History of Modern Chinese Police (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: Han Yanlong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-01-01
Features: In China, institutions and officials responsible for maintaining social order have long existed. However, the term "police" and its related systems are products of modern society. From the emergence of the police to the establishment of their basic systems, it took approximately half a century of history. Yet, for a long time, research on modern Chinese police and their related systems has been an underdeveloped field. To our knowledge, no specialized works on the history of modern police were published before the founding of the People's Republic of China, and even after its establishment, research in this field did not receive sufficient attention. Therefore, writing a history of modern Chinese police to discuss their emergence, formation, and development in China, as well as to explore their nature, structure, functions, and main regulations, would be a highly meaningful endeavor both academically and practically. The idea of writing a History of Modern Chinese Police originated in the fall of 1982. At that time, Liu Linchun, then the deputy editor-in-chief of the Masses Publishing House, repeatedly invited colleagues from the Legal History Research Office of the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, to write a series of articles on police in various dynasties in China and their related systems. Regarding his invitation, we initially approached it with caution. First, as mentioned earlier, academic research on police in China had only just begun, with no specialized works or even many papers available. we were not familiar with the history of the police and needed to start from collecting and organizing materials, which was undoubtedly challenging. More importantly, defining the concept of "police" was a significant issue. Although the police are as ancient as the state, in ancient China, due to the dominance of self-sufficient natural economy and coarse social division of labor, while the function of maintaining social order had already existed, a personalized police role or a specific social profession of police had not yet emerged. Regardless of the circumstances, given the generous invitation from the publishing house, we found it difficult to refuse and ultimately agreed to take on the task, dividing the work among us, with each writing 4,000 to 7,000 words, submitting them, and the Masses Publishing House compiling them under the general title An Outline of the History of Chinese Police in a loose-leaf format for internal circulation, one article per issue. Over time, we learned that this series titled An Outline of the History of Chinese Police was published at the request of higher authorities to provide knowledge of police history for cadres at the bureau level and above in the public security system, aiming to enhance their knowledge structure. This was indeed a benevolent act. According to Liu Linchun, the publication of An Outline of the History of Chinese Police was well-received, and he hoped we would expand and refine the material for public publication. This was, of course, an excellent suggestion. After a period of dedicated work, A Brief Discussion on the Chinese Police System was completed in February 1984 and published by the Masses Publishing House in October 1985, with a total of over 310,000 words. A Brief Discussion differed significantly from An Outline, as it provided substantial supplements and revisions to the latter, further refined the use of historical materials, and included several newly added articles. It essentially became a collection of papers on the police systems of various dynasties in China rather than a monograph written according to a unified format and rigorous system. The book garnered attention from academic peers, and in the reviews we encountered, some colleagues, while fully endorsing the work, suggested writing a systematic and specialized history of the police. Faced with such expectations, we were deeply inspired and also felt a great sense of responsibility, as this was indeed a task that had never been undertaken by predecessors. Chang Zhaorui and I worked together at the same institution and in the same research field for over twenty years. After careful consideration, we concluded that it was necessary to take on this work. Fortunately, the last three articles on modern police included in A Brief Discussion were written by Chang Zhaorui, who had already gained a solid understanding of the development and basic conditions of modern Chinese police. As for ancient Chinese "police," it was indeed difficult to define. Thus, we decided to write a book on the history of modern Chinese police. The emergence and development of modern Chinese police and their related systems were all based on laws and regulations, and collecting relevant materials was not difficult. The Library of the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where we worked, as a professional law library, housed abundant materials on this topic. However, they were scattered across various books and periodicals, and at that time, without copying equipment, we had to rely on manual transcription, making the workload enormous. While the collection and organization of laws and regulations were undoubtedly important for writing the history of modern Chinese police, their formulation and implementation, as well as the actual operation of police functions and contemporary commentary, went far beyond the scope of laws and regulations alone. Therefore, we visited the Second Historical Archives of Nanjing and the Chongqing Archives twice, as well as other relevant archives (such as local gazettes), yielding significant findings. Based on the organization of these materials, we gradually formed an understanding of the emergence and development of modern Chinese police, and drafted the outline and writing plan for the history of modern Chinese police. The outline was divided into three parts: the late Qing Dynasty, the period of the Beiyang Government, and the period of the Nanjing National Government, each with its own distinct characteristics. At this time, Su Yigong was assigned to work at the Institute of Law, and we sought his opinion. He readily accepted, and the three of us divided the work accordingly. Since Su Yigong specialized in Qing legal history, he was responsible for the research and writing of the part, I took charge of the second part, and Chang Zhaorui was responsible for the third part. At this moment, Chang Zhaorui fell seriously ill and was confined to bed. Upon his own request, his portion of the work was taken over by other colleagues. This book consists of an introduction and three volumes, thirty chapters. The specific division of labor is as follows: Introduction, Han Yanlong and Su Yigong; Volume I, chapters to 9, Su Yigong; Volume II, chapters to 10, Han Yanlong; Volume III, chapters to 4 and 11, Su Yigong; chapters 5, 7, 8, and 10, Lin Yanyan; chapters 6 and 9, Zhao Jiuyan. Han Yanlong revised chapters 5 to 9 of the lower volume. Zhao Jiuyan collected and provided some of the regulatory materials for the lower volume. The compilation of tables and figures was completed by Su Yigong, and the entire book was edited and finalized by Han Yanlong and Su Yigong. Chang Zhaorui was one of the initiators of the writing of this book and contributed significantly to its preparation. He passed away before the book was completed, and here we express our deepest condolences to this respected scholar.