COMMUNITY COMPACT SYSTEM 707family units in the countryside to increase central control over the population
and maximize thc strcngth of Ch' i in its competition with other feudal states.
He was primarily concerned about peasants running away from their villages
to escape taxes and service, and he believed that a tight, organizational network
throughout the country would leave no place for these tax-and service-evaders
to escape. The official of each unit also had to supervise military as well as pop-
ulation registration and taxation.^1
Since this mode of local control was not maintained everywhere in China in
the late Chou, Shang Yang (Lord Shang) of the state of Ch'in also revived this
system of local control to strengthen Ch'in, preparing it for its eventual con-
quest of China in thc late third ccntury B.C. Although known for his adherence
to the principles of Legalist philosophy, Shang Yang extracted this model from
earlier Chinese history, and the tradition was latcr picked up in the post-Ch'in
age of bureaucracy by Confucian statecraft thinkers to remedy the decline in
local government that had arisen because of general disorder and uncontrolled
taxation of peasants.
The Han dynasty regime carried over from the Ch'in state not only the chiin-
hsicn (larger commanderies and smaller districts) system of centralized orga-
nization of local areas, but also the organization of subdistrict units called ling
or watchtowers every ten Ii in distance, and a higher unit, called hsiang, which
in this instance consisted of ten ting. The hsiang had three officials (the san-lao
or Threc Elders) who administered education, lawsuits and tax collection, and
police duties, respcctively. The san-lao were selected from men in thc area who
were at least fifty years of age and had a reputation for good behavior. They
worked closel y with the regular officials and were granted exemption from labor
and military servicc.^1
In other words, the tightly organized hierarchy of units for local control traced
its origins back to the early Chou (or at least what was described in the Rites ()f
Chou), the state of Ch' i in the seventh century B.c., and the state of Ch' in in the
late Chou, and it was then transferred by the Han dynasty into the age of cen-
tralized bureaucratic rule. Although this system was supposedly born in an age
of decentralized feudalism, it was obviously designed as a means of increasing
the control of the center over the periphery and was found useful in the devel-
opment of the centralized state. The control of areas bencath the lowest district
magistrate, however. was never brought fully into the regular bureaucracy, and
after the tight organization described above weakened, local control was left in
the hands of local men of influence.
After the Later Han dynasty fell at the beginning of the third century A.D. and
north China was taken over by non-Chinese people from the north, local aris-
tocrats played a more dominant role in both local and central government. The
movement to recreate greater central control was given impetus by reforms of
the Northern Wei state in the late fifth century.
Since census registration and tax collection had grown lax because too many
families were "hiding" their existence by registering as members of supposedly