A Study On The Village Districts In The Song Dynasty

Gone through the changes of Late Tang and Five Dynasties, li(里) had been degenerated to one kind of village district unit like ts'un(村) at the beginning of the early Song Dynasty. Hsiang(乡) still had certain administrative function. The work that the county government administered the village was still carried out basing on the unit of hsiang.In the Seventh Year of KaiBao, the government decree to abolish hsiang was fulfilled in some areas such as Xiangzhou where hsiang was superseded by guan(管). This kind of guan whose function was embodied by Household chief was similar to the past hsiang. In more areas, the decree to abolish hsicmg wasn't carried out, so that the situation didn't change. In very few areas such as Deqing County, guan was set under hsiang. This kind of guan was similar to li.In hsiang and guan of Xiangzhou area, Elders(耆长) and Stalwartmen(壮丁) were drafted to take charge of the administrative work such as public security, lawsuit, etc. The district which Elders had jurisdiction over was called ch 'i(耆). It was not regarded as a regional unit, but a kind of special administrative district unit.After the Xi-Ning reform, the district of tu-pao(都保) was formed in the village with the practice of pao-jia(保甲) system. In Southern Song Dynasty, the Rule of Farm land Boundary marks was carried out according to the unit of tu-pao, so that the administrative function of tu-pao as village district was further strengthened. Tu-pao had possessed the double function controlling both land and household. The district of tu-pao long coexisted with the past districts such as hsiang, li, ts'un and guan, etc. Hsiang was used to fix the position and census register, etc, while tu-pao was divided by the registered permanent residence in order to administer the residents.The relationship among different village districts was complex. Li and ts 'un wereboth under hsiang and there wasn't subordinative relationship between them. Viewed from administration, hsien( ) directly controlled ch 'i without the interposal of hsiang. However, within the range of hsiang, there were a certain number of ch 'i according to the number of Elders. Hsiang and tu( ) respectively belonged to the two different district patterns. Both parties were only regional inclusive relationship. There weren't subordinative relationship of administration between them. Because the labor service system was differently carried out in different areas, the various village districts bore different meanings, which made the complexity more obvious. There were still some village districts called she( ), tuan( ), etc .In a word, the village districts in the Song Dynasty were complex and changeable. They formed a connecting link between those of Sui Tang and Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. It had a far-reaching influence on the late ages.