明初，从加强中央集权的角度出发，统治者积极谋求有效的乡政治理策略。朱元璋实行里甲制，在乡里社会编制里甲，由里长和甲首进行管理。里甲主要进行人口统计和赋役征收，属于对日常事务层面的管理，而教化乡里百姓的任务落在了里老这一群体身上。朱元璋很重视教化的作用，认为“治国之要，教化为先”。为了能将治国思想传达到最基层，他在乡里需要选定一批代理人负责教化，鉴于古代老人职掌教化的传统，他将目标人群锁定在老人身上，这一群体也就是里老。并于洪武三十一年，将与里老教化与乡间治理相关的四十一条榜文辑录在一起，制成《教民榜文》，以官方文件的形式赋予了里老在乡里社会教化的权力。明初，这一政策在基层很好的贯彻了下去。

里老主要通过四种方式参与乡里社会教化：第一，他们负责处理乡间词讼，乡里出现纠纷、争执时，要找里老进行处理。处理词讼的过程，也是教化的过程。里老要劝导百姓能忍则忍，最终是要解决矛盾而非给予严厉的惩罚，从而达到息讼和无讼的结果。第二，里老有旌善惩恶的权力，负责将乡里百姓的善行上报官府和朝廷，将恶行张贴于版榜上进行警示，从而劝民为善。乡里社会建有旌善亭和申明亭，是里老行使这项权力的场所。第三，里老需要手持木铎，于固定时间在乡里巡视，宣讲“圣谕六条”，从而将统治者推崇的道德规范传达给基层百姓。第四，明代十分重视乡饮酒礼的举行，品行高尚的老人在乡饮酒礼上位列上宾，作为一种象征向百姓传达序长幼、别善恶的思想，借助这一礼仪达到教化百姓的效果。

通过以上方式，明初建立起以里老为中心的乡里社会教化网络，使统治者的控制范围可以延伸到最底层社会，从而巩固其统治。里老在乡里社会的教化有以下特点，首先，它是德主刑辅、礼法共治的反映。里老主要运用劝导的方式向百姓传达传统道德观念，建立礼仪秩序；同时在这些活动中又有法的影子，软硬兼施，最终达成效果较好的乡村控制。其次，里老的教化形式比较简单。鉴于老人这一群体的性质，他们没有同士人一样的文化储备，因此所做的教化工作只能是一些具有象征意味的简单重复活动。最后，里老教化的覆盖面是很广泛的。不同于针对精英群体的学校教育，里老的教化面向乡里广大的普通民众，这有利于在基层社会建立起广泛的共识，从而帮助巩固统治。

明初，里老在乡里社会的教化，起到淳化乡里风俗、净化社会风气的作用。但是，随着明代中后期土地兼并加剧、商品经济发展，里甲制崩坏，里老赖以存在的社会环境和制度不复存在，里老制度在里老的选择方式、里老的素质、里老的职责和地位、理诉场所和里老的数量方面产生变化，弊端开始显现，最终淡出人们的视野，被乡约制所取代。

 In the early Ming Dynasty, from the angle of strengthening the centralisation, the rulers actively sought for an effective political strategy for the countryside. Zhu Yuanzhang established the Lijia system in village communities, which was managed by officials Li Zhang and Jia Shou. Lijia is mainly responsible for the management of daily affairs including demographic statistics and the levy of taxes and corvee, while Lilao are responsible for the education of the village people. Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the role of education, and he believed that "the most important thing for governing a country is education." In order to ensure that the governing thought can be conveyed to the grass-root level, it is necessary to select a group of agents in the villages who would be designated to be responsible for the education. Considering the tradition that the elderly were in charge of the education in ancient China, he targeted the elderly. In the 31st year of Hongwu, the "Jiao Min Bang Wen" (Announcement for Educating the People) comprised of 41 announcements related to the education by the elderly and the governance of the villages was promulgated, which endowed the elderly with the power to educate the village people in the form of official documents. In the Ming Dynasty, this policy was well implemented at the grassroots level.

Lilao in the village communities mainly participated in education of the village people through four ways. First, Lilao were responsible for handling the lawsuits. Any disputes arising in the village communities must be first handled by the elderly. The process of handling lawsuits itself is also a way of education. The elderly in the village communities should persuade the masses to endure as much as possible. The ultimate purpose is not to give severe punishment, but to eliminate the contradictions, so as to achieve the results of giving up lawsuits and no lawsuit. Secondly, Lilao in the village communities have the power to praise virtue and punish evil, to persuade the people to be good, to report villagers’ benevolence to the local government and the imperial court, to post villagers’ evildoing for warning and for others to supervise. In addition, Jingshan Pavilion and Shenming Pavilion were constructed in village communities to provide places for Lilao in the village to exercise their power. Thirdly, Lilao would also hold Muduo in their hands to patrol the villages at a fixed time and preach "emperor’s six instructions," so as to convey the moral standards advocated by the rulers to the grassroots. Finally, the Ming Dynasty paid special attention to the drinking ceremonies held by village communities, at which the noble elderly were treated as the most distinguished guests, to convey to the people the thought of respect for the elderly and distinguishing good and evil.

By virtue of the above-mentioned measures, the elderly-centered education network in village communities in the early Ming Dynasty was established, which enabled the ruler's governance to be extended to grass-root level, thereby consolidating the ruler’s governance. The following are the characteristics of the education by Lilao in the village communities. First, it is actually a reflection of morality given priority over penalty as well as rule of law and etiquette. In addition to conveying the traditional moral concepts to the masses in the form of persuasion to establish an etiquette order, it also involved laws. Combining the stick and the carrot, it can finally realize an effective governance in village communities. Second, the form of education by Lilao is simper. In view of the nature of the group of the elderly, they do not have the same cultural reserves as the Literati, so the education work done can only be a few symbolic simple repeat activities. Third, the reach of the education by Lilao is extensive. Unlike schooling for the elite, education by Lilao is aimed at ordinary people in the countryside, helping to build a broad consensus at the grassroots level and thus helping to consolidate rule.

In the early Ming dynasty, Lilao and the education in village communities played the role of purifying the rural customs and the social atmosphere. However, in the middle and late Ming dynasty, the Lijia system didn’t work as effectively as it used to be with the intensified land annexation and the development of commodity economy, therefore, the social environment and system on which the elderly relied no longer existed. The system of Lilao has changed in the way of selection, the quality, the duty and status, the place of litigation and the number of Lilao, and the disadvantages began to appear. In the end, it was replaced by the township governance system.