Dibao

Dibao,^{[n 1]} sometimes called headmen^[1] or constables,^[2] were local officials in Qing and early Republican China, typically selected from among the prominent landowners.^[3] Working in communities of around 100 households, they were charged with overseeing boundaries and land disputes.^[3] He notarized all real estate deeds on a commission basis and collected the land tax,^[3] as well as overseeing minor punishment such as the cangue.^[2]

As foreign missionaries and businessmen gained the right to hold property in China from the "unequal treaties", the local headmen could be caught between them and their superiors in the Chinese hierarchy, for instance during the construction of the Woosung Road.^[1]

The dibao administered villages in China proper. In Manchuria, a separate office called the shoubao was established in AD 1725.^[4]

The dibao were the successors of the Qin and Han tingzhang,^{[n 2]} the Sui and Tang lizheng,^{[n 3]} and Song baozheng.^{[n 4]} They were occasionally also known as baozheng or as dijia^{[n 5][5]}

After 1900, they began to be replaced by less autonomous cunzheng,^{[n 6][6]} although this transition wasn't completed until the Republican era.

See also

• village (China)
• village head
• notary public

Notes

1. ^ Chinese: 地保, p dìbǎo, w ti-pao, also Romanized tepao, lit "land guarantor".
2. ^ Chinese: t 亭長, s 亭长, p tíngzhǎng.
3. ^ Chinese: 里正, p lǐzhèng.
4. ^ Chinese: 保正, p bǎozhèng.
5. ^ Chinese: 地甲, p dìjiǎ.
6. ^ Chinese: 村正, p cūnzhèng, lit "village head".

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Pong, David. "Confucian Patriotism and the Destruction of the Woosung Railway, 1877", p. 649. Modern Asian Studies, Vol. VII, No. 4. Cambridge University Press, 1973.
2. ^ ^{a b} Bernhardt, Kathryn et al. Civil Law in Qing and Republican China, p. 117. Stanford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0804737797. Accessed 4 Nov 2011.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Henriot, Christian. "Invisible Deaths, Silent Deaths: 'Bodies without Masters' in Republican Shanghai". Journal of Social History, Winter 2009, p. 433.
4. ^ Isett, Christopher Mills. State, Peasant, and Merchant in Qing Manchuria, 1644–1862, pp. 63 ff. Stanford University Press, 2007. ISBN 0804752710. Accessed 4 Nov 2011.
5. ^ Nciku.com. "地保." Accessed 4 Nov 2011.
6. ^ Liu, Chang. Peasants and Revolution in Rural China: Rural Political Change in the North China Plain and the Yangzi Delta, 1850–1949, p. 58. Routledge Studies in the Chinese Economy, vol. 25. Routledge, 2007. ISBN 0415421764. Accessed 4 Nov 2011.