Grassroots authority in rural Guangdong during late Qing and early Republican times

Abstract

Gongju, or public offices, controlled by the local gentry class, were the grassroots authorities in rural Guangdong during the late Qing. These offices maintained their own armed forces and usually had powers of administration, tax collection, and self-defense, as well as judicial powers. They were considered the extension of prefecture and county governments. With the authorization of the prefecture and county governments, these offices had the power to deal with important legal cases. Although they came under attack during the 1911 Revolution, these offices were able to recover quickly in different forms. In the late Qing era, local gentry with official titles earned in middle-level or lower-level civil service examinations took the leadership roles in such grassroots offices, but they were replaced by people who had direct control over the armed forces during Republican times.

Keywords:

• Guangdong
• late Qing
• early Republican times
• gongyue (public covenant)
• gongju (public offices)
• rural grassroots authorities
• grassroots judicial powers

Notes

¹ Many works of scholarship have made enlightening points on grassroots authorities in China’s countryside, including Huangquan yu shenquan by Wu Han and Fei Xiaotong; Zhongguo shenshi by Zhang Zhongli; Local Government in China under the Ch’ing by Ch’u T’ung-tsu (Qu Tongzu); Rural China and Compromise in Imperial China, both by Hsiao; and Huang’s The Peasant Economy and Social Change in North China. There have also been important publications in recent years, for example, the Chinese translation of Myers’ The Chinese Peasant Economy and Li Huaiyin’s Huabei cunzhi.

² Duara, Culture, Power, and the State.

³ During the 1960s–1970s, works by Frederic Wakeman, Jr. and J. Y. Wong mentioned the existence of these public offices in the 1850s. They pointed out that such local authorities were proxy agencies of the government in the countryside with political, judicial, and financial powers. But neither of these two scholars discussed this issue further. See Wakeman, Strangers at the Gate, 144; Wong, Yeh Ming-ch’en, 57–58.

⁴ “Jianzhi: Gongyue,” 62.

⁵ “Liezhuan: Wenzhizhuan,” 498.

⁶ The Red Turban Revolt was a great rebellion by Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) members in Guangdong during the 1850s. It started in 1854. The rebels took dozens of cities and towns and even laid siege to Guangzhou. The rebellion was suppressed by Qing government troops and local militias. Some of the rebels later joined the Taiping Rebellion.

⁷ Du Fengzhi, “Wangfu xingguan huanyue riji,” vol. 10, 298.

⁸ Zhang Zhidong, “Zha geying gaojie jiangshi,” 2534–2535.

⁹ Xu Gengbi, “Bingban feixiang shiyi,” 225.

¹⁰ Kwangtung Provincial Archives: Documents of the Chinese Administration in Kwangtung, FO 931/235, FO 931/237, The National Archives of the United Kingdom, London (cited from the copies, E205–E207, E217–E222, stored at the Center for Historical Anthropology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou).

¹¹ See Qiu Jie, “Qingmo Xiangshan de xiangyue,” 70.

¹² Nie Erkang, “Xi’nan shuyuan,” 64.

¹³ For example, novelist Wu Jianren (1867–1910), born in Nanhai County, Guangdong Province, once mentioned in chapter 56 of his novel, Ershinian mudu zhi guaixianzhuang, “In many regions in our Guangdong Province, there is always a gongju in each town in which several publicly elected gentry members sit and judge disputes among villagers,” 439. This description supports the idea that gongju was the general name for such grassroots authorities.

¹⁴ “Jianzhi: Gongyue,” 61–64.

¹⁵ “Jianzhi: Jusuo,” 414. Xiangshan xunbao was a local newspaper published every 10 days in Xiangshan County of Guangdong Province in the late Qing. It was established in 1908 and it carried many comments by county magistrates on lawsuits and reports from gongyue and gongju. It also published commentaries, county news, and articles with a lot of information about rural grassroots authorities. The Xiangshan xunbao (1908–1911) we read are mostly electronic copies stored at the Cuiheng Museum in Dr Sun Yat-sen’s Former Residence in Zhongshan County, Guangdong Province; others were original copies reserved at Peking University Library.

¹⁶ “Jianzhi zhisan: Gongjian,” 160–163.

¹⁷ “Xianpi: Huangshun jingpi,” 32.

¹⁸ “Xianpi: Jieyongxiang jupi,” 31.

¹⁹ Kwangtung Provincial Archives: Documents of Chinese Administration in Kwangtung, London, FO 931/235, and also copies in Guangzhou, E205–E207.

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ “Nanhai chaoying.”

²² Liu Zhiwei and Chen Chunsheng, “Qingmo minchu Guangdong xiangcun yipie,” 433–435.

²³ Manuscripts on Management of Shawan Public Issues and Clan Affairs, 1911–1912, (see photo) no. 2, from Professor Liu Zhiwei’s personal collection, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou.

²⁴ Ibid., (see photo) no. 38.

²⁵ “Xianpi: Shenwan gongyue pi,” 40–41.

²⁶ “Benyi xinwen: Dangchang huofei sanming,” 56.

²⁷ “Tanya xiedou,” 4.

²⁸ “Ji’niang xiedou,” 4.

²⁹ “Xiangdou xiangshu,” 4.

³⁰ Du Fengzhi, “Wangfu xingguan huanyue riji,” vol. 13, 419; vol. 14, 541; vol. 15, 391.

³¹ “Xianpi: Liu Tingkui pi,” 39.

³² “Shiban cijuan,” 2.

³³ Tidal land here refers to coastal land silted up in the Zhujiang (Pearl River) Delta, which is rich and easy to irrigate.

³⁴ Guangdong qingli caizhengju, Guangdong caizheng shuomingshu, 103.

³⁵ “Xianpi: Liangdu gongyue pi,” 46.

³⁶ Du Fengzhi, “Wangfu xingguan huanyue riji,” vol. 13, 465–466.

³⁷ Ibid., vol. 15, 234.

³⁸ “Xianpi: Huangliangduyue pi,” 28.

³⁹ “Shanlicaizhe bineng qingsuan gongchan,” 9.

⁴⁰ “Xiqiao xiangju youqi fengchao,” 4.

⁴¹ Ibid.

⁴² “Nanhai yujuan jibian xiangqing,” 2.

⁴³ “Gaobai,” 2.

⁴⁴ “Xianpi: Liang Yaoyuan pi,” 21.

⁴⁵ “Xianpi: Hefushi pi,” 33.

⁴⁶ “Benyi xinwen: Yueshen chengren kaiguan kanyan zhi wuli,” 50.

⁴⁷ “Xinglu Fazhong,” 420–428.

⁴⁸ “Benyi xinwen: Yinya shangren,” 26.

⁴⁹ “Benyi xinwen: Yinjiansharen zhi yi’an,” 23.

⁵⁰ “Xianpi: Liang Zhenghua pi,” 30.

⁵¹ “Benyi xinwen: Fangqiang biren,” 22.

⁵² “Benyi xinwen: Xianbei hongbi,” 69.

⁵³ “Xianpi: Zhuoshan fenju pi,” 32.

⁵⁴ “Guaifu qiaozhuang,” 9.

⁵⁵ “Shunde tuanlian zongju shimo,” 873.

⁵⁶ “Liezhuan: Wu Jingxing,” 433.

⁵⁷ Du Fengzhi, “Wangfu xingguan huanyue riji,” vol. 10, 96–98.

⁵⁸ For the “execution on the spot” (jiudi zhengfa) rule, see Wang Ruicheng, “Jiudi zhengfa,” 212–244. Also see Zhang Shiming, “Qingmo jiudi zhengfa zhidu,” no. 1 (2012), 46–57, and no. 2 (2012), 59–70.

⁵⁹ “Tongchi yanban huifei,” 3.

⁶⁰ “Xianpi: Liu Yaoguang pi,” 32.

⁶¹ “Huxiang baofu,” 5; “Gexiang jingcha zhi jinxing,” 6.

⁶² Influential scholarly studies on this topic in China in the last two or three decades include Zheng Qin’s Qingdai sifa shenpan zhidu; Liang Zhiping’s Qingdai xiguanfa; Wu Jiyuan’s Qingdai difang zhengfu; and the following three works by Huang: Minshi shenpan yu minjian tiaojie; Qingdai de falu shehui yu wenhua; and Fadian xisu yu sifa shijian.

⁶³ For example, Du Fengzhi, Guangning County magistrate, recorded in his journal many cases in which he invited local gentry members to help deal with civil conflicts. During that period, gongju had not yet been established across the county. See Qiu Jie, “Zhixian yu difang shishen,” 26–29.

⁶⁴ “Yudilue,” 25.

⁶⁵ “Lun zhi Yue zhengce,” 2.

⁶⁶ Qiu Jie, “Qingmo minchu difang zhengfu,” 50–51.

⁶⁷ “Guangdong chouban baojia,” 5.

⁶⁸ “Shengbao zhi Jiujiang fengchao,” 12; “Nanhai xian chengbao Jiujiang fengchao shimo,” 15.

⁶⁹ Qiu Jie, Jindai Zhongguo minjian wuqi, 52–55.

⁷⁰ He Wenping has done extensive research on how certain former outlaws turned into local leaders in Guangdong during the early years of the Republic of China. See He Wenping, Bianluanzhong de difang quanshi, 281–299.

⁷¹ The Shangtuan Incident of August–October 1924 refers to the rebellion launched by shangtuan in Guangzhou against the revolutionary government led by Sun Yat-sen.

⁷² Guangdongsheng caizhengting, “Guangdongsheng caizheng jishi,” 11–12, 102–107.

⁷³ Ibid., 162–163, 195–199. 1 mu equals 666.7 square meter.

⁷⁴ “Guangdongsheng nongmin xiehui,” vol. 4, 578.

⁷⁵ Qian Duansheng et al., Minguo zhengzhi shi, 673.

⁷⁶ Chu T’ung-tsu (Qu Tongzu), Qingdai difang zhengfu, 282.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jie Qiu

QIU Jie is a professor in the Department of History at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou. Professor Qiu’s major research topics include Dr Sun Yat-sen and the Republican Revolution, and modern Guangdong society. Professor Qiu’s publications include: Revolutionary Movements under the Leadership of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Guangdong during the Late Qing and Early Republican Years (Guangzhou: Guangdong People’s Publishing House, 1996); and Weapons among Civilians in Modern China (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2012). Professor Qiu’s articles include “Cooperation and Conflict between County Magistrates and Local Gentry,” Modern Chinese History Studies, no. 1 (2006); “Late Qing Gongju in Guangdong: The Power Structure of Grassroots Authorities Controlled by Gentry in the Countryside,” Journal of Sun Yat-sen University (Social Science section), no. 4 (2005); and others.

Yi’na Wang

WANG Yi’na is an assistant researcher at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, Guangzhou. Wang Yi’na’s publications include “The Origins and Early Development of Gongyue and Gongju in the Pearl River Delta during the Late Qing Years,” Social Sciences in Guangdong, no. 6 (2011); and “The Power Structure of Guangdong Gentry Before and After the Taiping Rebellion,” in Taiping Rebellion and Modern Society in China: Proceedings of the Forum on the 160^th Anniversary of the Taiping Rebellion, vol. 2 (Guangzhou: Guangdong People’s Publishing House, 2012).