County Administration and Local Elite in Eastern Zhejiang Province during the Ming-Qing Period

This paper aims to trace the course of a change , in relationship between county authorities and local elite in Zhuji 諸暨 county during the Ming and Qing periods from the viewpoint of social history. At the Jiajing 嘉靖 era, the county administration could not intervene in rural society's irrigation which was maintained under the system of Liiia 里甲, but reduce the amount of corvee tax that the other region demanded. In 1550's when Japanese pirates attacked the coastal provinces, a county magistrate sold the government land around Lake Mi 泌湖 in Zhuji to build the wall of the county town. The new landlords of Lake Mi nominally offered their land to the local elite who enjoyed the privileges of exemption from taxation, and were not under the control of the county authorities. We will refer to them as Haoyou 豪右, or supercounty elites. After the Single whip tax system 一條鞭法 was enforced, the county became a unit of taxation and assumed responsibility for collecting taxes. Maintaining agricultural production became the duty of the county magistrate. It was important for the local elite to influence the county administration. At the end of the Wanli 萬暦 era, a gentleman 郷紳 who had retired from the bureaucracy and was residing in Zhuji used his connections in the official world to begin to interfere with local administration. During the Qing period, county authorities were not able to carry out their duties of collecting taxes and maintaining irrigation facilities without support from the group of county elites 邑紳