Sub-bureaucratic government in Shandong c.1550-1600
Date
1977
Authors
Littrup, Leif
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This thesis investigates the development of the local selfgovernmentorganizations of Shandong Province, with particularreference to Jinan Prefecture, in the second half of the sixteenthcentury. It is mainly based on contemporary documents and also onother information included in the earliest available gazetteers foreach subprefecture and district of Jinan. The most important localself-government organization was the li-jia which during this periodwas no longer organized strictly according to the number of households.The duties performed in the li-jia were regarded as corvee and theli-jia was also closely connected with the conscription of othercorvee and the levy of taxes.The li-jia, together with the local self-government position oftax collector (da-hu), was around 1550 still a very active part of thefiscal administration of the province. Later reforms increasedreliance upon the more capable persons in local self-government andalso increased the involvement of officials in the levy of taxes andcorvee. The li-leaders were conscripted from wealthy households, andas such households were also conscripted to the heaviest duties inother corvee this in effect amounted to a progressive taxation uponthem and consequently to increased tax fraud by them. The result wasthat the households registered as the wealthiest and thus selected asleaders in the local self-government system were no longer in fact thewealthiest and most powerful households.Reforms in the tax and corvee system were directed towardseliminating this progressive taxation and its bad effects by a uniformor greatly simplified system of levy called the Single Whip. Thisreform was probably introduced in most districts of Jinan by the turnof the century. At the same time the involvement of the local self governmentsystem in fiscal administration was greatly reduced. The non-fiscal functions of the local self-government system hadpreviously been performed by li-elders. These still existed buttheir role had changed to become predominantly fiscal. The secondhalf of the sixteenth century saw a growing interest in strengtheningthe non-fiscal side of local self-government. The li-jia was nolonger suitable as a unit for this function so various otherorganizations such as the bao-jia and xiang-yue were created. Theywere established in many districts of Jinan, particularly after 1587,for all kinds of non-fiscal duties, not least for the organization ofwelfare granaries. There are signs that these new institutions weredrawn into fiscal work. However they do not appear to have functionedfor more than a few years.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Type
Thesis (PhD)
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
License Rights
Restricted until
Downloads
File
Description