What kind of people did the squire refer to? Did the governance below the county level really depend on them in the Qing Dynasty?

When we watch various film and television dramas in the Qing dynasty, we often find that there are? Do you know the official recipe of Jiupin Sesame? This kind of characterization. It seems that this sesame official grandfather is the lowest official. Then, how did the Qing Dynasty manage the grass-roots society below the county level? Let's take a look at the rotten ke ren jun.

I. Government governance

County official system is the lowest level of official system in Qing Dynasty. The county magistrate is the magistrate of a county, for short? County magistrate? . The power in charge of the county magistrate is very mixed with the affairs that need to be handled, including the political function of local administration, the economic function of collecting taxes, the legal function of hearing cases, and the educational function of setting up education. That is, it is recorded in the draft of Qing history:? The magistrate of a county is in charge of the rule of a county, deciding the lawsuit to break the monarch, persuading farmers to help the poor, seeking rape and eliminating rape, and promoting education. Fan Gong is invincible in reading the law, supporting the elderly and worshiping God. ? Grandfather county is generally the top scholar in the imperial examination, and he is relatively unfamiliar with local administration, so he needs to find a professional assistant to help him. This group is touts. Beloved is a special group in Qing Dynasty. They are proficient in legal trial and money valley warehouse, thus serving the county government. But they don't belong to the government staff, they are assistants recruited by the county grandfather privately. Shaoxing touts are the most famous among touts, and almost monopolized their business in the Qing Dynasty. So that Shaoxing dialect became a buzzword in Qing officialdom.

Under the county magistrate, there is a county magistrate and a master book, which is in charge of money and grain, household registration, taxation, governor, river defense and so on. However, there are no quotas for these officials, and they are determined according to actual needs. At the same time, after the Qing dynasty, miscellaneous officials with different names appeared in the county government, who were responsible for collecting money and grain taxes in villages and counting accounts. They are equivalent to government clerks and officials of the county government who directly contact with villages. In addition, Confucianism was generally set up in counties in the Qing Dynasty, with one person teaching and one person teaching, which was responsible for the education in the county.

In the Qing Dynasty, the grass-roots society cooperated with the county government to carry out institutional governance, that is, Li society and Baojia system. Commune system is a rural organization system. Generally, 1 10 households are regarded as a commune, and ten households with large grain crops in a commune take turns to be commune chiefs, once a year. The remaining 100 households are ten households, and each household chooses the first person to assist in governance. Baojia system is a grass-roots military organization system, so-called? The family gave a stamped card with the name and the number of men on it. Going out can prove where to go, and going in can find out where to come from. Ten households set a card head, ten cards set a shot, and ten armour set a constant treasure? . Jiabao should be responsible for grass-roots public security, including patrolling, talking about the moon in the countryside, and the safety of ancestral temple meetings. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the function of Baojia system began to change to demography.

Second, the squire governance

The administrative setup of the government below the county level in the Qing Dynasty was not as perfect as we are today, so who will maintain the stability of the grassroots society? The answer is that the squire, also known as the gentry, was a special social class active in villages all over the country during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The gentry group appeared after the middle of Ming Dynasty. Wang Youguang, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, once said: courtiers are the hope of the king. If you can take the lead, more people will be eager to work. People who belong to their own country, whether they are civil and military officials, or at home or at home, should actively participate in it and strive to cultivate seeds. ?

There is a close relationship between the gentry group and the bureaucratic group. Their composition is mainly divided into the following three categories: officials in the bureaucratic system, but on vacation in the countryside; Officials who leave after retirement; Obtained fame and academic title in the imperial examination, but there was no official. Because of the local concept of ancient people in China, they always miss their hometown. After leaving their jobs, they will leave the leaves and return to their villages. They have the same interests as the villagers, so they will take the initiative to safeguard the interests of the village, clan and villagers. They used to be officials and educated scholars. Villagers in traditional society have infinite admiration for them and will obey their arrangements and instructions. At the same time, because they are all scholars under the imperial examination system, the knowledge system formed under the imperial examination system and the patriotic sentiment of loyalty to the monarch cultivated by Confucianism have a strong emotional support for the Qing Dynasty and the emperor. Therefore, the government also promised them to govern the countryside and granted them informal power.

China emphasized the consanguinity clan since ancient times, and generally lived in groups. Because of their political, economic and cultural status, the squire is generally the leader of the clan, so they have the right and obligation to manage the whole clan and even the whole village society. In rural society, squire, as an intellectual class who has mastered culture, has the power to formulate and explain rural rules and regulations. Since there were no professional lawyers in ancient China, the squire was also responsible for adjudicating disputes and mediating litigation cases in the village. The squire is also responsible for the enlightenment and education of rural people. They set up private schools, academies and compulsory schools in rural areas, and often participate in teaching activities to cultivate more talents for rural people.

Three: Etiquette education

Another important tool of villagers' autonomy is the application of Confucian etiquette in villagers' society. Although Confucian etiquette originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was not valued by all previous dynasties. Confucianism? A gift? The applicable person is a gentleman, which is what we are familiar with? Can't you be polite to Shu Ren? . But by the Tang Dynasty, the gentry had declined and gradually disappeared. So what? Can't you be polite to Shu Ren? Things have changed. During the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, etiquette for civilians appeared for the first time in Kaiyuan Rites. After the Song Dynasty, this etiquette gradually became strict with Wang. The ruling class began to pay attention to governing the grass-roots society through courtesy, and the core idea was to change customs and improve the education level of the people.

In the Ming dynasty, he devoted himself to bringing people into the etiquette system of the dynasty at the level of system design. The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty once highly praised Family Rites, thinking that it was second only to Zhu's Notes on Four Books. In the Qing Dynasty, the thought of rule by etiquette was strengthened, and etiquette was regarded as the core value of society and thought. Guided by the thought of ritual system, it is carried out in the daily life of villagers, emphasizing the ritual practice of offering sacrifices to ancestors within the clan and attaching importance to daily rituals such as weddings, funerals and weddings. If villagers violate etiquette, they will be severely condemned by public opinion and even punished by village rules and regulations. So that in the era when Mr. Lu Xun lived, he launched the grassroots society in China? Ethical cannibalism? A voice of condemnation.