Baojia system

The baojia system (Chinese: 保甲; pinyin: bǎojiǎ; Wade–Giles: pao-chia) was an invention of Wang Anshi of the Song dynasty, who created this community-based system of law enforcement and civil control that was included in his large reform of Chinese government ("the New Policies") from 1069–1076.

The leaders of the baos were given authority to maintain local order, collect taxes, and organize civil projects. The idea of the system was that it would diminish the government's reliance on mercenaries, and that it would instead assign responsibility of law enforcement to these civil societies. Baojia regulations were issued centrally in 1548, during the Ming dynasty, but the system was not mandatory. Rather, the regulations were more like guidelines for officials who wished to deploy the system in their counties.

During the Qing dynasty, the baojia system was expanded across all of China. However, Ju Dongzu has written that the system was "on the whole ineffective" during this time, and "remained a formality" for several centuries after its introduction.

Being primarily the system of self-defence, in 1885, baojia was extended to cover tax collection. This resulted in power abuses and local unrest.

The baojia system has continued to resonate with Chinese citizens during the 20th century. During the boycott of Japanese products that occurred during the May Fourth Movement in 1919, students modeled their resistance on the baojia system. Ten people swore a collective oath to boycott Japanese products, and to make sure that the other nine members of their group upheld their oath. Each member of the group was to attempt to convert nine outsiders to the cause, forming ten groups of ten, which could come together as a group of one hundred. Finally, ten groups of one hundred could meet to form a one thousand person brigade. As with the traditional baojia system, one member of each group of ten became leader of the group. Although no functional group of one thousand ever existed, there is evidence that the ten person groups played an important role in carrying out the boycott.

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