Sub-bureaucratic government in Shandong c.1550-1600
Date
1977
Authors
Littrup, Leif
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This thesis investigates the development of the local selfgovernment
organizations of Shandong Province, with particular
reference to Jinan Prefecture, in the second half of the sixteenth
century. It is mainly based on contemporary documents and also on
other information included in the earliest available gazetteers for
each subprefecture and district of Jinan. The most important local
self-government organization was the li-jia which during this period
was no longer organized strictly according to the number of households.
The duties performed in the li-jia were regarded as corvee and the
li-jia was also closely connected with the conscription of other
corvee and the levy of taxes.
The li-jia, together with the local self-government position of
tax collector (da-hu), was around 1550 still a very active part of the
fiscal administration of the province. Later reforms increased
reliance upon the more capable persons in local self-government and
also increased the involvement of officials in the levy of taxes and
corvee. The li-leaders were conscripted from wealthy households, and
as such households were also conscripted to the heaviest duties in
other corvee this in effect amounted to a progressive taxation upon
them and consequently to increased tax fraud by them. The result was
that the households registered as the wealthiest and thus selected as
leaders in the local self-government system were no longer in fact the
wealthiest and most powerful households.
Reforms in the tax and corvee system were directed towards
eliminating this progressive taxation and its bad effects by a uniform
or greatly simplified system of levy called the Single Whip. This
reform was probably introduced in most districts of Jinan by the turn
of the century. At the same time the involvement of the local self government
system in fiscal administration was greatly reduced. The non-fiscal functions of the local self-government system had
previously been performed by li-elders. These still existed but
their role had changed to become predominantly fiscal. The second
half of the sixteenth century saw a growing interest in strengthening
the non-fiscal side of local self-government. The li-jia was no
longer suitable as a unit for this function so various other
organizations such as the bao-jia and xiang-yue were created. They
were established in many districts of Jinan, particularly after 1587,
for all kinds of non-fiscal duties, not least for the organization of
welfare granaries. There are signs that these new institutions were
drawn into fiscal work. However they do not appear to have functioned
for more than a few years.
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