Ma Chujie/Compiled Hu Heng /Review
In July 2022, Fudan University Historical Geography Research Center held a summer school, inviting scholars from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences , Representatives University , Central University of Nationalities , Fudan University , Sunshan University , Jinan University , Jinan University and other universities to teach students around the topic of "Territory Management of the Ming and Qing Dynasties". After review and authorization by the main lecturer, The Paper and Private History published this series of special reports on this summer school. This article is compiled from . The Qing History Institute of Renmin University of China . Associate Professor Hu Heng gave a speech.
Selected the theme of prefectures and county abolishment and local society in the Qing Dynasty. The reason was that when Hu Heng participated in the compilation of the "Qing History·Geographical Records" and the Qing Palace archives, he collected a lot of archival information from prefectures and counties. In 2011, he made preliminary discussions with the four counties in Shanxi as the center, but there are still many similar phenomena outside Shanxi that are worth continuing to track. This lecture is a new reflection on the phenomenon of abolishment of prefectures and counties in the Qing Dynasty and the geography research methods of the political region.
1. The stability of the evolution of county-level political districts in previous dynasties
0 Zhou Zhenhe Mr. Zhou Zhenhe has conducted in-depth research on the concept of administrative division , and summarized the levels of political districts in previous dynasties into high-level political districts, Tongxian districts and grassroots political districts, which has been widely recognized by the academic community. Hu Heng discovered that although the academic work of the Qing people is mainly based on textual research, the meanings and principles contained in textual research are worth paying attention to. In the process of compiling unified and local chronicles, especially when listing complex political districts in the past dynasties, the need to summarize and summarize administrative division levels will inevitably arise. It can be clearly seen from a large number of local chronicles such as Jiaqing "Ankang County Chronicles", Daoguang "Chao County Chronicles", and Guangxu's "Revised Anhui Tongzhi" that the words "Tongmin" and "Ministry" mentioned by the Qing people correspond to "high-level political districts", "division", "special jurisdiction", "official county" and other words correspond to "grassroots political districts". As for the basic trend of administrative division evolution in previous dynasties, county-level political districts are recognized as the most stable first-level political districts, with relatively small fluctuations in size, number and name. Continuing to the Qing Dynasty, while county-level political districts were generally stable, the number increased steadily. Hualinfu Professor Hua Linfu "Restoration of the boundary of the Qing Dynasty Political Regions and the reappearance of the Qing History Geography - The Compilation and Painting Practice of the "Acta of Qing History"" ("Qing History Research" No. 5, 2020) Table 1 "Number of Political Regions Carried by National Map" shows that in the 24th year of the Kangxi reign, there were 1,153 county-level political regions across the country, increased to 1,294 in the 60th year of the Qianlong reign, 1,290 in the 20th year of the Daoguang reign, 1,312 in the 20th year of the Guangxu reign, and 1,382 in the third year of the Xuantong reign.
The mainstream of the evolution of county-level political districts is "new counties". Geographical research on historical political districts attaches importance to the generation and motivation of "new counties". Tan Qixiang Mr. Zhejiang's research on Zhejiang has summarized the classic model of "regional development: mother county theory", using the generation of counties as a "alternative indicator" for regional development, which is very explanatory. However, when this research method is regarded as a classic, some studies use it to explain short-term or isolated political evolution events without paying attention to this long-term research. In the process of using concepts, it is inevitable that a simple logic of taming history under the law or using the result as the cause to establish a linear historical development. The changes in the administrative region itself are an administrative operation process. In addition to the factors of regional development, they are also restricted by political, cultural, and natural factors. They contain both rational factors, irrational and even accidental factors. They are both constrained by the long-term structure of historical development, and are also affected by short-term administrative operations and personal factors. Therefore, it is necessary to consider that historical development is not a single line, and a more complex and diverse historical process should be considered behind the establishment of the political district. In recent years, the multi-factor explanation of the establishment of political regions has become a trend. Hu Heng summarized it into three paths: introducing the process of political operations, putting the research on the political region into the historical process of regional society, and attaching importance to exploring the local forces behind the reform of the political region.This is certainly a correction of the original oversimplified key single-cause method, but "the explanation of multiple factors often presupposes that each reason has its contingency", and its importance still needs to be distinguished, especially in-depth analysis of critical moments and nodes, so that the explanation of single factors and multiple factors can be properly balanced and integrated in the study of political regions.
Mr. Tan Qixiang
2. Overview of the abolition of prefectures and counties in the Qing Dynasty
County-level political districts have been established and abolished, but the predecessors' concerns about abolishing counties are obviously not as good as establishing counties. History can reveal its essence in the prescription of breakage. "Standby" and "abortion", "alongside" and "revolution" are themselves dialectical unity; through the event of drastic changes in the political district, the relationship between the political process and the reform of the political district, it is easy to observe the attitudes of different groups of people towards the reform of the political district; through the examination of "aborted counties", it is easier to understand the manifestations of local "regional identity" and "localism".
There was a Qing Dynasty, and only 43 county-level political districts were abolished nationwide (including sanzhou and sandong halls at the same level as the county), of which 41 were incorporated into neighboring counties. This was also the most common model for the abolition of county-level political districts in the Qing Dynasty. There are 2 other ones cut and trimmed. Regarding the reasons for the abolition, Hu Heng first summarized it into eight factors, including population, economy, floods, earthquakes, city, territory, affairs and flag citizens, based on the expression of the official documents. However, this only represents the "expression" and "writing" from the official position, and still needs to think about the "stance" behind "writing". He pointed out that historical materials are not real records of objective historical facts. They must further examine the writer, narrative structure, document process, and purpose of writing in order to have a more comprehensive and accurate grasp of historical materials and historical facts. Next, Hu Heng shared his reading experience and thoughts on documents and archives related to the abolition of prefectures and counties in the Qing Dynasty.
3. Who's the proposal
To understand the relevant documents for the abolition of government departments in the Qing Dynasty, we must first understand the administrative process of the reform of the government, which to a certain extent is also the process of document circulation. Generally speaking, the process of adjustment of the Qing Dynasty's political district may have multiple paths in the initiation process. One is initiated directly by the governor, which is also the most common way. For example, the sack of Pingshun County, Shanxi in the 29th year of Qianlong was directly proposed by the governor of Shanxi, and the sack of Jinping County, Guizhou in the 12th year of Daoguang was proposed by the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. One is that the province has experienced a secret and complex motion process. Taking the abolition of Qingyuan County, Shanxi during the Qianlong period as an example, if you read the documents such as " Qing Dynasty Records " and local chronicles, you will generally believe that the motion for this matter was written by the Shanxi governor or the governor of Shanxi. However, by reading the archives and materials preserved by the Qing Palace, you will know that there is another hidden truth in this matter. The first time, Zhu Yu, the magistrate of Xugou, asked to abolition of Xugou and move Qingyuan County to Xugou. The act of abolishing the county is confusing. After carefully reading the later Beijing complaints, I realized that Zhu Yufa was tired of buying grain, was corrupt and abused the law, and was afraid of his crimes being exposed. He hoped to use the adjustment of the political district to cover up the evidence. This was also proved to be true after the Shanxi Governor and his sincere investigation. Qingyuan County is not an isolated case. There were similar situations in the abolition of Heyin County, Henan during the Qianlong period. One is a motion with multiple paths in the province, but it eventually returned to the governor and governor according to the formal administrative process. Taking the merger of Qingyuan and Xugou as an example, after the magistrate of Xugou proposed to abolish Xugou, Shanxi governor Wenshou requested to merge Xugou with Qingyuan. However, the Ministry of Personnel replied that the resolution of officials should be checked and requested by the governor, and it was inconvenient for the resolution of the governor. It was also during the process of direct intervention by the governor that the resolution of the county was changed from resolution of Xugou to resolution of the source of the resolution. Therefore, in studying the process of abolishing the administrative regions in the Qing Dynasty, we should attach great importance to the role of the governor and governor in administrative operations. One is to take action first and then report, which is more special and rare. Taking the Chixi Hall in Guangdong as an example, due to the fierce conflict between the local and local tourists from Xianfeng to Tongzhi in March of the sixth year of Tongzhi, after coordination by Guangdong Governor Jiang Yili, the plan for the establishment of the Chixi Hall was decided. In April, the demarcation plan was determined, and in May, the demarcation plan was summoned to convene the local tourists and gentry to start demarcation and erecting monuments. However, according to the archives stored in the Qing Palace, it was not until December of that year that Jiang Yili formally requested the establishment of the Chixi Hall.
4. Who decides how the proposal for adjustment of prefectures and counties becomes a policy, involving the administrative operations between the emperor, the Ministry of Personnel and the governor.Generally speaking, as long as the Governor’s request for the adjustment of the political district is in compliance with the norms, the possibility of approval is high in terms of the archives seen so far is related to the Governor’s role as the Governor in the administrative system and its certain monopoly on local information flow, but it is not entirely true. In the 12th year of Daoguang, the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and the Governor of Guizhou jointly requested the severance of Jinping County to be incorporated into Kaitai County. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and the Governor of Guizhou jointly submitted a request to restore Jinping County. In the first month of the eleventh year of Xianfeng, as always, the Ministry of Personnel agreed to the governor's opinion, but was rejected by Emperor Xianfeng. The reason was that "there was no reason to return it after the sages were received before."
In addition to the Ministry of Personnel, the adjustment of the political region also involves decision-making between multiple departments. The Ministry of Personnel is the most important step, but it also involves the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Industry, and other departments. When Nanya Tongzhi was established in the 20th year of Guangxu, clear administrative procedures were retained in the archives. In addition to the most important decisions of the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works all participated, involving matters such as case trial rights, tax collection rights, official seal casting, and government office site selection and construction. After the central government made a decision, there were subsequent matters such as selecting officials, demarcation, and delivery of money and grain. As seen in some cases, the delivery of money and grain will sometimes be set on the first day of the first lunar month of a certain year. This leads to a problem: since the process of administrative decision-making and implementation of and , the Qing Dynasty did not specify which node is used as the standard for formal establishment of administrative establishment. In this sense, at one or several time points in this time chain as the time set up as the time for the political district, different documents have recorded according to different standards, but this does not mean right or wrong. Taking the Tonggu Hall in Jiangxi as an example, in December of the 32nd year of the Guangxu period, Niu Pinghan edited the "Comprehensive Table of History of the Qing Dynasty Political Regions" based on this, the time of the establishment of the Tonggu Hall was set at this time, but there was a clear text in history. After demarcation, "draw a chart, please make a detailed review and agreement. The first day of the first lunar month of the second year of Xuantong was the date of the reorganization of the Fumin Hall of Tonggu. Not only did the Qing Dynasty political regions evolve, but other political regions have also been abolished. Therefore, when many studies misrepresent the establishment of political regions, based on the differences in records in the general discipline, geographical chronicles, and biographies, and repeatedly review, it is determined that a record is accurate and a record is wrong. Perhaps it ignores the complexity of the political region's abolishment process and the difference between the source of text knowledge. From a methodological point of view, it is questionable.
It was not until the 32nd year of the Guangxu period that the Ministry of Civil Affairs was established, and the Xinjiang Administration Department was established, which was in charge of the review of local zoning, land statistics, land collection and sale of officials and civilians, inspection and surveying and mapping, and reviewing maps, etc. It was established under the Economic Corridor and Map Department, marking the professionalization and scientificization of the adjustment of the political region.
Hu Heng believes that when studying the abolition of administrative regions, we must return to the process of administrative operations and grasp the original administrative documents. We must pay special attention to the possible obscurity of the real situation by various documents. At the same time, we should pay attention to the research and grasp of decision-making processes, especially the value of the key minority in the decision-making system.
5. Whose geography
In today's people often summarize the "geographic" elements behind the abolition of political regions based on various documents or current geographical conditions, such as mountains and rivers, or canines, or local factors, etc. However, whether this "geography" can be equated with the "geography" that plays a practical role in text circulation in administrative practice is worth further thinking. In fact, from the perspective of administrative operation processes and the actual flow of geographical information, the "geography" that plays a role in the adjustment of the political district can actually be regarded as a type of textual expression. Since the emperor, the Ministry of Personnel, and some governors, their decisions rely on documents such as memorials and the "geography" knowledge written in various geographical journals to make judgments. This type of "geography" is strongly influenced by the writer, and there are often certain differences from the real "geography". The Song history community has specially discussed the issue of information circulation and control in political history research. Various social groups and forces may participate in creation, control and distortion in information circulation, and "geography" is also a kind of information.
Hu Heng made further arguments with public opinion manipulation and information processing as an example.Although the Qing court always emphasized adapting to public opinion when making decisions, there is a process of information control and counter-control of how real public opinion is transmitted from local to central government. For example, in order to promote the abolition of Heyin County, An Ergong, the magistrate of Heyin County, arranged hundreds of people to write overnight. The Henan Governor reported to the Central Committee based on this and obtained approval. Geographic Information can also convince decision makers by deliberately highlighting certain geographical elements and obscuring other geographical elements. This is the secret to "writing materials". For example, in the 28th year of Qianlong's reign, the Shanxi Governor requested the termination of Qingyuan County because the territory of Qingyuan County was too small. The following year, when the Shanxi Governor requested the termination of Pingshun County, Pingshun County was a large area, he emphasized that its population was sparse. For example, when the Jinping County, Guizhou was abolished in the 12th year of Daoguang, it was based on the small size; when the Xianfeng hoped to recover in the 11th year of Xianfeng, it was also said that the place was more than 120 miles away from Kaitai County, and it was difficult to travel back and forth. The geography has not changed, but the textual narrative techniques have had different impacts on the decision-making of the Qing court.
When the Qing Dynasty requested the abolition of prefectures and counties, the governor often used the reason for being too small. Hu Heng summarized the data from "Four to Eight" in "Jiaqing Repair of Unification Chronicle" and averaged the county-level data. The model presented is balanced and classic: 67.9 miles north, 66.7 miles west, 67.5 miles south, and 64.3 miles east. Most of the counties in the sum of the four to 10% are distributed in Zhili, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Jiangnan and Chengdu Plains. This creates a paradox. The counties that were abolished in the Qing Dynasty on the grounds that they were too small were actually not the counties with the lowest data on the "Four to Eight" . Based on this, how should we understand the "geographic" factors in the abolition of political regions, and regard it as a real geography or a geography appearance, which is still worth pondering.
6. Whose voice
0 The abolition of the political region involves various groups of the official and social groups. Since it is the dominant principle of official politics, a large number of noises have been eliminated in historical occasions in addition to official narratives. Researchers should look for the voices of the people outside the official narrative as much as possible to see the complex and diverse situations behind the changes in the political region. How to find these sounds? Hu Heng provided four clues: first, the voices in mass events. For example, the local chronicles record the people's reflections on the abolition of the political district by the people of Heyin County, Henan Province. These materials are often not in the plots such as "Editative Reference", but in the chapters of the preface, biographies, art and literature, and even the Zhiyu. The second is the voice in the Beijing Control interrogation record. There were many cases of Beijing Control caused by the abolition of the political district in the Qing Dynasty. Many trial records were left in the Qing Palace archives, including many words that reflect the voices of the people. For example, in the Beijing Control interrogation record of the people of Qingyuan County, Shanxi, we can see that there are great differences in attitudes about the abolition of the political district. Again, there is the hidden voice in the archives. Taking the abolition of Xin'an County in Zhili as an example, the record records show that the local people actively support and are happy to the abolition of the abolition. However, according to the memorials of Qiying, the infantry commander of the yamen, Ma Jinbao and Yang Pu, the citizens of Xin'an County, were willing to donate valley stones to restore Xin'an County, which reflected the true thoughts of the people of the time from another perspective. Finally, there are hidden voices in local chronicles and other documents, such as the Jia County of Yunnan (Shiru) and sent to Nan'an Prefecture in the eighth year of Kangxi, but later it was still compiled the "Draft of the Jiazhi (Shiru)" to preserve one's identity and identity.
Behind the changes in the political region, there are quite a lot of local sounds hidden, and most of them are obscured in historical writing. This requires us to discover historical materials as much as possible, especially paying attention to the reading and sorting of archival materials in order to truly read the thrilling story behind the ordinary local chronicles narratives.
7. Who's equilibrium
Politics itself has extremely strong uncertainty, especially when it comes to the complex human factors behind politics. In specific changes in the political region, in addition to geographical factors, the game behind people and theirs is equally important. game theory is a branch of modern mathematics . In the past twenty years, it has gradually integrated into economics, political science, international relations and other fields. In game activities, the parties participating in the competition have different goals or interests. In order to achieve the goal, all parties must consider the possible solutions of their opponents in order to make the most favorable decisions.Game theory emphasizes Nash equilibrium, which has a basic assumption for people: people are rational, and they will pursue the maximization of personal interests when choosing specific strategies, and the optimal strategy combination of all participants forms the Nash equilibrium point. At this equilibrium point, every rational participant will not have the motivation to change the strategy alone, because every gamer cannot increase the benefits because of unilaterally changing his own strategy.
Although the Qing Dynasty abolished prefectures and counties based on the principle of political dominance, a series of fierce resistance incidents also meant local resistance voices. Based on the joint game between all parties, the Qing court had to consider maintaining the old interest pattern, and thus formed a set of special policies after the abolition of prefectures and counties: First, set up officials to assist the old county government to maintain a certain level of government power; second, the quota of the school maintained its independence through the "township learning" method, which was first preserved after the abolition of Haimen County, Jiangsu in the 11th year of Kangxi; third, the cultural symbols of the old county were retained to a certain extent, especially the Academy ; in addition, tax burdens were also maintained as much as possible. For example, after the abolition of Leping County, Shanxi was abolished and entered Dingzhou in the Jiaqing period, the burden of duty still followed the old rules, and the "East Road Bubble Compliance and Rules" was engraved to maintain the pattern before the abolition of the county. Similar situations also exist in Shangjin County. After Shangjin County was incorporated into Yunxi County in the 16th year of Shunzhi, the tax and service records in Qianlong's "Yunxi County Chronicles" have been counted separately in Shangjin.
8. The new and new urban
Through the above balance, the Qing Dynasty's abolition of prefectures and counties maintained stability to a considerable extent, but the special policy of abolishing counties also caused the difference between the new and new urban ties. This difference and the barriers it caused always exist in taxation, justice, culture, etc. For example, there is basically no essential difference in the daily operations and pre-abortion of Weixian , Qingyuan, Xugou, Zhuanglang, Zhangxian and other places. It is reflected in various aspects such as taxes, school quotas, and official service, forming an entanglement between "original town" and "new unification", bringing a series of administrative integration problems, and the Qing Dynasty was obviously unable to solve this problem, but could only continue to maintain the old pattern.
9. Historical writing and historical memory in local chronicles
This state of barrier between "original town" and "new combination" is also reflected in the writing of local chronicles. The compilation of new local chronicles after the abolition of prefectures and counties often reflects a certain state of division and governance, and this writing brings about the long-term retention of historical memories, indirectly maintains the historical memory of the old county, and also creates conditions for the emergence of the thought of restoring the county in the future. For example, during the Guangxu period, while compiling the "Revising the Xugou County Chronicle", the "Qingyuan Township Chronicle" was also compiled and attached to the end of the county Chronicle. "Pingshun Township Chronicles" is attached to "Lucheng County Chronicles". In each volume of "Pingdingzhou Chronicles" and "Shuozhou Chronicles", the matters in this prefecture are listed first, and then the Leping and Mayi Townships are listed separately. In the 16th year of Shunzhi, Nanzhao was incorporated into Nanyang . When compiling the "Nanyang County Chronicles", the editor of the chant book said: "Nanzhao was merged into Nanyang. Although it was combined into one county, it was divided into Nanyang and Nanzhao. The mountains, rivers, figures, etc. must be attached to each item after each item, so that the readers can read it, and know which one is Nanzhao and which one is Nanyang." It is also based on this that Hu Heng reminds everyone that when using the local chronicles of the Qing Dynasty, we should pay attention to whether the county has undergone abolition and merger. Whether the scope of its description includes the entire area of the merged new county or is only within the scope of the old county, otherwise it may cause omissions in research.
Zhili Qingxian has been relatively successful in integrating Benyi and Xinbing. In the 16th year of Shunzhi, Xingji County was incorporated into Qingxian . Kangxi "Qingxian Chronicles·Free Regulations" emphasizes that the cases of Xingji should be compiled according to the category, and each article must be titled "Xingji merger". The "Qingxian Chronicles·Free Rules" of Jiaqing changed. Except for the officials, the remaining categories were collected and combined. By the time the Qingxian Chronicle was compiled during the Guangxu period, even this regular rule was deleted, proving that Xingji and Qingxian had already been combined into one.
details such as distance and hometown in the local chronicles also contain the old county-centrism color. In Qianlong's "Taiyuan Prefecture Chronicle", there is still a saying that "Qingyuan Township" is recorded when he is a native of his hometown. In Qianlong's "Yunxi County Chronicles", there is still a situation where the above-mentioned Jin County is the center to describe the distance, and Shangjin County was incorporated into Yunxi County as early as the 16th year of Shunzhi.In addition, the Qing people were keen on nostalgia and the verification of ancient place names. For example, after Shangjin County was abolished, literati continued to visit Shangjin Ancient City , which triggered nostalgia and left behind records of poetry and songs, which played a great role in the inheritance of historical memory.
10. Fuxian thoughts
There are often conflicts between the original and the new and new countries, and the identification between self and others has been continuously strengthened. Fuxian thoughts have always been hidden or visible, and there are sometimes sounds of restoring the old counties, such as Mayi County , Pingshun County, Jinping County, Zhang County, Qiang County, Heyin County, Wei County, etc., all of which were discussed by Fuxian County in the Qing Dynasty. By the Republic of China period, the political system changed drastically and some counties realized their long-cherished wish of restoring the county.
Lecture at the end, Hu Heng summarized the topic of "Diverful Process of the Abandoned Government" and studied the historical Abandoned Government. linear thinking should be overcome as much as possible, avoiding the hindsight of the reasons and processes based on the results, and avoiding "reverse movies". Hu Heng explained the following five points: First, the linear study of the model of political regions should be reflected, namely, regional development - settlement population growth - setting up political regions, environmental changes or regional decline - sparse population and simplified affairs - abandoned political regions, the political dominance principle itself contains multiple possibilities of results. Second, the "geography" in the reform of the political region is not only a real material entity, but also a "geography" understood by the upper rulers, an uncertain "geography". To a certain extent, "geography" is a text expressed in memorials and maps, so historical criticisms such as archives and other materials that are often used in the reform of the political region. Third, what geographical factors really play a role in the reform of the political region depends on how people with decision-making power understand and choose. This cannot be answered only in the subsequent analysis of the elements of the political region, but can only be accurately understood from the perspective of administrative operations. Fourth, only by combining structural factors with occasional factors can we accurately grasp the complex relationship between nature, culture, economy and politics in the reform of the political region. Fifth, grasp the plural "voices" in the reform of the political region, especially the underlying voices.
Editor in charge: Yu Shujuan
Proofreading: Ding Xiao
