PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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Enclosure E.
THE VILLAGE ORGANISATION.
WEI HAI WEI.
In the country the villages are practically left to govern themselves in all ordinary affairs. Each village is really a little principality in itself. Occasionally several
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small villages group together in unison for the purpose of local self-government.
The villages are subject to the District Magistrate, who appoints a village con- stable or watchman, called a ti-pao, for each village or collection of villages. is the officially credited Government agent. But he has little pay and no power, and he depends on the village Executive, a Council of Elders, called Hsiang Chang, or Hsiang Lao, or Hui Shou in Weihaiwei. The commonest term for these village aldermen" is shou shih yen, or the managers or people who repair and put things to rights.
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The Village Elders are in some cases elected by the community, and are then confirmed by the District Magistratè, and occasionally the chief landowners are called on to become security for them. In some cases, however, the Village Elders are either self-appointed or drop naturally into the position, because they are best fitted for it. The managers are not necessarily the men of greatest wealth or literary ability, but are chosen for their native ability, knowledge of the work, and capacity for dealing practically with village affairs. They receive no salaries, but as they have the handling of all public funds in the village communities, they can do very well for themselves; they are appointed practically for life, or until they are dis- missed by the District Magistrate, or are ousted by a new body of Elders who wish to share in the perquisites' and emoluments falling to "Elders" from the public
funds.
The duties of the village headmen are numerous. The ti-pao or village watch- man calls on them to carry out the instructions of the District Magistrate. One of their chief duties is to assist in collecting the land tax. The District Magistrate also calls on them to furnish the local officials moving in their locality with the means of transport and entertainment; they have to provide materials for the repair of river banks and imperial roads. In the village their chief duties are to regulate and supervise the holding of the village fairs, and must also see to the repairing of temples, the sinking of wells, and the cleaning of old ones, and engaging theatrical companies. They, too, organise the villagers into bands for the protection of the crops, especially during the night time; it is their privilege to collect public funds for all religious functions and disburse them.
With criminal matters they do not interfere much, sending most cases to the District Magistrate if arbitration and a "peace making" fail. So great is the dread the Chinese have of " going to Court," that practically three-quarters of the cases that occur in the villages are compromised by fines. These fines take the form of the offenders giving an entertainment or a theatrical performance to both sides and the village headmen who have interested themselves in the particular case. Outside petty thieving there is little serious crime in the Chinese villages. The Chinese villager desires peace, and is reluctant to quarrel and make trouble. Apart from clan fighting and the occasional appearance of bands of robbers from the neighbouring country, there is no one to make trouble in the village except the village "bullies," or bad characters, beggars, and petty thieves. The "bully" is the greatest curse the Chinese village suffers from. He is a reckless, lawless character who has nothing to lose, and who makes life a burden to others by threatening to burn down houses or crops, or by making up false charges in collusion with the Yamen subordinates, and involving some respectable family in a ruinous law suit. So great is the injury that these bad characters have the power to inflict on Chinese villagers that the Village Elders will not interfere with them. It will probably be advisable to banish most of these bad characters from the villages when they are known. All villagers have an intense inbred distrust of Chinese officialdom. Practically speaking, the District Magistrate never interferes with the local government of the village unless there is an opportunity of making something out of it. The villagers are permeated with superstition and tradition, and are very conservative. It will, therefore, be very necessary to make them understand by posting and distributing printed notices in Chinese that their lives, property, and liberty will be safe under British protection. It will take time and ocular demonstration to enable the Chinese villagers to realise
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the value of a just and impartial rule, and dispel the suspicions and fear of officials that they have.
As regards the administration of the Chinese villages, it would be well to leave things much as they are at present. A law will be required to provide for defining village communities within the ceded area. In doing this the traditional Chinese divisions should be followed as far as possible. The village eldermen should be treated as a local advisory board, entrusted by the people with the management of their internal affairs, and they should be allowed a free hand in the management of their village affairs, subject to an appeal to the District Magistrate. All serious civil and criminal cases should be dealt with by the District Magistrate, both at head- quarters and on circuit round the territory. All compoundable offences and civil cases should be left to the village council to settle by arbitration whenever possible. The village watchmen should be placed under the supervision and control of the District Officer.
One of the distinctive features of the villages is the number' of markets, or chi, and "fairs," or hui. It is the comparative poverty of the people that makes it neces- sary for a considerable part of the population to exchange products at frequent inter- vals to turn them into the means of subsistence. There is practically little or no reserve capital in the villages. These markets and fairs are arranged to dovetail into one another
every other few days all over the district, and there is a regular class of travelling merchants attached to the various villages. Some of the days for markets are fixed by the District Magistrate by Proclamation. Gamblers, sharpers, pick- pockets, and thieves collect at these fairs, and the District Magistrate has to see order kept.
Enclosure F.
The Chief Features of the Chinese Villages in Weihaiwei and District. The village houses are chiefly made of adobe bricks, which cost about a cash apiece, The scarcity of fuel in the Province makes the burning of bricks expensive. The local bricks, too, are only half burnt, for want of sufficient firing, and are full of air holes, which suck in the moisture. The foundations of adobe houses are made of bricks. The houses are all built in the usual Chinese fashion, however numerous or well-to-do the family may be. There is no ceiling, the doors are made with two leaves, and there are wooden gratings to do duty for windows. In all houses there is a room with a divan or bed, with a kang or stove underneath, and the bed quilts of the family are kept on this couch. There is hardly any furniture in the houses, except a bench or two and a table and one or two boxes. The roofs are made with thin bricks, sorghum stalks, or matting, and are chiefly covered with earth. Their roofs are built on small pier lines, and often fall in. The floors of the common village houses are made of beaten earth. The cooking range is built near the room with the kang, and the smoke and heat are conducted from the kitchen below this bed of adobe bricks. There is nothing æsthetic about the Chinese villagers, though a few have fine trees round their houses. The buildings must be cold in winter and hot in summer, and always smoky, and the whole place is untidy and dirty. The Chinese villages in and round Weihaiwei show the destitution of the people better than anything else. Over-popu- lation and the necessity to find food for so many mouths leaves no surplus money for anything in the nature of a luxury.
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None of the Chinese villages are well laid out. They have all grown up indis- criminately, and are built without any system. The main street is nothing but a path turning and twisting in and about the village. Most Chinese villages are as much overcrowded as Chinese towns. It is almost impossible to obtain accurate informa- tion as to the number of the population in the villages. The best authorities say that for the plain of north-east China it is reasonable to estimate 300 villagers to the square mile in the sparsely settled villages, and about from 1,000 to 2,000 villagers for the more densely populated villages. Village roads practically do not exist; it is only the, Imperial highway for which the Chinese Government provides funds. The village elders collect subscriptions from time to time to keep open the paths between the fields, but in times of heavy rain or inundation communication, is entirely stopped till the water retires. The village wells are extremely well made, but they are not covered, and cattle are led to the well to drink. Except when quicksands prevent the sinking of permanent wells, the water supply of the villagers is plentiful. The villagers, how- ever, do not make use of the water like the southern Chinese and Indians for ablutions.
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