“Feudal” is a core concept that has played an important role in modem Chinese people's understanding of their society and of the Chinese revolution.This article traces several key aspects of the process in which the feudal concept evolved.It points out that such a concept consists of two aspects concerning the late Qing dynasty:the question of centralization or decentralization of power in terms of polity and the question of popular participation in the country's politics.At the same time,with the translations and introductions done by Yan Fu,people began to equate the traditional Chinese feudal concept,based on fiefdoms,with the feudal era of the West.In the efforts of the May Fourth generation,the ideas of patriarchal society and feudalism were also merged.After the May Fourth Movement,with the rapid spread of Marxism in China,the feudal concept began to be interpreted in light of theories of socioeconomic relations and class conflict.By the mid-1920s,a new theory of national revolution had come into being,with warlord-ism and the gentry's self-rule all becoming part of the feudal system and targets of the revolution.
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