本文把對清河調查和清河試驗的解讀置于燕京學派學術傳統中,澄清早期學者對19世紀末轉型期中的中國現代社會形態的判斷和理解;其標志即傳統型城市的腹地農村發育出的一個以農產品交易為核心的市鎮社會。在面臨新的社會條件時,市鎮社會內部的自然調節機制陷入了危機,在自然調節能力不足的情況下,清河試驗意圖通過干預式調節來重振鄉村經濟,并建構新型地方性精神。早期學者提出的"市場"和"鄉鎮共同體"理論框架亦構成了日后社區研究的起點并開辟了多個研究脈絡,構成燕京學派所理解的有關中國現代社會結構的總體圖景。

Based on the interpretation of Ching Ho investigation in the academic tradition of Yenching School,this paper clarifies the early scholars’ judgment and understanding of Chinese modern society in the period of transformation in the end of 19 th Century. The sign of this transformation was in traditional city hinterland,the rural developing an agricultural products trade as the core of the market town. In the face of new social conditions,the natural adjustment mechanism within the township was in crisis. Under the condition of insufficient natural adjustment capacity,social experiment of Ching Ho intended to revitalize the rural economy by intervening regulation and rebuilding a new local spirit. Early theory about "market"and "rurban community"also constitutes the starting point of the study on the community and opened up a number of research contexts,which have constructed the overall picture of social structure in modern China.