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Deborah Jeong Chaoran Yang

HIEA 124 - Wikipedia Contribution: Fences during the Ming Era Overview A fence was a merchant who bought and sold stolen goods. Fences were part of the extensive network of accomplices in the criminal underground of Ming and Qing China. Their occupation entailed criminal activity, but as fences often acted as liaisons between the more respectable community to the underground criminals, they were seen as living a “precarious existence on the fringes of respectable society” (Antony 174).

A fence deals with different things from banditry. He or she not only sold items such as jewelry and clothing but was also involved in human trafficking hostages that banditires kidnapped. Women and children were the easiest and among the most common “objects” the fences sold. Most of the female hostages were sold to fences and then sold as prostitutes, wives, or concubiences. One example of human trafficking can be seen from Chen Akuei’s gang who abducted a servant girl and sold her to Lin Baimao, who in turn sold her to a thirty parts of silver as wives (Antony 156). In contrast to women, who required beauty to sell for a high price, children were sold regardless of their physical appearance or family background. Children were often sold as servants or entertainers, while young girls were often sold as prostitutes (Antony 160).

Path into the Occupation The path into the occupation of a fence, also known as a receiver, stemmed, in a large degree, from necessity. As most fences came from the ranks of poorer people, they often took whatever work they could, legal, or illegal (Antony 174). Like most of the bandits who resided in a certain area, fencers themselves, too, are from the nearby places. For example, in some satellite areas of the capital, military troops lived within or close to the commoner population and they had the opportunity to hold illegal trades with commoners. (Robinson 58) In areas like Baoding and Hejian, local peasants and community members not only purchased military livestock such as horses and cattle, but also helped to hide the “stolen livestock from military allured by the profits” (Robinson 58). Local peasants and community members became fences and they hid criminal activities from officials in exchange of products or money from these soldiers.

And similarly to upright and honest merchants, one of the most significant tools of a fence was their network of connections. As they were the middlemen between robbers and customers, fences needed to form and maintain connections in both the “polite” society, as well as among criminals. However, there are few exceptions that members of the so called “well-respected” society become receivers and harbourers. They not only help bandits to sell the stolen goods but also acting as agents of bandits to collect the protection money from local merchants and residents. These fences with high social status using their connection with bandit to help themselves to gain social capitals as well as wealth.

It was extremely important to their occupation that fences maintained a positive relationship with their customers, especially their richer gentry clients. It was also essential for them to maintain a relationship with bandits. However, it was just as true that bandits needed fences to make a living. As a result, fences often held dominance in their relationship with bandits. When some members of the local elites joined the ranks of fences, they not only protect bandits to protect their business interests, they actively took down any potential threats to their illegal profiting, even government officials. In the Zhejiang Province, the local elites not only got the provincial commissioner, Zhu Wan, dismissed from his office but also eventually “[drove] him to suicide” (Murakami 814). This was possible because fences often had legal means of making a living, as well as illegal activities and could threaten to turn in bandits into the authorities (Antony 174). Taking advantage of their dominance in their relationships with bandits, fences also cheated bandits by manipulating the prices they paid bandits for the stolen property (Antony 174).

Safehouses Aside from simply buying and selling stolen goods, fences often played additional roles in the criminal underground of early China. Because of the high floating population in public places such as inns and teahouses, they often became ideal places for banditries and gangs to gather to exchange information and plan for their next crime. Harborers, people who provided safehouses for criminals, often played the role of receiving stolen goods from their harbored criminals to sell to other customers (Antony 174). Safehouses included inns, teahouses, brothels, opium dens, as well as gambling parlors, and employees or owners of such institutions often functioned as harborers, as well as fences (Antony 171). These safehouses locate in places where there are high floating population and people from all kinds of social backgrounds. Brothels themselves helped these bandits to hide and sell stolen goods because of the special Ming Law that exempted brothels from being held responsible “for the criminal actions of their clients.” (Robinson 49). Even though government requires owners of these places to report any suspicious activities, lack of enforcement from government itself and some of the owners being fences for the bandits make an ideal safehouse for bandits and gangs. Pawnshops were also often affiliated with fencing stolen goods (Antony 177). The owners or employees of such shops often paid cash for stolen goods at a price a great deal below market value to bandits, that were often desperate for money, and resold the goods to earn a profit (Antony 177).

Fencing as a “side business” Other occupations that used fencing as a “side business” included laborers, coolies, and peddlers (Antony 175). Such individuals often encountered criminals in markets in their line of work, and, recognizing a potential avenue for an extra source of income, formed acquaintances and temporary associations for mutual aid and protection with criminals (Antony 175). In one case, an owner of a teahouse overheard the conversation of Deng Yawen group and others planning a robbery and he offered to help to sell the loot for an exchange of spoils. (Anthony 172) Butchers were also prime receivers for stolen animals because of the simple fact that owners could no longer recognize their livestock once butchers slaughtered them (Antony 175). In addition, at times, the robbers themselves filled the role of fences, selling to people they met on the road (Antony 177).

Although the vast majority of the time, fences worked with physical stolen property, fences who also worked as itinerant barbers also sold information as a good (Antony 175). Itinerant barbers often amassed important sources of information and news as they traveled, and sold significant pieces of information, often to criminals in search of places to hide or individuals to rob (Antony 175).

Punishment of Fences Two different Ming Laws, the Da Ming Lü, and the Da Gao, sentenced fences with different penalties based on the categories and prices of the products that were stolen. In coastal regions, illegal trading with foreigners, as well as smuggling became a huge concern for the government during the mid to late Ming era. In order to prohibit this crime, the government passed a law in which illegal smugglers who traded with foreigners without the consent of the government would be punished with exile to the border for military service (Yang 42). In areas where military troops were stationed, stealing and selling military property would result in a more severe punishment. In the Jiaqing time, a case was recorded of stealing and selling military horses. The empire himself gave direction that the thieves who stole the horses and the people who helped to sell the horses would be put on cangue and sent to labor in a border military camp (Yang 326). In the salt mines, the penalty for workers who stole salt and people who sold the stolen salt was the most severe. In Ming China, anyone who was arrested and found guilty of stealing and selling government salt was put to death.

Reference: ·Antony, Robert J. Unruly People: Crime, Community, and State in Late Imperial South China. 1st. Ed., (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2016) ·Robinson, David, “Banditry during the Mid-Ming Period.” Bandits, Eunuchs and the Son of Heaven: Rebellion and the Economy of Violence in Mid-Ming China. University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. ·Murakami, Ei. “The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Pirates: from Initiators to Obstructors of Maritime Trade.” The Sea in History - The Early Modern World, edited by Christian Buchet and Gérard Le Bouëdec, NED - New edition ed., Boydell and Brewer, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY, USA, 2017 ·Yang, Yifan 杨一凡. Ming dai li fa yan jiu明代立法研究.Beijing : Zhongguo she huike xue chu ban she, 北京 : 中国社会科学出版社, 2013