A Study On The Multi-dimensional Motivation Of The Formation Of Chinese Traditional Gentry Power

As the inheritors of Confucian civilization,the squire is the main body of grassroots governance in traditional Chinese society.The "rule of the squire" is the process of institutionalizing the Confucian tradition at the social level,and its effectiveness has accompanied the imperial system for thousands of years.This paper takes the causes of the formation of traditional gentry rights as the starting point,and attempts to understand the formation of gentry rights and its role in traditional society from a multidimensional perspective.The power of the squire was generated by the interaction of politics,economy,Confucian culture,and family in traditional society.The squire was a tool for the imperial power to manage local society,and its power generation was closely related to the imperial power.The formation of gentry power was prompted by the premise that imperial power was difficult to fully control the localities.The reason is that,from the perspective of social conditions,ancient technical ability is low,and the imperial power cannot go beyond the limitations of population size and geographical conditions,and directly implement power to the countryside;From a political point of view,the obstruction of local forces and the difficulty of the township system to really work;From an economic point of view,the decentralized nature of the small-scale peasant economy tends to lead to local fragmentation and bureaucratic tribalization.As a result,the imperial power needed an easy-to-manipulate class to replace its administration,and the squire came into being.The squires can communicate from top to bottom,which can not only make government orders issued,but also reflect public opinion and unite the villagers.The most important thing is that the formation of gentry power depends on the granting of imperial power,which is manifested in the fact that the acquisition of the political identity of the gentry depends on the imperial examination system established by the imperial power,and the acquisition of cultural power depends on the official orthodox ideology.Civil authority,on the other hand,is often acquired by the ethical code derived from Confucianism and its political privileges.It can be seen that the formation of the power of the squire has its complexities.In traditional society,the squire is between the state and the broad masses of the grassroots society,and is the "regulator" of the relationship between the state and the grassroots society.The use of squires to govern the countryside is an important way of governance in traditional Chinese society,which plays an important role in promoting grassroots autonomy,building public welfare undertakings,developing rural culture,and pooling rural forces.