The White Deer Plain constructs an ideal acquaintance society. The conflict over Widow Li’s 0.24 hectares of irrigated land between Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin is a typical case in such society. Combining Chinese local historical facts with the text of White Deer Plain, the sociological method is used to analyze this dispute, and the following conclusions can be drawn: First, “Face”is still highly valued in rural China; Second, As the villagers are closely bonded in agricultural life, neither the participants nor the on-lookers want to destroy the harmonious relations; Third, When there is a dispute, villagers tend to mediate through a third party, because it relatively doesn’t destroy the existing harmonious relationship. The key to third party mediation is to find an authoritative mediator who is good at observing the thoughts of both parties in a dispute. In this novel, the conflict between Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin is solved smoothly, because Mr. Zhu's prestige, as well as Mr. Zhu's personal letters meet the psychological demands of Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin. After Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin apologized to each other and agreed to waive the debt of Widow Li, peace returned to the Plain. But new interpersonal “debts” and “returns” with no fixed term emerge. The significance of this conclusion is that it can be used as a reference to solve the conflict in China's rural areas.
Published in | International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 4, Issue 1) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.ijls.20210401.13 |
Page(s) | 23-27 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group |
White Deer Plain, Conflicts, Acquaintance Society, Meditation, Rural Conflicts
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APA Style
Meng Yuzhong. (2021). Favour and Power in the Acquaintance Society: Interpreting a Conflict in White Deer Plain. International Journal of Law and Society, 4(1), 23-27. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210401.13
ACS Style
Meng Yuzhong. Favour and Power in the Acquaintance Society: Interpreting a Conflict in White Deer Plain. Int. J. Law Soc. 2021, 4(1), 23-27. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20210401.13
AMA Style
Meng Yuzhong. Favour and Power in the Acquaintance Society: Interpreting a Conflict in White Deer Plain. Int J Law Soc. 2021;4(1):23-27. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20210401.13
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TY - JOUR T1 - Favour and Power in the Acquaintance Society: Interpreting a Conflict in White Deer Plain AU - Meng Yuzhong Y1 - 2021/01/28 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210401.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ijls.20210401.13 T2 - International Journal of Law and Society JF - International Journal of Law and Society JO - International Journal of Law and Society SP - 23 EP - 27 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2640-1908 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20210401.13 AB - The White Deer Plain constructs an ideal acquaintance society. The conflict over Widow Li’s 0.24 hectares of irrigated land between Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin is a typical case in such society. Combining Chinese local historical facts with the text of White Deer Plain, the sociological method is used to analyze this dispute, and the following conclusions can be drawn: First, “Face”is still highly valued in rural China; Second, As the villagers are closely bonded in agricultural life, neither the participants nor the on-lookers want to destroy the harmonious relations; Third, When there is a dispute, villagers tend to mediate through a third party, because it relatively doesn’t destroy the existing harmonious relationship. The key to third party mediation is to find an authoritative mediator who is good at observing the thoughts of both parties in a dispute. In this novel, the conflict between Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin is solved smoothly, because Mr. Zhu's prestige, as well as Mr. Zhu's personal letters meet the psychological demands of Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin. After Bai Jiaxuan and Lu Zilin apologized to each other and agreed to waive the debt of Widow Li, peace returned to the Plain. But new interpersonal “debts” and “returns” with no fixed term emerge. The significance of this conclusion is that it can be used as a reference to solve the conflict in China's rural areas. VL - 4 IS - 1 ER -