This book attempts to describe, analyze, and interpret the structure and functioning of local government at the chou and hsien levels in the Ch'ing dynasty. The chou and hsien were the units of local government that actually carried out administration and dealt directly with the people. An understanding of how they functioned can tell us much about how the populace was ruled in imperial China. Yet no systematic and comprehensive work on this subject has ever been published in Chinese, Japanese, or in any Western language. The few available studies on Chinese government have dealt either with the central government or with provincial government, which merely exercised a supervisory function over the administration of local government.
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瞿同祖老人1910年生于湖南长沙。因与其祖父同在庚戌年出生,故命名同祖。20年代他曾就读于北平育英中学、汇文中学,最后毕业于燕京大学,1945年出国。1965年瞿同祖辞去加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚大学教授一职,经欧洲返回祖国,现定居北京。其生命历程绕地球一圈后又回到了出发地。
瞿同祖早年喜欢历史,考入燕京大学后主修社会学,后来在云南大学担任教授,能同时开设中国经济史、中国社会史及中国法制史三门课,这得益于他广泛涉猎各门学科,研读正史野史、家训、笔记、小说,博闻强志。尤其对中国古代法律制度研究,在海内外颇有影响。
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我认为,一个决定性的因素就是,所有这些集团都在现行体制下获得了最大的回报;唯一例外的是普通百姓。因此,尽管会有紧张(冲突),他们却没有兴趣去改变现状;于是我们就看到了社会和政治秩序中的稳定性和持续性。这种稳定性,只在当民众的不满激烈到足以升格为公开动的时候才会受到威胁。但只要他们的不满没有转化为有效的(反抗)行动,现状就仍将维持下去。
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