Forgotten Heroes: San On County and its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing

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图书标签:
  • 明清史
  • 地方史
  • 社会史
  • 法律史
  • 士绅阶层
  • 官僚制度
  • 明朝
  • 清朝
  • 地方治理
  • 三藩之乱
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具体描述

This book is an attempt to clarify the history of San On County — the broader Hong Kong area — centring on the troubled years of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is based on an in-depth study of the San On County Gazetteer, which allows for a detailed discussion of the role, attitudes, and personalities of the San On magistrates, who were the heads of the county administration during this period. Particular focus is given to Zhou Xiyao (magistrate 1640–1644) and Li Kecheng (magistrate 1670–1675). The study finds that they, and at least some of the other magistrates of this period, were genuinely concerned about the county and its people, and tried as best they could to provide good and effective government for them.

著者信息

作者简介

Patrick H. Hase


  Patrick H. Hase is a researcher into local history. He is the author of The Six-Day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism (2008), Custom Land and Livelihood in Rural South China: The Traditional Land Law of Hong Kong’s New Territories, 1750–1950 (2013) and other books and articles on the history and ethnography of the New Territories area. He is a past president and honorary fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong, and serves as an honorary advisor to museums in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Kaiping. He currently lectures part time at Lingnan University History Department.

图书目录

1 Introduction: The Origins and Early Years of the County of San On
2 The San On Gazetteer: The Magistrates and the County Community
3 The Work of the County Magistrates and Their Magistracies
4 The Ming Magistrates: Zhou Xiyao and His Predecessors
5 Li Kecheng and the Early Qing Magistrates
6 Salt and Fish
7 Corruption
8 Conclusions

 

图书序言



  The counties (县, yuen, xian) were the lowest level of the Chinese imperial state structure, and the county magistrates, the heads of the county administration, were in a very real sense the foundation which supported the whole of the rest of the administration. Study of the counties and their administrators is, therefore, of great importance, as well as being a study of great fascination. During 40 years of studying the local history of the New Territories of Hong Kong, the relationship between the villagers and the magistracy has frequently caught my attention, and, my interest thus excited, in due course led to the production of this book.

  The central role played by the county magistrates in imperial China has inspired a number of English-language books in recent decades. Among others, T’ung-tsu Chu mostly used handbooks for magistrates, prepared by distinguished Qing scholars, to illustrate his work. John R. Watt produced a masterly work on the magistrates, as seen from the centre, relying particularly on the Qing law code and regulations, but also employing some local material to illuminate such questions as tenure, appointment, and dismissal. Philip C.C. Huang has written two books on the activities of the magistrates as judicial officers in the field of inter-personal, “civil”, legal disputes. There is also a fine study by Linxia Liang on the magistrates as judicial officers in the field of inter-personal legal disputes.

  These studies provide an excellent overview of the magistrates and their work. They do not, however, look primarily at the magistrates from the local viewpoint, and so they do not study in detail the magistrates as they functioned within their counties. Several use those local archives that survive (mostly very late nineteenth-century archives from Ba county, 巴县, that is, the city of Chongqing, 重兴, in Sichuan Province; and from Baodi County, 宝抵县, in Hebei Province, half-way between Tianjin and Peking), as well as central government archives, and some other local sources here and there. However the main aim of all these works is to illuminate the magistrates as a national administrative and judicial institution, taking China as a whole, and not primarily to look at the work of the magistrates within their counties, nor to clarify how they saw and reacted to local problems in those counties.

  Clearly, however, the county magistrates were central to the administration and development of their counties, and, as such, also merit detailed study at the local level, as well as on a nationwide basis.

  Bradly Reed has prepared a quite superb book (Clerks and “Runners”) which explores the work of magistracy underlings within one particular county (Ba County, the city of Chongqing), at the end of the nineteenth century, but it does not concern itself with the magistrates themselves (except insofar as they managed their underlings), and its setting (a very busy, large, city, a treaty port, at the very end of the imperial period) may well not reflect in its entirety the situation in a small, rural county 250 years earlier.

  There were a significant number of handbooks for magistrates written by distinguished scholars in the late Ming and early Qing. One of these, written by Huang Liu-hung (黄六鸿) in 1694, is a particularly down-to-earth and practical work, and gives a good idea of how competent magistrates viewed their work and the problems they actually faced in this period. It has been published in translation; the introduction to this book by the editor, Djang Chu, is a valuable contribution to the study of the magistrates within their counties in the late Ming and early Qing. This manual looks in great depth (in 32 volumes, 卷), totaling 559 pages in translation) at the work of the magistrate within his county. It concentrates, however, on the practice in the north of China (Huang Liu-hung was magistrate in Shantung and Hebei), and the practices described by Huang Liu-hung do not in every respect illustrate practice in the far south. Most of the other handbooks, from this period and later, while they purport to illuminate the problems magistrates might face, and to give advice on dealing with them, are, in fact, almost all “full of moralistic injunctions, with little practical information”, and are of relatively little value in understanding how magistrates in fact operated.

  Du Fengzhi (杜凤治, To Fung-chi) was magistrate of Kwong Ning county (广宁县, Guangning), in Kwangtung, in the late Qing; (between 1866 and 1868), and then of Sze Wui county, Kwangtung, (四会, Sehui), and then was once again for a few months in 1870–71 magistrate of Kwong Ning, before being appointed in 1871 as magistrate of the metropolitan county of Nam Hoi (南海, Nanhai: this county covered the western half of Canton city and its western suburbs), where he stayed for some five years, until he was promoted to the prefecture of Law Ting in western Kwangtung (罗定, Luoding). He retired from this post because of ill-health in 1880, at the age of 67. Du Fengzhi left a vast and very detailed diary, (望凫行馆宦粤日记), in 41 volumes, which has recently been published (the second volume of the diary, covering some three months in early 1867, was unfortunately lost during Du Fengzhi’s lifetime). It is particularly illuminating for the period Du Fengzhi spent in Kwong Ning, especially in 1866. Cheung Yin (张研, Zhang Yan) and Yau Tsit (邱捷, Qiu Jie) have written a number of important works on the information available in this diary. This material looks at what Du Fengzhi did, in particular within Kwong Ning county. Kwong Ning was, like San On, a generally quiet and rural county, and these essays, therefore, give a fascinating insight into this late Qing magistrate’s problems, and how he reacted to them: the information thus discussed clarifies, in some respects, the situation in late Ming and early Qing San On.

  This current book, like the essays of Yau Chit and the work of Cheung Yin, aims to look at the magistrates of one particular county, San On, but at an earlier period (essentially the period 1573–1713), primarily to attempt to see how the magistrates viewed themselves and their work within that county, how they viewed the problems of that county, and how they set about dealing with those problems, and secondarily to see how the community of that county viewed them and their work. It aims, therefore, to find out what the magistrates were like as individuals and as officials, and what they did, or failed to do, for that county. The book makes no pretentions to do any more than this. The book’s understanding of the general history of China in the late Ming and early Qing is taken from general studies. It likewise takes its understanding of Confucianism and the Confucian “superior man” from general studies.

  Apart from the innate fascination of seeing how the San On magistrates functioned when faced with the problems of their county, a major aim of this study is to illuminate part of the pre-British history of the Hong Kong area. Local history, the study of a particular locality, is of great importance. This book is, therefore, intended, at least in part, to throw some light on a vital part of Hong Kong local history and perhaps offer a picture of the magistrates as human figures, struggling with intractable local problems, and, as such, give, it is hoped, a view of them complementary to that given by John R. Watt and Philip C.C. Huang and their colleagues.

  The County Gazetteer of San On County (新安县县志, Xinan), that is, the county in which the Hong Kong area stood before the coming of the British, with some assistance from the Kwangtung Provincial Gazetteer and the gazetteers of the home counties of the San On magistrates, contains a considerable amount of information which can be used to study the late Ming and early Qing San On magistrates. No archival material from San On is known to survive, and no printed material other than the gazetteers contains anything of marked significance on these officials: almost all that is known of the San On magistrates comes from these publications, without very much in the way of independent supporting evidence. This gives rise to a systemic problem: this study has to use just a tiny handful of sources, and within those sources mostly the writings of the magistrates themselves, along with eulogistic biographies of the magistrates written by scholars of the county, if any such study is to be done. The administrations of these men thus have to be viewed through the eyes of the magistrates themselves, or else through the writings of those who may well have been close to them as community leaders and advisors. Despite these serious problems, however, there seems to be enough evidence to support this study.

  The information in the 1688 San On Gazetteer is, in particular, enough to allow a study to be done of the administrations of Zhou Xiyao, who was magistrate between 1640 and 1644, in the late Ming, and Li Kecheng, who was magistrate between 1670 and 1675, in the early Qing, and gives at least some information about some other magistrates in this general period.

  This short study of the San On magistrates in the late Ming and early Qing, is intended as a start. Similar studies, such as those of Djang Chu on Huang Liu-hung, and Yau Tsit and Cheung Yin on Du Fengzhi in Kwong Ning, looking at the magistrates in other counties, are desirable, so that a broader-based understanding of these men and their work at the local level can slowly be developed, to put alongside the studies of the magistrates in general as an administrative and judicial national institution. This small book is thus a brick which may one day, together with any other similar studies, form part of a more elaborate and detailed structure.

图书试读

Introduction:
The Origins and Early Years of the County of San On
 
Before 222 B.C. the Kwangtung (广东, Guangdong) area was inhabited by unsinicised barbarian peoples, and the southern border of the Chinese Empire lay along the Lingnan Mountains (岭南, Ling Nam), on the northern border of today’s province of Kwangtung. During the fourth and third century B.C., however, merchants from South-East Asia started to arrive to trade at Canton (广州, Guangzhou), and a thriving mercantile town grew up there. Chinese merchants began to travel south from the empire to Canton to take part in this trade, and a Chinese mercantile community began to establish itself. The first emperor (秦始皇) became concerned that a community of Chinese merchants was growing up outside his control, and he sent his armies across the Lingnan Mountains to bring the Kwangtung area into his empire (234–222 B.C.).
 
After the Canton area had successfully been absorbed into the empire (222 B.C.), Chinese civilisation slowly spread over the surrounding region. As soon as this happened, counties, to administer this newly Chinese territory, were established. The area to the south and east of Canton, the area centred on the lower East River (东江) valley and the eastern coast of the Pearl River estuary (珠江), was thus divided off to form a new county. This county, at most dates called Tung Kwun (东莞, Dongguan, literally “eastern grasslands”), was originally very large, but was slowly reduced in area until, in 972–973, in the early Song dynasty, it was reduced to the size it was to remain until 1573.

用户评价

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《Forgotten Heroes: San On County and its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing》这个书名,就像一颗石子投入我平静的阅读湖面,激起了层层涟漪。我对“被遗忘的英雄”这个概念尤其感兴趣,这暗示着这本书将揭示一些鲜为人知的历史人物和事件。在明末清初这个大变局的时代,我们对皇帝、权臣、起义领袖等高层人物的故事耳熟能详,但那些在地方默默奉献、却可能因为缺乏史料记载或身份地位不高而被忽略的官员,他们的命运和功绩往往湮没在历史的长河中。我希望这本书能够像一位细心的考古学家,发掘出这些被尘封的宝藏,让我们得以一窥这些县官们在当时复杂的社会网络中的真实角色。他们是如何在中央政权的权威逐渐衰落,地方势力蠢蠢欲动,以及社会秩序面临挑战的背景下,维护法律的尊严、保障民众的利益的?我猜想书中会涉及许多具体案例,展现他们在处理错综复杂的案件、应对突发的危机、甚至是与形形色色的地方势力周旋时的策略和智慧。这本书的价值在于,它让我们看到历史不仅仅是帝王将相的故事,更是由无数个普通人的努力和奋斗构成的宏大画卷。

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当我看到《Forgotten Heroes: San On County and its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing》这个书名时,一股对历史细节探索的渴望油然而生。我一直认为,真正的历史,往往隐藏在那些宏大叙事的光芒之下,存在于地方的细节之中。这本书的视角,将焦点聚集在明末清初 San On 县的县官们身上,这让我非常着迷。我想象作者是如何通过搜集大量的史料,比如地方志、奏折、信函、甚至是一些零散的民间传说,来拼凑出这些官员的形象和他们的执政经历。我期待这本书能够深入到当时 San On 县的社会肌理之中,展现出这些县官们是如何在复杂的政治环境下,处理各种地方事务的。他们是否面临过贪腐的诱惑,他们是否做出过艰难的权衡,他们又是如何与当地的士绅、农民、商贾等不同阶层进行互动的?我希望这本书能够提供一种不同于传统历史研究的视角,让我们看到在那个剧烈变动的时代,地方治理所面临的独特挑战,以及这些县官们所付出的努力和可能承受的压力。这本书的价值,就在于它能够让那些曾经默默无闻的县官,重新回到历史的舞台,让我们能够从一个全新的角度去理解明清之际的中国。

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《Forgotten Heroes: San On County and its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing》这样一个书名,无疑触动了我内心深处对那些被历史洪流所掩埋的人物的好奇。明末清初,这是一个风起云涌的时代,无数的英雄豪杰在历史舞台上留下了浓墨重彩的一笔。然而,那些在基层默默耕耘、维系着地方秩序的官员们,他们的故事往往鲜为人知。《Forgotten Heroes》这个词语,就仿佛在向我发出邀请,去发掘那些被时代遗忘的闪光点。我预想这本书会通过对 San On 县的县官们进行细致的研究,来展现他们在那个复杂多变的时期所扮演的角色。他们如何在动荡的局势下,承担起维护一方安定、执行朝廷政令的重任?他们是否经历了从明朝到清朝的权力更迭,又是如何在新旧政权之间找到自己的立足点?我非常渴望了解他们具体的执政策略,是如何应对地方的民生问题,处理司法案件,以及如何与形形色色的地方势力进行博弈。这本书,我期待它能是一部充满人情味的历史作品,能够让我们感受到那些基层官员的责任感、智慧,以及在历史的洪流中,他们所做出的个体选择所带来的深远影响。

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作为一名对历史细节有着强烈兴趣的读者,我一直渴望能够深入了解那些被主流叙事所忽略的个体故事。《Forgotten Heroes: San On County and its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing》这个书名就立刻抓住了我的眼球。我预想这本书会像一扇窗户,带领我穿越时空,去窥探明末清初这样一个变革与动荡交织的时代,特别是通过那些肩负地方治理重任的县官们的视角。我想象他们如何在复杂的政治格局、剧烈的社会变迁以及人民生活的艰辛中,努力维系一方的安宁与秩序。这本书或许不仅仅是关于历史事件的记录,更是关于这些“被遗忘的英雄”在时代洪流中的抉择、困境与贡献的生动写照。我特别期待书中能够描绘出这些县官们各自独特的性格、他们的执政理念、他们所面临的挑战,以及他们是如何运用智慧和勇气去应对的。或许,书中会涉及到他们如何处理地方性的诉讼、如何调解邻里纠纷、如何应对天灾人祸、如何与士绅阶层打交道,甚至是如何在中央政权的更迭中保持一种微妙的平衡。我希望这本书能展现出历史的温度,让这些曾经的官员不再是冰冷的名字,而是有血有肉、有情感、有思想的鲜活个体。

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读到《Forgotten Heroes: San On County and its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing》这个书名,我立刻被一股强烈的求知欲所驱使。对于明清易代的历史,我们往往聚焦于宏大的政治斗争和军事冲突,而这本书的视角则显得格外独特而珍贵——它将目光投向了地方,投向了那些在动荡年代里默默坚守的县级官员。我迫切地想知道,在那个风雨飘摇的时代,一位身处基层、权力有限的县官,是如何应对来自上层的压力、地方的民情以及外来的威胁的?这本书是否会详细剖析他们是如何在政策执行、税收征缴、司法审判、灾害救助等方面,做出属于自己的判断和选择?我希望它不仅仅是一份陈述事实的史料汇编,更是一次对当时社会结构、官场生态以及地方治理模式的深度解读。或许,书中会展现出不同县官的差异化执政风格,有的可能严苛公正,有的可能温和务实,有的可能面临着难以想象的道德困境。我期待作者能够通过丰富的史料,为我们还原出那个时代基层治理的真实图景,让我们理解在那些重大的历史转折点背后,也有无数普通人在各自的岗位上,书写着属于他们的历史篇章。

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