Abstract
In the Ching Dynasty, the "guards" system (_??_ Ai) was established throughout the middle, northern and northeastern parts of Taiwan. It was aimed at protecting the Chinese and the sinicized aborigines from being disturbed or attacked by the wild aborigines, while they were engaged in exploiting the land in these areas. The "guards" were usually classified as "official guards" and "civil guards". There were only a few official guards, although the civil guards were of a great number. The official guards were subdivided into two different classes. Under one class the guards expenditure was financed wholly by the government; and under the other class, the government only assumed four-tenths of its expenditure and the rest were shared by the landlords and the tenants domiciled within the border of the "guards". Next, the "civil guards" were also subdivided into two classes : "public guards" and "private guards". The public guards were financed by the landlords or lessors (_??__??__??_ Ta-tsu-hu) and the long-lease tenants (_??__??__??_ Hsiao-tsu-hu) both inhabiting the local community which usually composed of one or several villages, in proportion to size of the land they owned and exploited. The "private guards" or the so-called "manorial guards", being built by the manorial landowner, were devised to safeguard the exploitation of their lands. The manorial tenants (_??__??__??_ Untereigentümer), under the long-lease from the manorial landowner (_??__??_ Obereigentümer), payed the rent (_??__??_ Zins) to the latter for the possession of their lands.
