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15 November 2009, Volume 0 Issue 4 Previous Issue    Next Issue

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The Cost of "Bao Shichen Justice":A Legal-economic Analysis of the Legal Investigative Bureaus (Fashenju) during the Late Qing ZHANG Shi-Ming, FENG Yong-Ming 2009, 0(4): 1-34.  Abstract ( )   PDF (3629KB) ( )   With the empire-wide sharp increase in cases that resulted from the Jiaqing emperor lifting the prohibition on direct appeals to Beijing, the longstanding scarcity of governmental resources in the Qing dynasty went from bad to worse. In order to mitigate this embarrassing situation, provincial governors drew upon resources from the traditional judicial administrative system and instituted temporary, informal Legal Investigative Bureaus (Fashenju) . Because the Legal Investigative Bureaus proved to be superior in relieving the backlog of cases, and their internal staff and adjudicative procedures steadily developed and matured, the Legal Investigative Bureaus evolved into a specialized branch of the traditional judicial system. The development of Legal Investigative Bureaus reveals that, although the late Qing judicial reforms transplanted many elements of the Western legal system, the process of legal reform also drew upon resources from the traditional system. Related Articles | Metrics

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A Reconsideration of Administrative Divisions of the Local Judiciary in Qing Dynasty:Flexibility and Stability in Judicial Administration during the Qianlong Reign Wei-Shu-Min 2009, 0(4): 35-43.  Abstract ( )   PDF (1811KB) ( )   Among legal historians there are three principal viewpoints regarding the administrative divisions of the local judiciary in the Qing Dynasty. Although scholars have reached different conclusions, they agree on the overall structure. There were four levels of judicial review in the Qing dynasty through an examination of cases that were reversed drawn from the Board of Punishment Imperial Registers of overturned cases. But the administrative divisions of the local judiciary were not static or absolute. Taking a macroscopic view of judicial administration primarily relying on cases from Shanxi, Hupei provinces, this article examines the changing judicial process for criminal cases in directly administered prefectures, specifically the transmission of cases by the circuit-level official. In this way, the author generalizes comprehensively both the changing and stable characteristics of local judicial administration and the background of local administrative practice. These two different aspects of judicial administration, flexibility and stability, both reflect the importance of local officials, such as Governors, Surveillance Commissioners, Provincial Administration Commissioners, and Circuit Intendants. Moreover, central government and local officials held different views due to their different positions in handling of judicial affairs. Related Articles | Metrics

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The Interplay between the Central and the Local Governments:Increasing of the Number of Enrollees in the Imperial Examinations in the Xianfeng and Tongzhi Reigns of the Late Qing Dynasty XIE Hai-Tao 2009, 0(4): 44-55.  Abstract ( )   PDF (347KB) ( )   During the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns, the Qing court enacted a policy of enlarging the imperial examination quotas in return for contributions in order to extract more resources from localities. This policy was implemented to alleviate the financial crisis created by the Taiping Rebellion and other large scale peasant revolts. At the same time the central government also empowered local authorities to increase the enrollees for the local examinations and the number of examinations at the provincial level to repay the contributors. Raising these quotas created greater interest in obtaining degrees; however, the availability of seats for these two exams was not considered so precious that people were willing to donate blindly to increase them. At the peak of this policy’s implementation we find local governments, with the central government’s eager encouragement, utilized a variety of methods and expenditures to increase quotas. Although the central government set limits and guarded against a runaway increase in quotas, the damage to the quota system had already occurred. In twenty years the rate of growth in the number of enrollees in the exam was astonishing. In the interplay between the central and the local Governments, the local governments conveyed its loyalty and the central government rewarded this loyalty. In this way the system for distributing examination quota was changed. Related Articles | Metrics

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"Nanzhang" as another Name of Laos:A Mistaken View LI Kun-Rui 2009, 0(4): 56-71.  Abstract ( )   PDF (2920KB) ( )   “Nanzhang” was one of Qing Dynasty’s tributary states. It is widely assumed that “Nanzhang” was another name of Laos. The Da Qing Huidian and many other historical sources support this view. However, Laos, which had been a united kingdom in the Ming Dynasty, divided into three parts in the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth century. The northern territory of Laos became a new kingdom, Luang Prabang, which was known as “Nanzhang” in Chinese records. Thus, the view that “Nanzhang” was another name of Laos is mistaken. The provenance and general acceptance of this view is related to some features of information gathering under the tributary system. In the late Qing, people had a better understanding of “Nanzhang”. In fact, many people knew that Siam had annexed “Nanzhang”. Despite this, most people still held the erroneous view that “Nanzhang” was another name for Laos. Related Articles | Metrics

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Between Two Shores:The Lives of Overseas Chinese as Depicted in Chinese Serial (1853—1856) LI Zhi-Jun 2009, 0(4): 72-88.  Abstract ( )   PDF (3077KB) ( )   During the mid-nineteenth century, the ocean was an influent ial ?? commons, ?? but the coast was a typical “marginal zone.” In the territory of the Qing, the imbalance between the central government and its local representatives, the gentry, in the marginal zone lead to the difference in power between migrants and locals in the treaty port . The competition for power provided the impetus for migration. In the ocean “commons,” a limited order radiated outward from the port cities, but outside the limited zone of order, pirates, profiteers and typhoon determined the fate of migrants. Setting foot on foreign lands, Chinese people were strangers. They were once again in a marginal zone unprotected by the “umbrella” of citizenship. These arduous journeys were described in detail in Chinese Serial , which was published between August 1853 and May 1856. This article gleans a melange of monthly news across space and time from the Chinese Serial to reconstruct the lives of Chinese people in foreign countries. Socially, the difficult lives of Chinese immigrants were rooted in their perception as people mercilessly discarded by the Qing government. Secondly, the basic social organization of overseas Chinese, the tong , was the root of harsh, regular clashes between overseas Chinese and Western legal systems. Thirdly, the imbalance in sex rat io among overseas Chinese communities, not only contributed to their rootlessness in alien lands, but also caused many social problems. Longstanding racism and religious differences between Westerners and Chinese also intensified the clash. These cultural and social gulfs and clashes left Chinese immigrants with no space or discursive power in foreign lands. Related Articles | Metrics

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Eunuch Monasteries in Late Imperial China ZHANG Xue-Song 2009, 0(4): 89-96.  Abstract ( )   PDF (512KB) ( )   The custom of burying eunuchs in tombs on temple land was passed down from the Song and Yuan dynasties to the Ming dynasty. These temples were supported by the income fromfarmlands that the eunuchs had owned. The temples provided the daily necessities for the monks , who offered sacrificial services to the deceased eunuchs in return. However , in the latter half of nineteenth century , many Qing eunuchs converted from Buddhism to Daoism, because of the integration of tomb temples with popular cults and the favor of Cixi to the Daoists at Baiyun Guan. Some eunuchs were ordained at Baiyun Guan and they even founded a sect of their own called“Huoshan Pai”. This article discusses the lineage of the“Huoshan Pai”and analyzes the two different modes of management in the Taoist temples of this sect , the master-disciple mode and the fraternity mode. Related Articles | Metrics