Community Self-governance Research Articles

Rural Control in Nineteenth Century China

A RTHUR HENDERSON SMITH, writing near end of previous cenL tury, characterized Chinese village organization as the self-government of small communities and asserted that the management of village was in hands of people themselves.' His enthusiasm was shared in varying degrees by other writers, both native and foreign.2 For good reasons, however, this encouraging view is no longer supported by students of Chinese society.3 Among other shortcomings, it ignored existence of a considerable number of tiny villages, especially in north China,4 and fact that inhabitants of such villages were usually too impoverished to be able to afford organization. It failed also to maintain a necessary distinction between two aspects of village organization where it existed, namely, between village as a center of rural community life and village as an object of imperial control, each with its distinct leadership, one called forth by government action, other emerging from rural inhabitants themselves.5 This failure led to an illusion in which village activities and organization that came as a result of government control appeared as manifestations of local initiative. While it is unnecessary to demonstrate that impression such as gained by Smith was too optimistic to be true, it may be useful to examine briefly