Tens and Hundreds (9) - Chinese Counterfeit

During the imperial period, China was divided into eighteen provinces and 1,300 districts. These districts were too large for a magistrate or governor to control, so a system of surveillance was introduced.

Households were organised by the thousand and then subdivided into sub-groupings of hundred and then ten. Headmen kept a register of everybody in each group, recorded comings and goings, and reported offences to magistrates. Villagers were required to tell the headman of any illegal behaviour they encountered—failure to do sow was a crime (Jonathon Fenby, The Penguin History of Modern China, p.6).

The Chinese Tens and Hundreds were not voluntary associations that emerged in society, but were imposed from the top to achieve control over society. They are fulfilment of what Samuel prophesied would happen. These counterfeit Tens and Hundreds were not a source of cohesion, but a tool for control.

The devil is never orignal. He copies and distorts the real thing.