A Study On The Establishment Of County Administrative District In Jiangxi Province During The Ming And Qing Dynasty

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the evolution of administrative districts of Jiangxi proceeded to the stage of establishment and stabilization, in which the basic framework of the system of the administrative districts of Jiangxi had formed. In this period, the high level administrative districts and prefecture districts were basically stable, but county level administrative districts changed greatly. More specifically, nine counties were gradually added from the Zhengde reign to the Wanli reign during the Ming dynasty, and on that basis, four tings were gradually added during the Qing dynasty. Through investigating the nine counties and four tings added during the Ming and Qing dynasties, this paper thinks that the decision-making process of setting up counties and tings is result of the game among multilateral interest groups, in which local gentry, officials of local government at several levels and the central officials embarked upon a political venture, and expressed their claims and demands; meanwhile, among the local gentry, among the officials of local government at all levels, between the before and after officials, between the central government and the local governments, there were filled with the interaction and combat of interests. After making decision about setting up new counties and tings, there were also many things they needed to do such as considering the legacy, geographical boundary and grass-roots organizations. If setting up a new administrative district had not realized the expected goals, there would be a process of readjustment. Through the research of this paper, we can have a deepened impression on the developing process of county level administrative districts in Jiangxi, which had been exploited more maturely, during the Ming and Qing dynasties.