VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA [1933]
INTRODUCTION
C. MARTIN WILBUR*
The importance of the study of village government in China can hardly be too enthusiastically pressed. It deals, in the first place, with a phase of Chinese life which has in the past been largely overlooked by Sinologues. Western students have been too inclined to lay stress upon and to confine themselves to the political history of the Chinese, or to the monuments of Chinese culture, its art, philosophy and literature. As to how the people themselves lived there has apparently been little interest. To be sure, the central government of China has been carefully studied, and many admirable works on government institutions have appeared. But almost no study has been made by Westerners upon the government of the village, despite the fact that this is to a large degree the only real government for the vast majority of the people. Because the institution vitally affects the lives of the Chinese people, and because it is peculiarly their creation, it should be of great importance to the Sinologue.
To the general student of social institutions the subject should likewise be of great interest. It seems strange, indeed, that Sociology and its allied sciences have not demanded of Sinology more information upon the conditions of rural life in China, or have not themselves gone out to get it. If only to serve as a cultural measuring rod, as a basis for objective comparison with Western institutions, Chinese social phenomena should be of high value. Yet the Sociologist, no less than the Sinologue, has largely overlooked the rich and important phase of Chinese life which is here to be considered.
*The author, C. Martin Wilbur, Professor Emeritus of Chinese History, Columbia University, was awarded his M.A. in the Faculty of Philosophy, Columbia University for this thesis in 1933. The work is still of value, and with the author's kind permission it is printed here, with the exception of the chapter on the historical development of village government (pp. 74-109 of the original typescript). No changes or additions have been made, nor any updating attempted. Hon. Ed.