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rally, the uses of these funds from public property are not ceremonial but practical, in that they contribute to the maintenance of the village and its growth in material equipment and in prestige.”
The village elders, as differentiated from the council of the village temple, are responsible for the morals and morale of the villages as a whole. This responsibility falls upon them both from the fact that their position is the culmination of a familist type of social organization, and because the government higher up holds them responsible. They maintain the "face" of the village, and they jealously guard the traditional way of doing things, the traditional virtue. In this sense they are the most conservative force in village life today.
In village judicial matters the elders act as a court of appeal when quarrels or crimes cannot be settled within the various kin groups, or when trouble arises involving members of more than one group. Although they lack official judiciary power, and outside their kin groups have no familist jurisdiction, they do derive authority from one important factor: they are the last court of appeal; beyond them is the official court of the magistrate. Every Chinese villager has a healthy fear of the official courts, and counts himself lucky never to see the inside of one. This fear is a very deep-rooted one, and has been encouraged by the government even officially.2 Without wishing to reinforce the accepted Western view of Chinese
1 Kulp; op. cit., p. 124. Phenix village is really of the single clan rather than the multiple clan sort, but in this case the distinction does not matter.
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2 A lively quotation from Huc illustrates this point, and is worth giving in full. Edict of Emperor "Tchang-hi": "The Emperor, considering the immense population of the Empire, the great division of territorial property, and the notoriously law-loving character of the Chinese, is of the opinion that law-suits would tend to increase, to a frightful amount, if people were not afraid of the tribunals, and if they felt confident of always finding in them ready and perfect justice. ..I desire, therefore, that those who have recourse to the tribunals should be treated without any pity, and in such a manner that they shall be disgusted with law, and tremble to appear before a magistrate. In this manner the evil will be cut up by the roots; the good citizens, who may have difficulties among themselves, will settle them like brothers, by referring to the arbitration of some old man, or the mayor of the commune. As for those who are troublesome, obstinate, and quarrelsome, let them be ruined in the law-courts that is the justice that is due them." Huc, M.; The Chinese Empire, vol. I, p. 105-106. "Tchang-h" is given "Khang-hi" in the original French and therefore certainly represents K'ang Hsi (1662-1723).