The Study On The Grass Roots Power And Social Mangement In Qing Dynasty

Qing dynasty was in the late stage of China’s imperial age, which was also animportant stage of the transition from ancient China to modern China. At theperspective of grass-roots community, it followed the traditional factors of theprevious dynasty, and also presented many new changes, forming some differentcharacteristics. To sum up, its main changes are reflected in the following four aspects.Firstly, Manchu ethnic conflicts appeared in varying degrees in various periods, but itexisted throughout the Qing dynasty. Secondly, the implementation of theTandingrumu policies achieved the final transition of ancient China’s taxes systemwhich was from the poll tax to property tax. The cancellation of the poll tax alsocontributed to the rapid population increase of Qing dynasty. Thirdly, the cancellationof the household registration system of the population made people leave their homeeasily; and social mobility became more frequent. As a result, populations fromdifferent geographical areas can live together. Fourthly, invasion of western colonistsled to the unprecedented intensification of national crisis and social contradictions. Inresponse to these complex social situations, the Qing government built a grass-rootspower system which is more rigorous and sound than the previous dynasty tostrengthen the management of society.According to the nature, the grass-roots power system of the Qing Dynasty canbe divided into grass-roots administrative systems and grass-roots military systems.Grass-roots administrative system refers to numerous county governments within theempire which had a close relationship with the people. Because department and subprefecture in Qing dynasty belonged to the same level as county, so their governmentswere also belonged to the county government. The county government of the Qingdynasty consisted of the court officials and administrative support staffs. Courtofficials included principal seal-holding officials and assistant officials.Administrative support staffs included the clerical sub official and Yamen runnerwhich were regulated by the law, and private adviser and servants which were hiredby officials themselves. The responsibility of county governments in the Qing dynasty covered many aspects, including criminal justice, finance, public order,education and other matters. However, limited by the cumbersome rules andregulations, the autonomy of the county government was very limited. Theadministrative expenses of the county governments in the Qing dynasty weredeficient, which forced them to use corrupt rules, and other ways to cope with thehigh daily expenses.According to their internal administrative status, the grass-roots administrativesystems can also be divided into main administrative system and assistantadministrative systems. The county governments of the Qing dynasty adopted theprincipal seal-holding officials serving in single system. As the sole representative ofthe imperial power in the land, principal seal-holding officials were in a dominantposition in the local administration. Private adviser, servants, clerical sub official,Yamen Runner and they constituted the main body of the local administrative system.As the core of the grass-roots power system, principal seal-holding officials as therepresentative of the main administrative system not only managed a multitude ofthings, including the local tax levy, justice administration, public order, education,social assistance, business management, and other matters, but also controlled thelocal justice, finance and other important affairs.The assistant administrative system refers to the assistant officials in the countygovernments. At different times, there were significant differences in the role playedby the assistant officials in social management. In early Qing dynasty, assistantofficials usually didn’t have important responsibilities. They had been in the idle state,which led to redundant and expelled. They played an insignificant role in themanagement of local society. After the Yongzheng period, the population grewrapidly and social mobility became frequent. In order to strengthen the managementof society, many prefectures and county assistant officials were successively sent tocrucial towns and checkpoints, and undertook the duties of “sub-defense”, whichsignificantly improved their social management functions. After Xiangfeng andTongzhi period, government control over the grass-roots community greatlyweakened, coupled with the vast military and reparations plunged the country into anunprecedented financial crisis. As a result, the “sub-defense” in mainland province gradually shrunk, and their functions were significantly weakened.Grass-roots military system mainly refers to the brigade system throughout thecountry. As the grass-roots organizations of stationed green standards, brigadesystems were both dispersed and carefully set, covering the region from theprovincial capitals, prefectures, county to even crucial checkpoints and traffic arteries.With the role of deterrence, it had become a powerful tool for the government tostrengthen grass-roots social control. On one hand, as a major force for local stability,the brigade system undertook the important task of maintaining social order. Whenuprising and mass incidents occurred, stationed brigade system must work withcounty governments to respond quickly and timely. On the other hand, due to theexpenses saving in early Qing dynasty, the government reduced the personnel in thecounty governments, forcing the brigade systems to undertake the responsibilities ofmaintaining local public order and anti-smuggling work. In short, guarding and allkinds of chores is a major feature of the brigade system in Qing dynasty.In addition to the official system, there were all kinds of non-governmentalorganizations in grass-roots community. Most of them were under the directleadership of the grass-roots administrative systems. They assist the government tocomplete the various functions, resulting in a formation of a civil assist system.Groups of the civil assist system in Qing dynasty were very extensive. It included thekinship organizations such as clan, geographical organizations such as communityself-defense system，industrial organizations such as guild hall, and the militia systemwhich were lead by squires in the late Qing dynasty. Various types ofnon-governmental organizations participated in many affairs. They not only assistedthe officials completing tax levy, maintaining public order, educating the people, butalso took the initiative to mediate local disputes, social assistance, businessmanagement and other matters. Especially after the Tongzhi and Guangxu period,along with the weakening of the official control over the grass-roots community,squire groups across the country were increasingly active. They even set up themilitias to manage local affairs which had the characteristics of autonomy.