Counties had always been the grass-roots units to implement policies and decrees of the central government since the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) of China's feudal society. All empires in the Chinese history levied taxes, recruited soldiers and governed people through counties. The population, geographical location and area under its jurisdiction determined the size of a county. Xianli or Xianzhang (county chief executive) was in charge of the county level government.

As the country's grass-roots executive bodies, governments at county level were authorized to disseminate and implement policies, decrees and laws from higher authorities. It was county-level governments that collected taxes, conscribed forced laborers, educated the subject, maintained social order, compiled written records of residents, and supervised on and suppressed the people in its jurisdiction. It was again the county-level governments that handled primary litigations, took care of farmland and irrigation facilities, and ran disaster-relief operations, among all the others. Therefore, county was linchpin to the feudal state in maintaining and consolidating its sovereignty.