The Art of Being Governed
Based on rare primary sources like genealogies, Wei-suo registers, and local court cases, *The Art of Being Governed* upends traditional views of rigid Ming dynasty state control. It explores how military households—families bound by hereditary military service—navigated conflicting state obligations and family interests through creative, pragmatic strategies: from redistributing property to assign service duties, using substitute soldiers, rotating service among branches, to engaging in "institutional arbitrage" by exploiting gaps between official rules and real-world realities. The book also delves into coastal military households’ entanglement with illegal maritime trade, their integration into local communities via marriage and temples, and how these households adapted their tactics into the Qing dynasty, leaving lasting social and cultural legacies. By centering ordinary people’s voices, it reveals the dynamic, two-way interaction between state systems and grassroots survival wisdom, redefining our understanding of pre-modern Chinese governance.