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centers. The occurrence of this Ti-pao complicates the discussion of village government for several reasons. In the first place, when his position is firmly established he seems to infringe somewhat upon the purely democratic nature of village government, because he usurps many of the duties of the elders. Secondly, the fact that his authority is not always equally great makes it difficult to fit him into the picture of the free village, for the greater his power from above the less complete may the self-government be said to be. For the present this individual will be left out of the discussion, though it must be remembered that his existence as an underling of the Hsien government does modify theoretic village government.
The village temple is the recognized center of government in the village. Usually it has a minor religious significance, being dedicated to some beneficent deity such as the god of literature, of war, of mercy, or of rain, who is calculated to bring a particular blessing to the village. More essentially it is the social center of the village and the seat of government, a sort of town hall. This temple enjoys what amounts to a corporate existence; it has perpetual being, owns property, can buy and sell and enter into contract, and it acts through a body of officers, a council, which is regularly elected. Many typical administrative duties in the village are undertaken by the temple, through its council, for the civic good.
This council is either composed of all the heads of various families in the village, or more probably of a group elected or taken in rotation from among the heads of families. It receives no recognition from the central government, being an internal administrative body pure and simple, handling village business only. It meets whenever village business needs to be discussed or attended to. Bazin reports that minutes (Pao tan) are kept of these meetings, one set in grass characters to be passed around among the villagers, and a second, more complete in large characters to be pasted upon the door of the temple. Whether this is an usual practice, however, it is impossible to say.
III
First among the administrative duties of the village temple is the handling of village finances. There are various sources of revenue.
1 Leong and Tao; Village and Town Life in China, p. 34.
2 Bazin; op. cit., I, p. 64.