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dency of one or several elders. Often there is also a clan council which has charge of such administrative duties as the handling of finances, stewardship over the clan estate, and the administration of charities. But it is specifically the clan elders who administer judicial and ethical matters. They constantly emphasize by word and deed the mores of the clan, and when custom is flouted they are quick to bring the offender to term. In the judicial field they have the duty of settling quarrels and trying those criminal cases which are not too flagrant to be kept out of the magistral court. It is thus evident that the clan has within itself all the necessary elements for government within the narrow sphere of the kin group.
In the village composed of more than one clan—the situation most common in North China—there is of necessity a larger organization than that of the family. But the government in this sort of village makes use of, and is in fact based upon familist administration. The diversity in modes of village government in various parts of China—especially as between North and South China—is largely due to the superimposition of the later type of organization, civism, upon the earlier, and in some ways disparate form of familism. Civism is not as compact a form of organization as familism, but because villages are usually small, and because the mode of life is self-contained, civic government on a traditional and customary basis is quite effective.
Leadership in a Chinese village rests in the hands of a group of men commonly spoken of as elders, who owe their authority to several factors: their status, their age, and their ability along special lines such as scholarship and skill in enforcing and manipulating familist values. These elders are reinforced in their position by the familist values, but their position is being challenged today by younger men who represent the new values of modernism.
The village temple is the recognized center of village government, and is presided over by these elders, while certain routine matters of village administration are performed by a temple council, annually chosen. Among these administrative duties are the handling of village finances, policing the village, and upkeep of public property. The village elders, as differentiated from the council of the temple, are responsible for the morals of the village, for enforcing customary law, and for the handling of judicial problems. In this latter function they derive some power from custom, but more
162
C. MARTIN WILBUR
dency of one or several elders. Often there is also a clan council which has charge of such administrative duties as the handling of finances, stewardship over the clan estate, and the administration of charities. But it is specifically the clan elders who administer judi- cial and ethical matters. They constantly emphasize by word and deed the mores of the clan, and when custom is flouted they are quick to bring the offender to term. In the judicial field they have the duty of settling quarrels and trying those criminal cases which are not too flagrant to be kept out of the magistral court. It is thus evident that the clan has within itself all the necessary elements for government within the narrow sphere of the kin group.
In the village composed of more than one clan—the situation most common in North China—there is of necessity a larger organi- zation than that of the family. But the government in this sort of village makes use of, and is in fact based upon familist administra- tion. The diversity in modes of village government in various parts of China-especially as between North and South China--is largely due to the superimposition of the later type of organization, civism, upon the earlier, and in some ways disparate form of familism. Civism is not as compact a form of organization as familism, but because villages are usually small, and because the mode of life is self-contained, civic government on a traditional and customary basis is quite effective.
Leadership in a Chinese village rests in the hands of a group of men commonly spoken of as elders, who owe their authority to several factors: their status, their age, and their ability along special lines such as scholarship and skill in enforcing and manipulating familist values. These elders are reinforced in their position by the familist values, but their position is being challenged today by younger men who represent the new values of modernism.
The village temple is the recognized center of village govern- ment, and is presided over by these elders, while certain routine matters of village administration are performed by a temple council, annually chosen. Among these administrative duties are the hand- ling of village finances, policing the village, and upkeep of public property. The village elders, as differentiated from the council of the temple, are responsible for the morals of the village, for enfor cing customary law, and for the handling of judicial problems. In this latter function they derive some power from custom, but more
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