Talons and Teeth: County Clerks and Runners in the Qing Dynasty
()
About this ebook
For commoners in the Qing dynasty, the most salient agents of the imperial state were not the emperor's appointed officials but rather the clerks and runners of the county yamen, the lowest level of functionaries in the Qing state's administrative hierarchy. Yet until now we have known very little about these critically important persons beyond the caricatured portrayals of corruption and venality left by Qing high officials and elites.
Drawing from the rich archival records of Ba county, Sichuan, the author challenges the simplicity of these portrayals by taking us inside the county yamen to provide the first detailed look at local administrative practice from the perspective of those who actually carried it out. Who were the county clerks and runners? How were they recruited, organized, disciplined, and rewarded? What was the economic basis for a career in the yamen? How did clerks and runners view themselves as well as legitimize their role in Qing government? And what impact did their interests and practices have on symbolically laden elements of imperial government such as the magistrate's court?
In addressing these questions, the author traverses the disjuncture between statutory regulations and the realities of daily administrative practice, uncovering a realm of informal, semiautonomous, yet highly structured and even rationalized procedures. Although frequently in violation of formal law, this extra-statutory system nevertheless remained an irreducible component of local government under the Qing. Recognizing the centrality of such informal practice to yamen administration forces us to rethink not only traditional assumptions concerning local corruption in the Qing, but also the ways in which we conceptualize the boundaries between state and society in late imperial China.
Related to Talons and Teeth
Related ebooks
The Board of Rites and the Making of Qing China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArchival Resources of Republican China in North America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Factious People: Politics and Society in Colonial New York Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History of Matrimonial Institutions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Ming Society: T'ai-ho County, Kiangsi, in the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History of Matrimonial Institutions (Vol. 1-3): Complete Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShu King: The Book of Documents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond the Codices: The Nahua View of Colonial Mexico Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies: As illustrated by the Audiencia of Manila (1583-1800) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCalifornia Slavic Studies, Volume X Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dalai Lama and the Emperor of China: A Political History of the Tibetan Institution of Reincarnation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaws Harsh As Tigers: Chinese Immigrants and the Shaping of Modern Immigration Law Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Peyote Religion: A Study in Indian-White Relations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Constitution of Ancient China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ambivalence of Creation: Debates Concerning Innovation and Artifice in Early China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAncient China Simplified Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory of the Ordinance of 1787 and the Old Northwest Territory: A Supplemental Text for School Use Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Contemporary Chinese Historical Drama: Four Studies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCulture, Power, and the State: Rural North China, 1900-1942 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Polygamy and the Rise and Demise of the Aztec Empire Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Rise and Fall of Imperial China: The Social Origins of State Development Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaw and Order in Historical Perspective: The Case of Elizabethan Essex Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCzech It Out: Czech American Biography Sourcebook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevenuers and Moonshiners: Enforcing Federal Liquor Law in the Mountain South, 1865-1900 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Everlasting Empire: The Political Culture of Ancient China and Its Imperial Legacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSource Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Ming Confucian’s World: Selections from Miscellaneous Records from the Bean Garden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Politics For You
Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The U.S. Constitution with The Declaration of Independence and The Articles of Confederation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Anarchist Cookbook Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prince Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The January 6th Report Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalism and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on the U.S.-Israeli War on the Palestinians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Talons and Teeth
0 ratings0 reviews