The Baojia System as Institutional Control in Manchukuo under Japanese Rule (1932-45)

Thebaojiasystem was a Chinese mechanism of social control in rural areas. The Japanese authorities revived this system in the villages of Manchuria in the mid-1930s. Thebaojiasystem placed the villages under the control of the state by registering population, organising village defence corps and instituting internal surveillance. Thebaojiasystem also functioned as a source of revenue for the state. This article examines the structural characteristics of thebaojiasystem and the way it was implemented in practice. It argues that thebaojiasystem as a tool for social control served the temporary purpose of maintaining security in Japanese-administered rural Manchukuo.