{{Short description|Local officials in Qing China}} {{for|the ancient gazette|Dibao (ancient Chinese gazette)}} {{for|China's anti-poverty program|Guaranteed minimum income#China}}
'''''Dibao''''' ('''''ti-pao'''''),<ref group=n>{{zh|c={{linktext|地保}}|p=dìbǎo|w=ti<sup>4</sup>-pao<sup>3</sup>|l=land guarantor}}; also romanized as ''tepao''.</ref> sometimes called '''headmen'''<ref name="Confus"/> or '''constables''',<ref name="Civil">Bernhardt, Kathryn ''et al.'' ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TnMCjXbm1ncC&pg=PA117 Civil Law in Qing and Republican China]'', p. 117. Stanford University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-8047-3779-7}}. Accessed 4 Nov 2011.</ref> were local officials in Qing and early Republican China, typically selected from among the prominent landowners.<ref name="Invi">Henriot, Christian. "Invisible Deaths, Silent Deaths: 'Bodies without Masters' in Republican Shanghai". ''Journal of Social History'', Winter 2009, p. 433.</ref> Working in communities of around 100 households, they were charged with overseeing boundaries and land disputes.<ref name="Invi"/> He notarized all real estate deeds on a commission basis and collected the land tax,<ref name="Invi"/> as well as overseeing minor punishment such as the cangue.<ref name="Civil"/>
As foreign missionaries and businessmen gained the right to hold property in China from the unequal treaties, the local headmen could be caught between them and their superiors in the Chinese hierarchy, for instance during the construction of the Woosung Road.<ref name="Confus">Pong, David. "[https://www.jstor.org/pss/311679 Confucian Patriotism and the Destruction of the Woosung Railway, 1877]", p. 649. ''Modern Asian Studies'', Vol. VII, No. 4. Cambridge University Press, 1973.</ref>
The ''dibao'' administered villages under the ordinary Chinese administrative system. A similar office called the ''shoubao'' (''shou-pao'') was established under the Qing in 1725 to manage the Banner system.<ref>Isett, Christopher Mills. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0nNkXadJIFUC&pg=PA63 State, Peasant, and Merchant in Qing Manchuria, 1644–1862]'', pp. 63 ff. Stanford University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|0-8047-5271-0}}. Accessed 4 Nov 2011.</ref>
The ''dibao'' were the successors of the Qin and Han ''tingzhang'',<ref group=n>{{zh|t={{linktext|亭長}}|s=亭长|p=tíngzhǎng|w=t'ing<sup>2</sup>-chang<sup>3</sup>}}.</ref> the Sui and Tang ''lizheng'',<ref group=n>{{zh|c={{linktext|里正}}|p=lǐzhèng|w=li<sup>3</sup>-cheng<sup>4</sup>}}.</ref> and Song ''baozheng''.<ref group=n>{{zh|c={{linktext|保正}}|p=bǎozhèng|w=pao<sup>3</sup>-cheng<sup>4</sup>}}.</ref> They were occasionally also known as ''baozheng'' or as ''dijia''<ref group=n>{{zh|c={{linktext|地甲}}|p=dìjiǎ|w=ti<sup>4</sup>-chia<sup>3</sup>}}.</ref><ref>[http://www.nciku.com Nciku.com]. "[http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%9C%B0%E4%BF%9D/99001 地保]." Accessed 4 Nov 2011.</ref>
After 1900, they began to be replaced by less autonomous ''cunzheng'',<ref group=n>{{zh|c={{linktext|村正}}|p=cūnzhèng|w=ts'un<sup>1</sup>-cheng<sup>4</sup>|l=village head}}.</ref><ref>Liu, Chang.<!--sic--> ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=YOh8cbTo3S0C&pg=PA58 Peasants and Revolution in Rural China: Rural Political Change in the North China Plain and the Yangzi Delta, 1850–1949]'', p. 58. ''Routledge Studies in the Chinese Economy'', vol. 25. Routledge, 2007. {{ISBN|0-415-42176-4}}. Accessed 4 Nov 2011.</ref> although this transition was not completed until the Republican era.
==See also== * village (China) * village head * notary public
==Notes== {{reflist|2|group=n}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
{{Qing dynasty topics}}
Category:Government of the Qing dynasty Category:Eight Banners