Lecture 09-26-05, Foreign Cultures 63
Lecture 09-26-05, Foreign Cultures 63
Lecture 09-26-05, Foreign Cultures 63
2005
Recall late imperial China had a bureaucratic empire (small number of officials ruling a large,
fractious society).
Within localities there were basically no government officials (lowest rank was the county
officials); rise of local clans
Still, government required that sub-county individuals grouped themselves such that it
was easy for the larger government to exert control
Note: goals of the state were “pre-modern”; i.e. no one assumed that the government would run
schools, build infrastructure, etc. Relatively modest goals of the government
Two main goals:
Maintain order
Collect taxes
baojia system: system for (1) maintaining order 10 families were clumped into groups – some
individual was their representative. 10 family groups reported to another representative, and so
on.
None of these representatives were officials of the government.
Mutual reporting system (punishment not only for breaking the law, but also for failing to
report breaking the law)
Mutual responsibility
Individuals were responsible not only for their own actions, but also for the actions of
their neighbors.
90% of population engaged in farming – not just subsistence farming; crops grown for
sale for centuries; well-developed pre-industrial agricultural system.
Private family ownership of land; relatively free-market system of buying/renting land
Different systems of rent: pay portion of the crop, pay a fixed amount
Rent often a substantial amount (e.g. 50% of crop given to landlord)
Extensive system of contracts
Some families were wealthy enough to live off of rents/interest from lending money;
some were able to hire labor.
Some were much poorer – wealth inequality.
No limits on land purchasing – wealthy families could buy up extra land.
Not an aristocratic society; not a caste system; relatively large amount of mobility, but
much inequality
Is this western-style feudalism?
in feudalism, you are born into a caste; not so here
in feudalism, the local lord owns land, distributes it; not so here
in feudalism, serfs are bound to the land, not so here
hard to classify – not feudalism, not full capitalism