Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 7, 2022

The Xiangyi Theory and the Evolution of the Rural System

(Abstract)

Bao Weimin

Ma Duanlin put forward the theory of xiangyi (township officials), stating that in the early imperial period of China, xiangshou (township sheriffs) and lixu (village officers) were officials, but beginning in the Tang and Song, these posts were filled by those with non-official posts, who were especially difficult in meeting heavy official demands. This theory is not entirely in line with historical facts. Beginning with the Qin and Han dynasties, the xiang (township) was a regional quasi-political unit, and the township sheriff was a low-ranking official. In the Sui dynasty, the township was changed to a joint household unit, and the sheriff became a retainer from a non-official household. Village officers were always appointed from these households. The new taxation system, which was based on property, had a profound impact on grassroots administration. From the Tang to the middle of the Northern Song, due to the large size of village (management) units, the most important business of grassroots administration, tax collection, was mostly controlled by the upper households or by people who filled the posts on behalf of others. Compared to county administration, the administration of townships and villages had not yet become a major problem. With the implementation of the new law of the Xifeng reign, tax units of 100 households were set up within the scope of the dubao (500 households), and heads of dabao (50 households) were set up as heads of these households for tax collecting purposes. In this process, the government’s power was further extended to the grassroots, and the administrative burden of tax collection was spread across most of the middle strata and even the lower households. In the Southern Song, there was a worsening situation as “the government demanded taxes based on false registers, and the people suffered corvée labor that destroyed the family.” This influenced the later lijia system.