Past Socio-economic Conditions

Before 1949 Achangs in the Lianghe area lived within a familial organization called the "Jiahui" (family meeting). Similar to the patriarchal clan system, the Jiahui had written family rules and chose patriarchs to maintain the feudal order of exploitation. Regarded as inferiors to the men in the Jiahui, women had few rights. They had no right of inheritance. After 1949 these practices were gradually eliminated.

The Achangs' ancestors once lived in the Jinsha, Lancang and Nujiang river valleys in northwestern Yunnan. Some of them moved west of the Nujiang River where they gradually evolved from hunters to farmers. According to legends, Achang forbears in those days lived in a matriarchal society with women having a dominant familial and social position and lovers living in group marriages.

During the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279), the Achang area was controlled by Yunnan's Nanzhao and Dali principalities. During the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), the Achangs were ruled by Achang hereditary chiefs appointed by -- and accountable to -- the imperial court. After the Revolution of 1911, warlords in Yunnan established an administrative bureau in the Achang area, installing the Bao-Jia system (an administrative system organized on the basis of households, each Jia being made up of 10 households, and each Bao of 10 Jia, by which the warlords enforced their rule at the primary level), oppressing and exploiting the Achang people in collaboration with local chiefs.

Before 1949, feudalism was the dominant economic form in the areas in which the Achangs lived. Farming was done according to the landlord system. Dai chiefs were the feudal lords; most landlords were Hans. Achang landlords were few.

Where they ruled, chiefs owned all the land. Aside from collecting taxes to enrich themselves, they used their political privileges to extort "gifts" from peasants on such occasions as holidays, weddings and funerals. The ruling classes, including Achang landlords, prospered through usury and the exploitation of labor.

Under the rule of chiefs, the Achang social structure was destroyed. Achangs were organized into the "gang" (township) and the "zuo" (district), through which the chiefs ruled them and levied tax upon them. "Official tax," "tax on opium," "tax on land" -- these and other taxes and levies squeezed the people, draining them of whatever comforts they could accumulate. In addition, many Achang villages were burdened with a fixed amount of required, unpaid labor.