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Studying the relationship between gentry power and state power from the perspective of rural power structure is not only a legal history issue, but also an important issue in public law. Adhering to an academic stance that combines historical description with academic analysis, this book uses a long historical lens to delve into China's rural society from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the early Republic of China. It explores the pair of power relationships that once existed in the rural public power system - gentry power and state power. It reveals how rural autonomy was achieved in the game between the two, and what impact the demise of gentry power had on modern rural society and even the political country.