Brotherhood and society: The Shaanxi Gelaohui, 1867-1912.

Abstract

The Gelaohui (The Society of Brothers and Elders) was a Chinese blood brotherhood association descended from the Guolu, early Qing mutual aid bands which emerged among vagrant males in the Sichuan frontier area. While it did not derive from the Tiandihui as has been supposed, it was generated from the same blood brotherhood metaphor. Lacking economic viability, vagrant males were not a part of community, but outside of it. The metaphor arose because of the need for alternative community. By building networks and providing services for gentry and villagers, the blood brotherhood form provided a livelihood. Its ideology reinforced traditional notions of family relations and mutual obligations between older and younger brothers. Thus it was reactive and opportunistic. With the increasing pace of change in the nineteenth century and the resulting dislocations, this form became relevant to an increasing number of people in central China. The Gelaohui, itself, first emerged in full form in the armies assembled to fight the Taiping Rebellion. It was seen as a boost to fighting spirit. Racketeering and the expression of discontent among soldiers were others of its features. With the demobilization of soldiers it spread through the Yangzi Valley. Its 1911 anti-Qing stance emerged only after it had spread. This stance was driven by the development of anti-Qing sentiment among the gentry. The Gelaohui entered Shaanxi Province with the armies assembled by Zuo Zongtang to put down the Muslim Rebellion. After the departure of these armies from Shaanxi in the aftermath of the Rebellion, the Gelaohui engaged in rapacious activities in peripheral regions of the province. In 1900, however, it began to engage in protests such as the destruction of new schools, churches and tax offices. These activities were carried out in core areas. The Gelaohui played a uniquely important role in the 1911 Revolution, including in the massacres of Manchus and Westerners in Xi'an. These and other aspects of the 1911 Revolution analyzed in the thesis reveal that the Gelaohui could not transcend its basically reactive and opportunistic character.