The baojia system (Chinese: 保甲; pinyin: bǎojiǎ; Wade–Giles: pao3-chia3) was an invention of Wang Anshi of the Northern Song dynasty, who created this community-based system of law enforcement and civil control that was included in his large reform of Chinese government ("the New Policies") from 1069–1076.
[1] The leaders of the baos were given authority to maintain local order, collect taxes, and organize civil projects.
The idea of the system was that it would diminish the government's reliance on mercenaries, and that it would instead assign responsibility of law enforcement to these civil societies.
During the boycott of Japanese products that occurred during the May Fourth Movement in 1919, students modeled their resistance on the baojia system.
He Yingqin argued that the baojia system could be used as the basis for the switch from a mercenary to a compulsory military service.
This system lasted until 1937, when the all-out war being waged in East Asia forced the Japanese government to consider more direct and centralized control schemes.
In Wang Anshi's original system, its basic unit was the bao (watch), which consisted of ten families.
Studies by Philip Huang and Wang Fuming of Baodi County in northeastern Hebei province (now Baodi District, Tianjin) have shown that the lowest quasi-official was the xiangbao, who oversaw about twenty villages and was intended to act as a buffer between the people and the government.