清代河南普济堂研究——以地方志为中心

Pu Ji Tang Relief Institutes in Qing Dynasty Henan Province: A Study Based on Local Records

普济堂是清代河南规模最大的官办养老保障机构,乾隆年间,河南每个州县都建有普济堂,收养大量贫民。普济堂资产来自官方划拨和民间社会捐赠,主要由房屋、土地和现金等构成,其多余资产大量用于出租,获得不菲的孳息,为普济堂的发展提供物质基础。清代河南普济堂是由官方主办主导,但在管理上则多交给地方绅士等人,体现出灵活性,官、民的深度合作使得河南普济堂性质复杂。由于资产较为充裕,清代河南普济堂的功能得到发展,变身为地方公益基金,支持很多地方公共服务事业。同时,地方政府不断要求普济堂承担官方责任,使其趋向官役化,在一定程度上限制了普济堂社会保障事业的发展。清代河南普济堂只重收养,不知教育贫民自立,距离近代慈善教养并重的模式尚有不小差距。

Pu Ji Tang(普济堂)relief institutes were the largest government-run elderly care institution network in Qing Dynasty Henan Province.During the reign of Qianlong,Pu Ji Tang relief institutes were established in every prefecture and county of Henan,providing shelter to large numbers of poor people.The assets of these institutions came from government allocations and donations from civil organizations,consisting mostly of houses,land,and cash.The surplus assets were massively used for renting for considerable income interests,to provide a firm material foundation for the development of the relief institutes.Though the Qing Dynasty Henan Pu Ji Tang network were run and led by the government,its management was mainly left to personnel such as the local gentry,with noticeable flexibility.Such deep cooperation between the government and the nongovernment sector made the Henan Pu Ji Tang relief network rather complicated in nature.Thanks to its relatively abundant assets,the network’s functions were well developed,turning into local charitable foundations that supported various local public services.Meanwhile,local governments constantly demanded that the Pu Ji Tang network shoulder official responsibilities and made them increasingly governmental in function,which to a certain extent curbed the development of the relief institutes’social security cause.Moreover,Henan’s Pu Ji Tang network in Qing Dynasty put emphasis only on providing shelter to the poor,ignored the necessity of bringing education to them for them to become self-reliant.Therefore,it operation mode lags far behind in comparison with the modern charity mode that stresses assisting the poor with both education and relief.