〔1〕Delimitation of Field

To carry out intensive study of the life of the people, it is necessary to confine oneself to the investigation of a small social unit. This is due to practical considerations. The people under investigation must be within easy reach of the investigator in order that the latter can observe personally and intimately. The unit of study, on the other hand, should not be too small. It should provide a fair cross-section of the social life of the people.

This general problem has been discussed by Professor A. Radcliffe-Brown, Dr. Wu Wen-tsao, and Dr. Raymond Firth.It is agreed that in the first stage of such a study, a village would be the most appropriate unit. "To start with a single village as a centre," says Dr. Firth, "investigate the relationships of the persons composing it, in terms of kinship, the distribution of authority, economic organization, religious affiliations, and other social ties, and try to see how these relationships affect one another and determine the co-operative life of the small community. From this centre the investigation will radiate out following the personal relationships into other units in adjacent villages, economic linkage and social co-operation."

A village is a community characterized by its being an aggregate of households on a compact residential area, separated from other similar units by a considerable distance (this may not hold good in some parts of China where households are scattered), organized in various social activities as a group, and possessing a special name of its own. It is a de facto social unit recognized by the people themselves.

A village as such does not enter formally into the new administrative system in China—Pao Chea —which is artificially created for certain specific purposes (VI–5). Since this system was introduced to Kaihsienkung only in 1935, it is very difficult to say when these de jure units, through increasing administrative function, will cause a shift in the existing de facto groupings. But at present, in actual practice, the Pao Chea system is still largely a formality. Thus the unit of our study, the aim of which is to understand the life of the people, must follow the real existing functioning unit—the village. F8XqNlB4w5OYXF908Cp+dgWeRUkvl6SWYWhkKLHUrMa6IOtsM8pKYjXpBSAM/T6n