Social Architecture (15) Chinese Counterfeit

An example of Tens and Hundreds being used for political control can be found in the history of China. 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 within society, but were imposed from the top to achieve control over society. They are fulfilment of Samuel’s prophesy. These counterfeit Tens and Hundreds were a tool for control, not a source of cohesion.

Evil is never original. It copies and distorts the real thing.