baojia 保甲, the communal self-defence system

Baojia 保甲 was a system of communal self-defence established during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) and still used during the Republican era (1912-1949). It was a specialisation of the lijia system 里甲 used for local self-administration.

Emperor Shenzong 宋神宗 (r. 1067-1085), inspired by the reformer Wang Anshi 王安石 (1021-1086), initiated the system as the "law on security groups" (baojiafa 保甲法) and ordered that every ten households were to build a security group (bao 保), fifty a large security group (dabao 大保), and five hundred a superior security group (dubao 都保). The first was headed by a headman (baozhang 保長), the second by a chief headman (da baozhang 大保長), and the third by a superior head and a vice superior head (dubaozheng 都保正, fubaozheng 副保正).

Each household with more than two male adults was to provide one security guard (baoding 保丁), but in later times, the numbers were reduced to one security guard for five households, with one security group for 25 households or families, and one superior security group for 250 households. In their leisure time, when no agricultural work was required, the "strongmen" (caiyong 材勇) of each village were trained in martial arts. The security groups exercised police powers, organised night watches, and were responsible for arresting delinquents.

The aim of this system was twofold. On the one hand, the security system relieved the local government of administrative duties. The members of each security group ensured proper registration of their households, mutually observed one another (an old method called lianzuofa 連坐法), and, in addition, organised the defence of the village community. In this way, the security system functioned as a local militia, assuming duties normally performed by military garrisons. For this purpose, members of the security groups were trained in basic techniques of defence and attack, and those around the capital Kaifeng 開封 (in today’s Henan province) received regular military training, at least in the initial years of the system, to support the regular military. The system's main effect was a decrease in government expenditure on local security. Instead of the government dispatching troops or paying policing forces, the local population itself was responsible for law and order in its own district. During the reign of Emperor Zhezong 宋哲宗 (r. 1085-1100), the military training of the security guards was abolished.

The system remained in use until the end of the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911) and was revived in 1932 by Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石 (1887-1975) in the provinces of Henan, Hubei, and Anhui. The terminology and organisation differed from those of the traditional system. Each household provided one household head (huzhang 戶長), and ten households constituted one tithing (jia 甲), headed by a tithing head (jiazhang 甲長). Ten tithings formed one security group (bao), headed by a security head (baozhang), who resided in a local security office (jiaban gongchu 甲辦公處). From 1934 on, the system was extended to all cities under the jurisdiction of the Guomindang 國民黨, and in 1937 to all provinces. The government issued statutes for the security groups (Baojia tiaoli 保甲條例). The main purpose was to ensure that the population kept an eye on one another, thereby preventing the formation of "rebellions" (i.e., Communist infiltration). The measure was part of Chiang's strategy of encircling and destroying (weijiao 圍剿) Communist groups.

The security groups worked according to four aspects, namely administration and observation (guan 管), political indoctrination (jiao 教), taxation (yang 養, lit. "nourishment"), and safeguarding (wei 衛). During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the system was intensified, and the security groups were politicised (danghua 黨化, with a Guomingdang representative in each group) and transformed into virtual police groups (jingchahua 警察化). They obtained special privileges (tewuhua 特務化) and, in the end, were transformed into para-military units (junshihua 軍事化). The groups were of course disbanded in 1949.