明代地方监察体系与荒政

Local Monitoring System and Famine Relief Measures of the Ming Dynasty

明朝中央为加强对地方社会的控制,在地方逐渐完善了一套复杂而又严密的监察系统,该监察系统督察并参与治理地方政务,荒政是其频繁介入的重要领域。明朝政府赋予了地方监察系统在处理荒政方面的一系列职责,主要体现在两个方面:其一,督察地方荒政;其二,协办地方政务,并在朝廷处理地方灾荒的应急机制中,充当重要角色。从实际效果看,多有治绩,并在一定程度上维护了地方社会的安定。但是随着其职能的转化、王朝政治的腐败等,地方监察系统处理地方政务的效能逐渐趋弱与萎缩,日益远离乃至背离了制度的预期。

For strengthening central control to the local society,the Ming Dynasty had gradually formed a set complex and strict monitoring system.This monitoring system supervised and participated in governing the local government affairs,and the famine relief measures were the important domain in which it had frequently involved.The Ming Dynasty government endowed with the local monitoring system a series of duties in tackling famine relief measures,which mainly manifested in two aspects: first,supervising the local famine relief measures;second,cooperating the local authority,and playing an important role in the emergency mechanism that the royal government utilized in handling the local famine.Definite achievement had been obtained from actual effect,and stabilization of local society had been maintained to an extent.But along with its function transformation and the corruption of the entire dynasty politics,its efficiency on dealing with the local government affairs had gradually weakened and shrinked.Also the distance between the fact and the anticipation of the institution had become bigger and bigger,even departed from system expectation.