Changes In The Structure Of "Rural Governance" In Huizhou,Ming And Qing Dynasties

As an important part of Huizhou studies,Huizhou “Rural Governance”,concerned with hierarchical relation and career choice,should be paid more attention by Huizhou researchers.Influenced by the western “state-society” dichotomy or binary opposition mode,the researchers of Huizhou “Rural Governance” show an obvious tendency to equate “government” with “state” and “imperial power” with “state power”.Affected by this,“state-patriarchal clan” or “imperial power-gentry power” binary mode,also called“the gentry-clan”,has become almost the synonym of traditional rural society studies.Researchers in the field of Huizhou “Rural Governance” have also focused too much on either the clan or the gentry,and accordingly have neglected the management and control function of the merchant group.Having referred to the historical materials such as local chronicles,anthology,genealogy and official history,as well as the related research results,this paper aims to analyze and demonstrate the changes of “Rural Governance” structure in Huizhou in Ming and Qing dynasties from the perspective of “up” and “down”.When analyzing the infiltration and the adjustment of the “imperial power”,the first thing to be clarified is the definition and difference between the “government” and “state”,as well as the “imperial power” and “state power”.Besides,it is believed that that “imperial power”infiltration towards Huizhou rural society is not without restraint,but with adjustment in the meanwhile.Based on this,we can figure out the reason why the “gentry” and the“merchant”,under the oppression of the emperor and the government authority,can still play a significant role in the “Rural Governance” of Huizhou.To analyze the role better,the status change of the “gentry” and the “merchant” is firstly illustrated,followed by the specific demonstration of the “gentry and merchant confluence”.Furthermore,it is concluded that the “merchant” plays the same role in the “Rural Governance” of Huizhou as the “gentry” does,and the relationship between them is a kind of “cooperation” rather than “dependence”.Additionally,this paper also analyzes how the custom of “abandoning the Imperial Examination and engaging in business” occurred in Huizhou,and points out that the reason why the “merchant” in Huizhou and the “gentry” gradually tended tocoexist and became important participants in the “Rural Governance” of Huizhou.In fact,this phenomenon would never come about without the help of the sustained custom“abandoning the Imperial Examination and engaging in business” in Huizhou.In the conclusion part,the author analyses the “Rural Governance” of Huizhou under the framework of the “state power”,and regards it is for a common purpose that the “imperial power " adopted adjustment strategy while infiltrating,or that the “gentry” and the“merchant” play their roles in the “Rural governance” of Huizhou.That is,while promoting Huizhou's “Rural Governance”,it also makes the overall “state Governance" more perfect on this basis.