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by the magistrate from the village elders, but dependent upon the good will of his constituents. The usual statement is that the people select one man to be Ti-pao, and this position is confirmed by the magistrate when he gives the incumbent the official seals for stamping all documents, deeds, sales, etc.
But the office has tended somewhat to degenerate. Remuneration attaches to it by way of surtaxes on all documents stamped, and by way of graft, which seems to be as much an integral part of the government of China as elsewhere. This money factor, and also because the position gives the holder a certain power and prestige over the villagers, causes it frequently to be secured merely by purchase, or be determined before the election by the most influential persons of the village. This tendency for the office to become a mere political monopoly indicates the apparent trend away from a pure democracy.
Some writers speak of the Ti-pao as a very mean, and by his own right, a very unimportant individual. Tao says that the position is filled "only by men of the lower classes." Meadows states that the station of the Ti-pao in society is below that of a respectable tradesman or master mechanic, and speaks of his alliance, for mutual profit with professional thieves and owners of gambling houses.3 In some cases the Ti-pao may actually be one of the village elders, and it is in such a position that he is often spoken of by Western writers quite favorably. There is a wide divergence of opinion here. The writer is inclined to the belief that in the village, especially in distinctly rural areas, the Ti-pao is more liable to be a respectable member of society than in the cities, but there is not a great deal of concrete evidence to support this view.
In his position as responsible functionary in the village the Ti-pao may handle many of the administrative duties spoken of above as the responsibility of the temple council. For example, Jamieson states that it is his duty to exercise a general supervision over all matters affecting the whole community such as the regulation of fairs, markets, and village festivals. Also he may call a public
1 Morse, Hosea B.; The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire, p. 73.
2 Leong and Tao; op. cit., p. 64. Werner adds that the incumbent was not necessarily a man of unscrupulous character, saying that the bad reputation so often given him by foreigners is probably due to the custom of squeezing. Werner, E. T. C.; China of the Chinese, p. 163,
3 Meadows; op. cit., p. 120, 118, 119.