VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933
143
According to the theory, each Chia or Pao should select one of its members to serve as a headman, and this headman, when approved by the magistrate, becomes Ti-pao. In practice, however, the Ti-pao will stand at the head of a whole village, or of several small ones, as the agent of the magistrate.
How the Ti-pao is selected is not a matter of agreement. The official government view is well expressed by the Ta Ch'ing Hui Tien: "The scholars and people shall elect to this office men of probity, education and property.” Or, in the Ta Ch'ing Lü Li:
"In every District 100 Families shall elect one Headborough (or Hundred man) Li chang, and ten Tithing men Chia shou, who shall be charged for the year with the collection of the revenue and the arranging of other public matters. Any person who without warrant assumes the title of Chu-pao, Li-chang, Pao-chang or other title of authority, and takes advantage of that to exact levies from the people, shall be liable to 100 blows and banishment for two years. The elders from among whom the above elections are to be made, must be men of mature years and known merit, belonging to the locality, as approved by the majority, and no one who has held office or been employed as a Yamen underling, or been convicted of offence, shall be eligible. A breach of this law shall entail a punishment of 60 blows upon the offender, who shall also be deposed from office, and any official sanctioning such illegal election shall be liable to 40 blows, and in case of bribery to such severer penalty as the law against bribery for an illegal purpose may entail.”
Thus it will be seen that in theory the Ti-pao is chosen freely by the people, without interference from the magistrate. Hsieh is authority for the statement that the government even issued orders to the magistrate not to interfere in these elections.3 A dissenting view is expressed by Morse, who states that the Ti-pao is nominated
1 Jamieson; op. cit., p. 68.
2 Ta Ch'ing Lü Li (division of Hu Pu), Sec. 83, Lü. Translated by Jamieson, ibid., p. 63. Most of this passage has also been translated into French by Bazin and by Boulais, who also give the text: Bazin; op. cit., I, p. 25 ff.; Boulais; op. cit., p. 183-184. Also cf. Staunton, G.; Ta Tsing Leu Lee, p. 88-89, According to Dr. C. H. Peake the text should be broken after the words; "banishment for two years." The further discussion would then apply not to the Ti-pao, but only to the village elders. This distinction is not clearly brought out in any of the Western texts cited.
3 Hsieh, Pao Chao; The Government of China, p. 309.
VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933
143
According to the theory, each Chia or Pao should select one of its members to serve as a headman, and this headman, when approved by the magistrate, becomes Ti-pao. In practice, however, the Ti-pao will stand at the head of a whole village, or of several small ones, as the agent of the magistrate.
How the Ti-pao is selected is not a matter of agreement. The official government view is well expressed by the Ta Ch'ing Hui Tien: "The scholars and people shall elect to this office men of probity, education and property.” Or, in the Ta Ch'ing Lü Li:
"In every District 100 Families shall elect one Headborough (or Hundred man) Li chang, and ten Tithing men Chia shou, who shall be charged for the year with the collection of the revenue and the arranging of other public matters. Any person who without warrant assumes the title of Chu-pao, Li-chang, Pao- chang or other title of authority, and takes advantage of that to exact levies from the people, shall be liable to 100 blows and banishment for two years. The elders from among whom the above elections are to be made, must be men of mature years and known merit, belonging to the locality, as approved by the majority, and no one who has held office or been employed as a Yamen underling, or been convicted of offence, shall be eligible. A breach of this law shall entail a punishment of 60 blows upon the offender, who shall also be deposed from office, and any official sanctioning such illegal election shall be liable to 40 blows, and in case of bribery to such severer penalty as the law against bribery for an illegal purpose may entail.”
Thus it will be seen that in theory the Ti-pao is chosen freely by the people, without interference from the magistrate. Hsieh is authority for the statement that the government even issued orders to the magistrate not to interfere in these elections.3 A dissenting view is expressed by Morse, who states that the Ti-pao is nominated
1 Jamieson; op. cit., p. 68.
2 Ta Ch'ing Lü Li (division of Hu Pu), Sec. 83, Lü. Translated by Jamieson, ibid., p. 63. Most of this passage has also been translated into French by Bazin and by Boulais, who also give the text: Bazin; op. cit., I, p. 25 ff.; Boulais; op. cit., p. 183-184. Also cf. Staunton, G.; Ta Tsing Leu Lee, p. 88-89, According to Dr. C. H. Peake the text should be broken after the words; "banishment for two years." The further discus- sion would then apply not to the Ti-pao, but only to the village elders. This distinction is not clearly brought out in any of the Western texts cited.
3 Hsieh, Pao Chao; The Government of China, p. 309.
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