enterprises. It is specially provided that adequate representation to the various professional groups should be given in the hsien people's council. (This is limited to the professional groups and their representation is not to exceed thirty per cent.) In this way the district conception and the interests of professions are given equal consideration.
6. To prepare the personnel for the various local administrative government units, the various grades of schools should be adapted to the needs of the local organizations and enterprises. With such adaptation, the school training may not be in vain and young students upon graduation may find appropriate employment. A separate set of rules and regulations should be promulgated whereby these youths may be encouraged and their future welfare safeguarded. At present, the training of such personnel and their future disposal have not been systematically enough planned. Proper remedy must be provided so that definite standards may be fixed. Most important of all, persons properly trained should be assigned to places where are located their native home villages or towns. All such jobs concerning the development of district enterprises like insurance of treasuries or storehouses, transportation of rice and foodstuffs, farmland irrigation, fishing, grazing, and land reclamation, should all be filled by persons with special technical training. As the development of such district enterprises continues, the demand for appropriate personnel will grow as a foregone conclusion.
7. With regard to financial problems, the late Leader instructed that the district self-rule organizations should be founded on the basis of "political and economic cooperation." The sources of finance, therefore, should be derived from the people's public productive enterprises, instead of depending on new taxes. There are many public properties in various localities that should be utilized. Instead, these have mainly been exploited and monopolized by individuals who cared for nothing but their own selfish interests. Henceforth, these properties should be placed under public control. With efficient management, the proceeds from these enterprises should serve as finances for the entire hsiang or pao. In case such properties consist of land, they could be turned into experimental farms and be placed under the management of the schools for the improvement of agricultural products and for training the people in reformed farming methods. The joint property of a clan should be dealt with in a similar way so that their income may be increased and the results of agricultural improvement programs may be extended from one locality to another easily. In places where there are no such lands, steps should be taken to reclaim the mountainous or hilly regions or the streams and ponds. Free labor may be utilized with a view to increasing the income. Besides, surplus rice may be stored in the hsiang and the pao, under the management of the people of the respective districts. The various cooperative societies transporting agricultural products should also provide granaries and issue mortgage loans. Part of the profits thus derived should be devoted as funds for the development of local enterprises. Thus not only will the financial problem be solved but district autonomy development will follow local needs. Before the local public enterprises (as described above) are so developed that income is sufficient to meet financial requirements, attention should be paid to the following measures:
a. Taxes which the hsiang guild may collect independent of the superior government offices.
b. The finances of the hsien should be demarcated from those of the province, and the quota of the former should be gradually increased if possible.
c. In lean hsien, the hsien government should be subsidized by the provincial government.
8. Last of all, it should be pointed out that this draft was drawn up after repeated discussions and studies. Henceforth, all the hsien and lower district government units in the autonomy system should observe this draft as the basis. This is a time of national crisis when the destiny of our entire nation and race is hanging between life and death. It is hoped that all comrades of our Party and our fellow-countrymen should strive with strong determination for nation-wide enforcement of these district autonomy measures. Bold initiative should solve any unforeseen difficulties that may arise. Fear and hesitation should never be allowed to gain the upper hand. Only in this way, may we hope that the cornerstone for various political levels of true democracy is laid on a sound basis, and only in this way may we hope that the stupendous task of national reconstruction can be accomplished.