234 Boundaries and Beyond
rice, just to exchange for a few catties of salt. [The monopolists’
followers] relentlessly take away all the salt and even their other
belongings. Then they bring the conβiscated evidence to the salt-
sellers as a threat. Only after squeezing every single thing they
possess will they be satisβied.... For merely a part of the revenue
beneβit, the Court let the evil merchants squeeze a hundredfold
proβit. While the evil merchants gain a proβit of a hundredfold, the
xiaomin suffer [a] thousand times worse than ever.^121Without a sufβicient supply of salt, the interior of Zhangzhou
erupted into an uprising in the late sixteenth century.^122 Obviously, the
administration had not learned a lesson from all the troubles caused by
such a private monopoly. In 1598, when a eunuch was assigned to Fujian
to exact more revenues, the local powerful people saw it as an opportunity
to collaborate with the administration for personal gain.^123
Unleashing the Potential for a Better Livelihood
While becoming social outcasts was a desperate recourse of the distressed
peasants, others attempted to βind economic solutions to their plight.
Eventually this trend was to lead to a changing landscape in southern
Fujianese society. It was by no means a smooth process of improvement
if the strength of the traditional resistance to any change in the status quo
is taken into account.
The Chinese peasantry was characterized by the smallness of the
basic functional units.^124 The family in a peasant community was a self-
sufβicient unit, striving to provide the necessities and minimum social
solidarity in everyday economic pursuits. The traditional ideology in China
suppressed individualism in favor of familism^125 in which all values were
determined by reference to the maintenance, continuity and functioning
of the family group. Extended organizations were formed on this basis.
They gathered on ceremonial occasions associated with kinship and
helped each other when they were in need. The family’s very small piece
of farm-land, which was only a few acres on average and made capital
- Ibid., 15: 22–3.
- Ibid., 15: 25a.
- Ibid., 15: 24b.
- Fei Hsiao-t’ung, “Peasantry and Gentry: An Interpretation of Chinese Social
Structure and its Changes”, American Journal of Sociology 52 (1946–47): 1. - Ibid., p. 2.
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