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公社 (gōng shè) — commune (a collective community, especially the People's Commune in Mao-era China)

Definition

A collective rural community where members farm, work, and share resources together. In modern Chinese usage the term usually refers to the People's Communes (人民公社) of 1958–1980s Mao-era China; 原始公社 is the anthropological 'primitive commune'.

noun
commune (a collective community, especially the People's Commune in Mao-era China)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 1958，公社。
    1958 Nián, zhōng guó nóng cūn kāi shǐ jiàn lì rén mín gōng shè.
    In 1958, rural China began establishing People's Communes.
  • 公社，。
    Zhè ge gōng shè de chéng yuán yì qǐ láo dòng, gòng xiǎng zī yuán.
    The members of this commune work together and share resources.
  • 公社。
    Rén lèi xué jiā yán jiū le yuán shǐ gōng shè de shè huì jié gòu.
    Anthropologists have studied the social structure of primitive communes.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

公gōngpublic
社shècommunity

公 means public, and 社 means community.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

社 joins 示 (god; deity) and 土 (soil), so its shape is about the god of the land.

Open 社 →
Appears in
Groups & OrganizationsHistory

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