Converts vs Ordinary Villagers in Late Qing Civil Trials,and the Rise of the Boxers

清末民事细故官司审断与义和团兴起

Village civil cases in the Qing Dynasty mainly dealt with households and marriage,land,and debts,etc.It was not uncommon for village disputes to end up in court,which functioned as a vent to release the sense of grievance felt by the disputants.Seemingly trivial cases were thus not trivial at all for those concerned.Prefectural or county officials’mishandling of a petty civil case could spark village conflicts.As a consequence,such trials were seen as a sensitive issue in rural governance.After the 1860s,the unequal treaties had allowed Western missionaries to proselytize deep into the North China countryside,offering“political protection”for their converts in an attempt to maximize their number.The missionaries interfered extensively in village judicial actions,taking the side of their converts in civil lawsuits that pitted church members against ordinary people.This led to a general situation of“deceitful converts against honest men,”making the latter feel they were the victims of injustice.The channels that would have allowed the ordinary villagers to vent their grievances via litigation were thus blocked up.Their accumulated resentment burst its barriers and finally exploded in the violence of the Boxer Uprising.

清代乡村民事官司,主要涉及户婚田土债等细故。乡民发生日常口角纠纷,“打官司”是解决纠纷的常见方式,也是龃龉争吵中产生怨忿的宣泄通道。细故不细。如果州县官对民事细故处置不当,可能引发乡村冲突。中国乡村民事细故官司审断可谓乡村治理的敏感区。19世纪60年代以后,在不平等条约体系下,西方传教士深入华北乡村腹地传教。为了尽可能多地吸纳教民,传教士给教民提供“政治庇护”,深度干预乡村民事司法诉讼,在民教官司中偏袒教民,造成“教曲民直”的普遍“冤抑”。平民通过“打官司”宣泄口角纠纷怨忿的通道被严重阻塞,怨忿逾久难平,无以发泄,终致酿成义和团的暴力冲突。