46 Rural China Police Control ct that the numbe of the hot useholds multiolving the number of government officials;by divisible by ten.Ot hers in the fronue putting the pao-chia under the supervision of local officials,it pre thihecpoen ker among th may be regimented togethe itnts.H ere cere intentloo,tere ture into seditious schemes with their fellow villagers.Thus even if individual criminals could not be completely eliminated,the oppor ncerted uprisings was greatly reduced. he and report to me what severe punishments should tunity for instigating c an instrum ay as much 1 ewho do not perform their terrentetectsomtepeopleasinm ith real carnestness;and how those A otury Westerp writer and persons in the is ostensibly a paternal government ruling its subjects through their 0 eal ferimes and The one ol the in by the em me ns, some writers the ethnic minorities,especially th categories do,is to misinterpret not only the function of the pao-c but alsc the nature of the imperial system. re for the first time placed under pao Such,then,was the theory of the chia as it was accepted by The clan anizations,kinship roups which dominated he Ch' did not o the villagea of south and Central china.were als into the control system by turning them into supplem the pao-chia. ation:it was unable even to establish uniformity in its structure. e cla cept perhaps for a few years at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- ore mer toge tury,when it was believed to have produced satisfactory results bers dwel a tsr-cheng [clan head]is unul the mi the empire,the syste gly to be selected from memb the ni century,when 0 cla upright in character rt to the local ofricials the ming ae it s erors attached great importance to it and had tried their best since er that erly dealt with.If he allows him its inception in the middle of the seventeenth century to make it func- ion.The Yung-cheng emperor made a particularly earnest effort ury to narrow the gap between pao-clido n 1644 and 1708. There is no better metbod of bandit s ssion than the soo-chia but local official ade of the b'i-t'ou,whereas the som rtyar- ntained poo-chang,chia-t'ou,and p'ai-f'ou.The
48 Rural China Police Control while the chia- were ordered to arrange themselves into pao-chia divisions in 1793 and1794. cluding that the omission of the p'ai division in 1726 indicated an actual By far the most serious effort to render the pao-chia system effec- change n the pao arrangement.I is sate to say,ho tive in the provinces of China proper was made by the Ch'ien-lung the imperial government was careless in its language and fore partly responsible for the confusion in terminology that puzzled uem many a later writer.The emperor himself may not have been clear the matter,he ordered all the governors-general and governors to about the exact arrangement of the system.He contended that "the report the local conditions in detail and to suggest concrete measures few households of a village may be arr ged into of improvement.On the basis of these reports the Board of Revenue oblivious of the fact that according to the regulations,ten households made a number of recommendations,including the selection of bao. 14 constituted a p'ai,whereas a chia contained one hundred.The"few cheng and chia 'ho erate,and prop rtied persons" households"of a tiny village were hardly sufficient to constitute a the institution of fi-fang to relieve the pao-chia heads of urging tax The inclusion of special categories of the people referred to above uotom n set a new trend in the pao-chia,making it virtually a system of uni- the original quota of personnel at the ari us levels versal surveillance,a trend that continued down to Tao-kuang times of the system. The pao-chia arrangement envisaged by the central A 1729 edict orde the banner in China proper to set authorities at this moment was of the three-level (pao-cheng,chia- 会2出 up pao-chia, chang,and p'ai-ou pattern,taking,apparently,the pao-cheng and chia from the 1726 omenclat and ai-l'ou from that of other respects,were not exempt from this all-inclusive control.By 1644.In 1775 an empire-wide checking of pao-chia registers was con- edicts of 1727 1751 d1758, their useholds were to join the same ducted.Apparently attaching a good deal of importance to these regis- pao-chia units that included those of the commoners who happened to eCh'ien-lung mperordered provincial ates touse be their neighbors and were made equally subject to the inspection s the basis of all reports on population of the chia-chang and pao-chang."Sp ecial categ ories s of the common From the latter part of the eighteenth century to the opening dec people con permi ed,were likewise regimented ades of the nineteenth,the imperial peace was marred by the out- An edict of 1729 brought the tfan-min(boat people)within the pale of break of a number of insurrections and revolts,the most important pao-chia control;the application of pao-chia'control to b'eng-min of which the uprisings led by the various of the White and liao-hu was extended in 1739;M and additional ethnic minorities including the Yao an Lotus in Shensi,Hunan,and Szechwan,and in 1813 the daringpo Mosl ordered in 1731and1756to of Lin-ch'ing,who was probably also a member of the White Lotus. eheadmen and toor- The imperial gover nt made use of the "village braves"in an attempt to suppress the out it also banked its hopes on Renewed emphasis splaced upon the police system during the the efficacious operation of the pao-chia as a preventive measure. an Chia More than ever,the government tried to inject new life and vigor into ofthetto the firstqof thencenry this time system.In 1746(Ch'ien-lung 11)the gov- signs of unrest became increasingly evident in many parts of the em ernment had already sought to use the pao chia as a weapon to fight pire.In a number of edicts and orders the rulers sought to extend and "heretical doctrines"and secret socleties.But with the beginning intensify the police control. Besides applying it to special categories of the reign of Chia-ch'ing imperial attention to the pao-chia was re- of the people,it was made to operate in far-flung places of the em- newed and did not abate until it became obvious that the pao-chia was pire.In 1733 (Yung-cheng 11)Taiwan (Formosa)was included in the altogether unequal to the task of coping with widespread and large pao-chia system.In 1743(Ch'ien-lung 8)it was decided that "inhabi scale social unrest. tants in Mongolia who cultivated the land should be ordered to set up An edict of 1799(Chia-ch'ing 4,in response to the petitions of a p'ai-t'ou,tsung-chia,and ten-household heads."This order was re- of central Bovernment offic cials)indicated the current im- iterated in 1757.Meanwhile farmers in Shansi and Shensi (then re perial view concerning the rural police system: e erritories) equired to do the same.mnhabi- off the coasts of Shantung and Chekiang provinces The method of pao-chia .as a means of detecting wicked and crim
50 Rural China Police Control time But wing to the fact that local have argine tax matter to drift during many years past they have come to regard it chia agents who 0g中 ahb o1 the contrary, 一oo ment.Re- ncere heart,so that cently this has become a con placarde),with a vie to makins These p'al-cin in re in 二 eordered that t and o时urping ar d collectine m wanted .As to the matter of thes agents are hmelyqing the localofc they should be g Ch- ch'ing empero iples for improving the pao- enig2inanoictof18o0 hese agents should clandestine activitics If, relying on "honest chia-chaur"for compiling the tion d to avolding the intrusion of yamen underlings;third,he asserted that red the ing inspection of the ten- households by local officials themselves orespect for thec ling out the wicked elements and relable records,and that such inspection giving peace to the good o like his 1t5 biepunishnetched e,nn at for those The emperor was convinced that thanks to As if anticipating the plot of Lin Ch'ing,an edict of 1801 order a more strict enforcement of the po-cia control in the metropolitan He redou ulying re- area of the imperial capital,particula rly over the temples where us des found lodging. t is known that the ermitted to make rauders and givin ield the the wanter o last we.in an al opera This order 0duopad urdonod nthe。 o re d on the pao-chia agents, tn th the ow and sien Wang chih-i and others m rd all the rele nt ms wri inted to the offices
52 Rural China Police Control 53 complied with the prescribed form in making the registration and outsido the capital. of dutiesothe than those eprlength releving them In an edict issued in the same year.the emperor spoke almost with elation over the success of the pao-chia in Kwangtung province: pateditovest o As explained by the emperor,its merits es of hired labor the time when farmhands and various ialized that he curate attainable. the most ac- Hu Ping-yao gh阳a- “ ce ta tae promulgated regulations. The emperor did not become complacent,however.Realizing that any a ing the cited,he re the edict he the matt r to the g s to report to the imperial court at the The hn-aoa as lien-ming edr0mime0 time,the records wil sponsibility on the part of the Theteorywa that the chia-chng and pobe They among thos threatened if lawbreakers were discovered d exe reater than c e all the of th crimes or criminals.The e less inclined to ver up more tha once insisted on its thorough that he can wicked Ch n any other incident probably imp r,the officials ent with om or迁the espon ibility. ontrol by means of joint take a to make troubie fo impose burden are suspl ious persons in the n inals are y to ndtouscri warded with mone y and offi The measures which the Chia-ch'ing emperor deemed necessary
54Rural ChinaPolice:Control55seditious criminals are harbored and no report is made, and if thesethepaochiawastheouteomeostoricalcircumstanceratherthanare arrested through information obtained by local officials,thepersonal predilection,When heascended the throne (1796),the dyhouseholds that harbor them will receive the same penalty as thenastyhad already passedits zenith.Growing socialand politicaldiscriminals. The ten households in the same p'at will be held jointly re-turbances,while notyet serlousenough to threaten the throne itse,sponstble.werealarminglywidespread and so persistent that maintenance ofAfurther step in this direction was taken in 1816 when the pao-chiaimperlalpeacewasdifficultHowtocopewiththlssituationofsmol-heads were required to furnish written bonds, An edict of this yearderingunrest andprevent itfrombreaking out intoa conflagration atopenoltbcameanurgentquestionwasnfficialparancereads:problem of"bandit suppression"that claimed theforemost attentionAt present the pao-chia is in operation in the provinces and the ment-of theimperial government.n trying tomeet this problem, the emp'af have been checked, But in the abeence of definite responsibility,peror found no better instrument than the bao-chia apparatus.it isfeared that some ofthe li-chonig[sic/ and chia-chang may resortThe emperor foresaw the impending danger, About thirty-five yearsto the evil practice of covering up [crimes and criminais], it is or-after he issued the edict (1814) in which he made a desperate effortdered that governors-general and governors of the provinces againto rid the countryside ofpersons practicing heretical religions"byissue strict directives to the local otficials who shali, at the timeofmeansof the pao-chia,a great rebellion led by leaders of a"hereti-making pao-chia registration, require lf-chong and chia-chag tofurnish iien-mtng hu-pao han-chieh [willing bonds of joint pledge andcal sect" broke out in South China and nearly overthrew the dynasty.mutual responsibilityl. If there are in the neighborhoods personsButhewas lessaccurateinestimatingtheefficacyofthepao-chiawhose origins are doubtful or whose ways are suspicious, and theas aninstrument of controlin thefaceofthe risingtideof"banditry.li-chamg and others concerned refuse to furnish bonds for them outIt appears that the pao-chia proved an effective deterrent only in timesot fear of being implicated [in caseof crime], these should be im-ofrelativetranquility whenfewoftherural inhabitants weredrivenmediately reported, On the other hand, if bonds are furnished andbydesperationto"treadthedangerouspath"butinperiodofgeneralsubsequently it is discovered that the persons for whom the bondsunrest the pao-chia was no more able than any other instrument of im-havebeen furnished have committed erime or offenses,or arefugi-erial control to operate with its peacetimeefficiency (or,moreac-tive-criminals of a seditious nature, the li-chang and chia-chogcurately, semi-efficiency). It was, in fact, outmoded by the changedfurnishing the bonds shall be heid jointly responsible, The degree ofcireumstances,punishment varies proportionally with the degree of gravity of theThe Chia-ch'ing emperor's successors showed comparatively littlecrime committed.tnterest in the pao-chia, A survey of the official records reveals thatfrom theTao-kuang reign to the end of the dynasty (1821-1911) scantMeanwhile, aware that overburdened pao-chia agents could not dis-mention was made of it, The Tao-kuang emperor spokce of it occasion-charge their duties properly, the emperor endeavored to simplify andally; he still recognized the theoretical usefulness of the system, solighten their work. The pao-chang and chia-chang had been given amuch so that in 1850 he attributed the rampant "banditry"(especiallyvariety of irrelevant tasks to perform, which unavoidably distractedin Hunan, Kwangsi, and Kwangtung) directly to the decay of the pao-them from theirproperresponsibiities asdefined in 1644Theem-chia."But he was no longer sanguine about the practical usefulnessperor therefore ordered in 1814 that"the tasks of arresting criminalsof the police control system and had no suggestion as to how to re-and of urging and collecting money and grain taxes should no longervitallze it, Thereafter the pao-chie became except in isolated in-be assigned" to them, The same idea underlay the following edict,stances lttle more than a mere hu-shih (an antiquated formality).issued in1815:The editors of the official compilation,Huang-ch'ao hst wen-hsient'ng-h'ao,went so far as to conclude that the pao-chda had becomerP'ai-t'ow and chia-changi should be entrusted solely with the tasktotally and absolutely useless.of investigating marauders and maintaining peace in the neighbor-Up to this point, we have been reviewing the action taken by thehoods, Ali other miscellaneous services, including furnishing sup-plies, making arrests, and running errands, should not be imposedimperial government to implement the pao-chia as an empire-wideon them, in order that good people will not be deterred by possiblesystem of control. As official documents show, the emperors em-losses and dread to enter these offices, *phatically affirmed the importance of this system but at the sametime complained that it often fell short in performance. The pao-As already pointed out, the Chia-ch'ing emperor's keen interest inchia was in fact beset with inherent weaknesses and confronted with