Chapter 16 The Conflict between Guangdong Gentry Group and Tiandihui in the Mid-Qing Dynasty
Guangdong under the rule of the Qing Dynasty has always been an important area for Tiandihui activities.Judging from the status of Tiandihui in the social structure of modern Guangdong, it has always been a social group that cannot be ignored in the history of modern Guangdong for more than a hundred years. It affects the established social order and political order of Guangdong society, and has a great influence on the changes of modern Guangdong society.However, so far, the research on the modern Guangdong Tiandihui is still very weak. Although some scholars such as Luo Baoshan and Chen Jianan have done some research, they mainly focus on the research on the Guangdong Tiandihui before and after the Hongbing Uprising and the Revolution of 1911. The studies on the Guangdong Tiandihui and its activities in other periods were only mentioned incidentally in related works by scholars such as Hu Zhusheng, Qin Baoqi, Zhou Yumin, let alone the investigation and research on the relationship between the Guangdong Tiandihui and other social groups.This article believes that in order to correctly understand the status and role of Guangdong Tiandihui in the history of Guangdong and even China, it is necessary to understand the relationship between Guangdong Tiandihui and other social groups.In the relationship between Tiandihui and other social groups in Guangdong, the relationship with the gentry group is particularly important, because Tiandihui is a secret society that has important influence among the people, and the gentry group governs civil society on behalf of the government. Has a great influence on the people.Through the analysis of the relationship between the two, we can not only clearly understand the many functions of the Guangdong Tiandihui in civil society and its historical status, but also clarify the development and change track of the grassroots society in modern Guangdong, and then further understand the modern Guangdong society. A complete understanding of the changes.This paper intends to investigate and study the relationship between the Guangdong gentry group and the Tiandihui, taking the Jiadao period when the Guangdong Tiandihui was developing rapidly.
1. The position of the gentry in the social structure of Guangdong The Chinese society under the rule of the Qing Dynasty was a hierarchical society with obvious stratification characteristics, in which the gentry occupied a very important and special position in this hierarchical social structure system.The so-called gentry usually refers to a social group with various local privileges and high social status in feudal society. The status of gentry must be obtained by obtaining fame, academic achievements, academic titles and official positions.This social group can be further divided into upper-class gentry and lower-class gentry. The former includes officials, Jinshi, Juren, and Gongsheng, while the latter includes Jiansheng, Li Gongsheng, and various types of students.The gentry class in the Qing Dynasty enjoyed privileges in politics, economy, culture, and social life, and was a special class that ruled Chinese society.First of all, gentry were generally regarded as equals to magistrates in politics.The gentry can freely meet with officials and participate in local government affairs, and the upper-class gentry can also hold official positions.Secondly, economically, the gentry were exempted from corvee and paid less taxes.Third, the gentry enjoyed privileges in law.According to the relevant regulations of the Qing government, if a gentry violated the law, the local officials must follow specific procedures to deal with the gentry who violated the law, otherwise they may be impeached.Moreover, even if a gentry really committed a crime, magistrates could not punish him. If he committed a serious crime, he must first remove his status as a gentry before he can be sentenced.Sometimes the rank of a gentry is higher than that of a magistrate, so the magistrate not only cannot judge him, but also cannot remove his gentry status.Gentlemen were exempted from general administrative punishment and could only be judged by superior instructors.In addition, the laws of the Qing Dynasty also clearly stipulated that the common people must not offend the gentry, otherwise they would be severely punished.Fourth, in daily life, the gentry also had privileges.For example, some ceremonies, such as official ceremonies in the Confucian Temple, could only be attended by gentry.Various local ceremonies are sometimes only invited to host or participate in gentry, and civilians cannot enjoy this honor.
To sum up, the gentry class in the Qing Dynasty enjoyed many privileges stipulated by the government, which enabled them to have a higher social status in the social hierarchy system.Correspondingly, they also have to assume many responsibilities locally.Guangdong gentry was no exception, and their responsibilities mainly included the following aspects: First, politically, gentry had the right and obligation to participate in local government affairs and maintain social order.According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, officials had to avoid their original places of origin, and there was a time limit for serving in a certain place, which made local officials not very familiar with the local situation, "not as close as a gentleman's knowledge."Therefore, local officials often need to rely on the help of the gentry class between the officials and the people when handling local affairs. The government sometimes makes explicit regulations on this, requiring the gentry to assist the local officials in handling government affairs.In the thirteenth year of Daoguang, Zhu Guizhen, the governor of Guangdong, issued a notice saying: "Scholars are the heads of the Qi people and the hope of the villagers. You know that you are the gentry and elders of the people. From now on, you will do your best to cheer up your spirits, To lead our people and make up for my deficiencies.”
Clearly required the gentry to actively participate in local government affairs.Not only did the gentry participate in government affairs at the behest of the government, but according to the records of local chronicles, when local turmoil broke out, the gentry in Guangdong often took the initiative to participate in political affairs, helped the government to eliminate the root cause of the turmoil, and even sued the local officials to force them to resign.For example, during the Opium War, many gentry organized sociology to fight against the British army, and the weak and incompetent Guangzhou prefect Yu Baochun was forced by the gentry to resign because of his inability to protect the land.It can be seen from this that the gentry group had great influence on local government affairs.
Second, economically, the gentry were in charge of public land such as Xuetian and Huitian, as well as a large number of clan land and other public properties.There is a special phenomenon in the land occupation of Guangdong in the Qing Dynasty, that is, public land and family land accounted for a large proportion of the cultivated land in Guangdong. Since the Jiaqing period, the proportion has not been lower than 30%.The managers of these clan lands and public lands were generally the local gentry, especially the most powerful gentry.In addition, the public property of institutions such as the Tuanlian Public Office, Yinjin Bureau, Tanjin Bureau, Shantang, and Academy were mostly controlled by gentry.Although the gentry had no ownership of these public properties, they were the biggest beneficiaries, and at least a considerable number of them obtained considerable benefits from these public properties.In addition, quite a few of the gentry were themselves landlords and wealthy businessmen (see the table below). Therefore, the gentry group actually controlled most of the local land and other economic resources, and then controlled the local economic power.
Statistical table of sample survey of Guangdong gentry's economic status in the middle and late Qing Dynasty Source: Zhang Zhongli: "Chinese Gentleman", Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, 1991 edition, pp. 232-235.
Third, manage public works and public welfare affairs.In addition to actively participating in government affairs, the gentry actually managed local public affairs such as road construction, bridge construction, water conservancy and social relief, and mediation of civil disputes.They are responsible for raising funds for these public affairs, or seeking assistance from the government, or responsible for planning and design and on-the-spot guidance, especially the upper gentry, who play a very important role in the management of public affairs.There are many records of the role of gentry in public affairs in local chronicles. For example, "Huizhou Fuzhi" has detailed records of gentry's construction of bridges and ferries. The records show that the contribution of gentry here is far greater than that of government and government. civilian.
Fourth, responsible for maintaining the traditional Gangchanglunji.This is a very important responsibility of the gentry.Since most of the gentry are traditional intellectuals who have been immersed in the traditional culture centered on Confucianism for many years, they must spare no effort in preaching the principles of ethics that traditional culture promotes.Just like this, they are willing to donate a lot of property to establish cultural and educational institutions at all levels, such as academies, social studies, and free schools, and become the founders or hosts of these institutions to spread Confucianism and carry forward the traditional rules and regulations.In addition, they also donated money to build Confucian Temples, Gongyuan and other facilities and institutions that help to spread traditional culture.
It should be noted that the fundamental reason why the gentry are willing to perform these duties is that the feudal autocratic rule endows and guarantees almost all their rights and interests, and maintaining this rule means safeguarding their own rights and interests, which means that once a certain If a social organization poses a threat to the feudal autocratic rule, they will be regarded as a threat to their own rights and interests, and then they will take hostile actions against this social organization.
2. The conflict between the Guangdong Tiandihui and the gentry group in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. The Guangdong Tiandihui in the Jiadao period was a secret folk association led by bankrupt laborers and mainly ordinary farmers. It mainly reflected the ruled by the grassroots society in Guangdong The interests of ordinary people with very low status and economic status make it possible to challenge the existing distribution pattern and hierarchical structure system in order to change the unfavorable social status, especially economic status, of the people it represents.As vested interests, the gentry group with relatively high political and economic status naturally tried to maintain the existing profit distribution pattern and hierarchical structure system.In this way, the interaction between the Tiandihui and the gentry group, two different interest groups, had to be expressed in the form of conflict.
Based on the fact that the purpose of the Guangdong Tiandi Association during the Jiadao period was to meet the economic needs of its members through violent means such as robbery and intimidation, and a considerable number of members of the gentry group belonged to the wealthy class, so they inevitably became the targets of the economic violence of the Tiandi Association. Therefore, the Guangdong Tiandi Association The conflict between the society and the gentry group was first manifested as an economic conflict.Judging from the official archives of the Qing Dynasty, many Tiandihui organizations in Guangdong targeted gentry families for robbery.For example, in the fifth year of Jiaqing, the Qiu Daqin Tiandi Society in Yangjiang County tried to rob the home of the gentry Cai Yaofang.In the eighth year of Jiaqing, Guan Nianzong Tiandi Society in Zengcheng County robbed Gongsheng Luo Tianji's house and Jiansheng Tan Lanqing's house, and robbed more than 1,000 yuan of silver and a large amount of jewelry and clothing.In the 21st year of Jiaqing, He Manchang Tiandihui in Lechang County robbed the home of Deng Zhongzhen, a Gongsheng student.According to some local chronicles, there were quite a few Tiandihui that threatened the economic interests of the gentry with violence, such as the Chenlinan Tiandihui in Dongguan County, the Chen Gongdao Tiandihui in Hepu County, and the Huangmingcan Tiandihui in Xiangshan County.The Tiandihui listed the gentry with considerable political and economic power as objects of robbery, which not only directly damaged the economic interests of these robbed gentry, but also posed a potentially huge threat to the economic interests of other gentry who were not robbed. It aroused fierce reactions from many gentry, and then united to fight against the Tiandihui forces and defend their own interests.For example, when arresting members of Qiu Daqin's Heaven and Earth Association, "Leading Xiangyong, tenants to assist in the arrest, prisons, and students, there were no less than sixty or seventy people. Wei Qian, with the title of Cai Yaofang and Wusheng Cai Jiazai, was especially serious in organizing the township bravery, or securing key criminals."When Guan Nianzong robbed Gongsheng Luo Tianji's home, supervisors Tan Lanqing, Liu Jinyun, and student Yuan Fengjing also led people to help Luo Tianji.In the economic conflict with the gentry group, members of the Tiandihui who were in a weak position due to the intervention of the state's violent machinery and administrative power were either executed or sent away, becoming the complete losers in this conflict.
The conflict between Guangdong Tiandihui and the gentry group did not only occur when the two had a dispute over economic interests.When Tiandihui robbed other members of society, or did not carry out activities harmful to society at all, but only formed an organization or engaged in non-economic activities, conflicts still occurred between the gentry group and Tiandihui. It may not be mainly due to the needs of the gentry to maintain economic interests, but more based on the Qing Dynasty law to prevent the emergence of different surname worship groups and maintain the normal feudal ruling order.In other words, the political significance of this conflict is far greater than the economic significance, and it is a political conflict.There are many records in the Qing Dynasty archives and Guangdong local chronicles that the gentry took the initiative to arrest the members of the Tiandihui when their economic interests were not threatened or threatened.For example, in August of the sixth year of Jiaqing, when Lin Tianshen, the leader of the Tiandihui in Haikang County, led the crowd to rescue the arrested members, "You Shijie, a supervisor, Ou Xianxing, a student of Fugong, and Li Junde, a student of Ligong, captured the leader and the rest of the party, and the province was like a law."In July of the seventh year of Jiaqing, Wen Dengyuan, Zeng Qinghao and others worshiped the Tiandihui in Yong'an County. Wen Dengyuan was sent to the county for deliberation."In April of the eighth year of Jiaqing, the Heaven and Earth Association of Hepu County wanted to lure pirates to rob Nankangxu together. Zhang Yuanying and other conferences set up a booklet to recruit, Zhao Xiangyong built a building in the long house on the key pass, and blocked the imperial guards day and night... On the surface, Wen Xiang, Wu Yanfu, and Wu Ting, Luo Bingzhao imitated their plan. So the bandits and foreign bandits abused the flames Slow down".In the 10th year of Jiaqing, the Tiandihui in Haifeng County was "interviewed and heard by the government "before it started to worship, but before it caused trouble".In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing, in Changle County, "the bandit Zhang Zuoba wanted to make a change, Baozheng, deputy supervisor Zhang Baxuan, and Huang Tingxiang led the township to capture him bravely."In December of the 19th year of Jiaqing, the second class of Luo Ya learned from the local government of the "Yaomenghuihui" in Bohewei, Hepu County that "cooperating with Li Gongsheng Wu Kaitong to capture 42 bandits and punish them".In the twelfth year of Daoguang, "Xiangshan's four capital triads were sprouting", "attached tribute to Ruan Senrong to discuss and ban it", "conspired with all the fathers and elders to join the Baojia", and "led the crowd to arrest twelve of its chiefs".
When the actions of the Tiandihui were obviously political, the conflict between the gentry group and the Tiandihui became more political.In August of the seventh year of Jiaqing, after the Fourth Chen Lanzhe Uprising broke out with the goal of "working together to conquer the country", the gentry in Boluo, Dongguan and other counties fought against the rebel army.
For example, "Tuguaxu" in Dongguan County has funded and raised more than 1,000 local braves. When they heard that Longhuaxu was burned and plundered by bandits, they drove past Longhuaxu and fought with the bandits twice, killing more than 1,000 bandits and capturing them. Three, and the thieves fled immediately. The 'government' said that it is very commendable that Jinqi Township bravely and enthusiastically resisted the thieves, and after presenting rewards and persuasion, they were made to protect them all the time."Among them, Zhu Youtao, the martial arts examiner, Tan Weiqing and Li Qiongrui, the supervisors, and Chen Zhirong, the secretary, received special awards from the government for their donations to raise funds or fight hard.In the winter of the seventh year of Jiaqing, the Tiandi Society of Yong'an County attacked the county seat. "Ji Xiandeng, the county magistrate, invited troops to block the defense, one stationed in Dengyun and one stationed in Changpu. Dengyun attached tribute to Wen Yang, Yiyong Wencunwen, Wen Kailing Xiangyong to assist in the defense; Changpu was supported by Wu Jinshi Zhang Wei. Received security. Brother Li Jiangdi and Gongsheng Li Han of Hengliu Yuezhou recruited brave men and captured the bandit leader."
In November of the seventh year of Jiaqing, Wen Shier of Xingning County was preparing to gather crowds to respond to the uprising of Boluo and Yongan Tiandihui. The gentleman Chen Yunyue secretly reported to the county magistrate to arrest him. The number of people in the party will be resolved by the county and the province."After the Boluo and Yong'an Tiandihui uprisings failed, the gentry actively assisted the government in arresting the absconding members of the Tiandihui.They obeyed the command of the government and "grabbed passes and captured bandits, and always worked hard." In February of the eighth year of Jiaqing, "the leaders of the gentry generals (insurgents) from all over the place, Chen Youda, He Sanlong, and He Yakai, were handed over to the committees."In the first month of the tenth year of Jiaqing, Chen Chuanjun and Guan Yazi led the Tiandi Congregation to invade Longmen County.In the autumn of the same year, Li Chongyu, the leader of the Tiandihui in Lufeng County, "gathered tens of thousands of party members to create chaos, and Zhang Fengqiang secretly heard about it from officials" and Li Chongyu was arrested and killed.
The economic and political conflicts between the Guangdong Tiandihui and the gentry group during the Jiadao period highlighted the huge differences in fundamental interests and political ideas between the Guangdong Tiandihui and the gentry group.Tiandihui, as a representative of the grassroots people in Guangdong, urgently demands to change the social inequality system so that they can enjoy the right to survival and development that they deserve. For this reason, they do not hesitate to use extreme methods of armed riots to express and realize this demand.The traditional mainstream culture with Confucianism as the core has always regarded this change request as deviant, and the Qing government even regarded the Tiandihui and other worship groups of different surnames as rebel organizations in order to ensure the existing social inequality system. be brutally suppressed.As the supporters and advocates of the traditional mainstream culture, as well as the vested interests of the autocratic rule of the Qing Dynasty, the gentry group naturally became the staunch ally and vanguard of the Qing government against the Tiandihui.They often spare no effort to provoke conflicts with the Tiandihui, and then use the power of the government to eliminate them.Looking at the historical development process of Guangdong Tiandihui, from the beginning to the end, the gentry group was an object of conflict that Tiandihui could not avoid and win.The main reason why the gentry group did this was that its fundamental interests were consistent with those of the Qing government.Eliminating the Tiandihui and maintaining the stability of the existing social inequality system is actually safeguarding the fundamental interests of the gentry group.
However, not every individual in the gentry group was in an absolutely equal position.As mentioned earlier, the gentry had a difference in economic status between rich and poor.In terms of opportunities for upward mobility, the upper-class gentry is in a better position than the lower-class gentry, and the rich gentry is in a better position than the poor gentry.This means that there are also conflicts of interests within the gentry group, and a high degree of integration has not been achieved.When some gentry, especially the lower-class gentry, were dissatisfied with their unfavorable economic and political situation, they might dissociate from the gentry group and seek to change their unfavorable situation through extraordinary means.For example, Chen Shizhuang, the father of Chen Lanzhesi, was a donated post to inspector Zhaomo, and his elder brother Chen Zhixi was a supervisor. Both of them participated in the Tiandihui uprising led by Chen Lanzhesi.These actions do not rule out that blood relationship played a certain role, but the ambition to get ahead in politics also played a greater role. Chen Shizhuang's willingness to wear a yellow robe and become king proves this point.Huang Jinneng, a supervisor student in Pingyuan County with a wealthy family, entangled others to worship Tiandihui, no doubt in order to change his relatively low political status and use Tiandihui to realize his desire for upward mobility.Chen Chuanjun, a prison student in Changle County, made a sworn relationship with Tiandihui entirely because of his poverty.However, joining the Tiandihui by a small number of gentry cannot fundamentally eliminate the differences between the Tiandihui and the gentry group in various aspects, that is, it cannot eliminate the conflict between the two and form a cooperative relationship.In fact, these gentry who joined the Tiandihui were usually dismissed as gentry by the government, which actually strengthened the opposition between the Tiandihui and the gentry group.
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