48  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
De  Tocqueville’s  time  (except  for  the  county  system  of  the
Southern  States),  was  passably  true  at  the  time  of  Bryce’s
inquiry,  and  is  true  to-day  of  the  country  village  communities. ­
  It  is  also  true,  mutatis  mutandis,  of  village  communities ­
  in  China  to-day,  following  the  precedent  of  many
centuries.  The  village  elder,  Tipao,  is  appointed  “  with
and  by  the  advice  and  consent”  of  the  villagers,  and  represents ­
  them  in  all  official  and  governmental  matters,  being
also  the  ordinary  channel  of  communication  of  official
wishes  or  orders  to  his  fellow  villagers.  The  American
citizen  has  few  direct  dealings  with  any  but  his  township
officials,  so  long  as  he  pays  his  taxes  and  is  law-abiding,  and,
officially,  hardly  knows  of  the  existence  of  the  Federal
Government,  unless  he  has  to  deal  with  the  Custom  House,
or  wishes  to  distil  whisky.  This  may  be  said  also  of  the
Chinese  villager,  and,  moreover,  few  civil  suits  are  brought
before  the  official  tribunals  in  China,  while  the  government
exercises  no  control  over  distillation.  The  American  federal
system  finds  its  counterpart,  too,  in  some  respects,  in  the
semi-interindependence  of  the  central  and  provincial  administrations ­
  ;  but  the  means  of  providing  for  the  maintenance ­
  of  the  Imperial  Government  resemble  much  more
closely  the  German  system,  based  on  a  combination  of
Imperial  taxes  and  matriculations  assessed  on  the  federated
states.
The  civil  government  of  China  may  be  considered  under
four  divisions  :
(i)  The  Emperor  and  his  Court,  and  the  Manchu  nobles-(ii)
  The  Central  Metropolitan  Government.
(iii)  The  Provincial  Administration.
(iv)  The  Township  and  Village.
To  explain  clearly  the  system  of  Chinese  administration»
it  would  be  wise  to  begin  with  the  foundation  and  trace  #
up  to  the  top  ;  but  in  many  ways  it  is  more  convenient  t°
trace  the  stream  from  its  mouth  through  its  many  ram 1 '
fixations  to  its  sources.