Note that 1950s China was semi-feudal (or more fully feudal) in many places, and that "landlord" in this context does not mean "guy who owns your modern apartment building but still (kind of) has to operate in a modern legal framework, complete with tenant protections and meaningful criminal law enforcement." In many situations it was much close to "a lord who governs your land, who can do all sorts of horrible stuff with the only real limits being a peasant uprising or pissing off a higher official." The horrible (and often illegal or even criminal) way many landlords treat tenants today is the tip of the iceberg for how tenants could be treated in pre-Revolutionary China.
I haven't read as much on this as I'd like, but a relevant and fairly brief source is Friendly Feudalism - The Tibet Myth by Michael Parenti. It makes the case that Tibet (which was under the control of the last Imperial Chinese dynasty from about 1720-1912) still had many of the hallmarks of a feudal society by the time the PRC annexed it in 1950. There were various forms of serfdom (or at least a serf-like class of laborers), chattel slavery, and disfiguring corporal punishment. If one remote part of formerly-Imperial China was still effectively feudal even in 1950, I think it's likely that other parts may have been pretty close to feudal, too, and that matches what I've read in other places (but can't put my hands on now). It certainly seems like there's a big gap between how landlords operated in ~1950 rural China and the "guy who owns your modern apartment building but still (kind of) has to operate in a modern legal framework, complete with tenant protections and meaningful criminal law enforcement" framework people think of when they hear the term "landlord" in a 2020 American context.
Oh perfect. I just read Blackshirts and Reds by Parenti and wanted to read another. He is definitely accessible and I bet he does a good job separating the real history from the western propaganda like he did in Blackshirts. Thanks
Note that 1950s China was semi-feudal (or more fully feudal) in many places, and that "landlord" in this context does not mean "guy who owns your modern apartment building but still (kind of) has to operate in a modern legal framework, complete with tenant protections and meaningful criminal law enforcement." In many situations it was much close to "a lord who governs your land, who can do all sorts of horrible stuff with the only real limits being a peasant uprising or pissing off a higher official." The horrible (and often illegal or even criminal) way many landlords treat tenants today is the tip of the iceberg for how tenants could be treated in pre-Revolutionary China.
If you've read much on this topic what do you recommend?
I haven't read as much on this as I'd like, but a relevant and fairly brief source is Friendly Feudalism - The Tibet Myth by Michael Parenti. It makes the case that Tibet (which was under the control of the last Imperial Chinese dynasty from about 1720-1912) still had many of the hallmarks of a feudal society by the time the PRC annexed it in 1950. There were various forms of serfdom (or at least a serf-like class of laborers), chattel slavery, and disfiguring corporal punishment. If one remote part of formerly-Imperial China was still effectively feudal even in 1950, I think it's likely that other parts may have been pretty close to feudal, too, and that matches what I've read in other places (but can't put my hands on now). It certainly seems like there's a big gap between how landlords operated in ~1950 rural China and the "guy who owns your modern apartment building but still (kind of) has to operate in a modern legal framework, complete with tenant protections and meaningful criminal law enforcement" framework people think of when they hear the term "landlord" in a 2020 American context.
Oh perfect. I just read Blackshirts and Reds by Parenti and wanted to read another. He is definitely accessible and I bet he does a good job separating the real history from the western propaganda like he did in Blackshirts. Thanks