知县与地方士绅的合作与冲突——以同治年间的广东省广宁县为例

Cooperation and Confrontation Between the Magistrate and Local Gentry: The Case of Guangning County in Guangdong Province during the Tongzhi Period

同治、光绪年间历任广宁、四会、南海等县知县的杜凤治,留下一部记载详尽的日记,是研究晚清广东的珍贵史料。本文主要利用他在广宁县任知县时的日记,讨论知县与地方士绅的合作与冲突。杜凤治的“学校、征输、听断、缉捕”四要务,都要争取士绅的合作与支持;但他在征收钱粮时使用了大量威胁、强制手段,引起士绅不满,引发了士绅的上控和闹考。知县、士绅经过一番较量后达成妥协,双方都有所损失,但都分别保住了官职与功名。咸、同年间是官绅关系变化的关键时期,广东的情况更有其特别之处。同治年间广宁县的案例,可以使我们对晚清的基层政权与基层社会增加了解。

Du Fengzhi, who had served successively as magistrate of Guangning, Sihui and Nanhai counties during the Tongzhi and Guangxu periods, left us a detailed dairy. It is valuable historical source for us to study late Qing Guangdong. Mainly using the dairy written by him when he was magistrate of Guangning County, this article discusses the cooperation and confrontation between the magistrate and the local gentry. The four important tasks of “building schools, collecting taxes, conducting trials and arresting criminals' advocated by Du Fengzhi required the cooperation and support of the gentry. However, Du used a lot of threats and coercion to collect grain and funds. This caused discontent among the gentry, resulting in them making an appeal to higher authorities, and disrupting the imperial civil examinations. After a few clashes, the magistrate and the gentry reached a compromise. Though both parties suffered some losses, they retained respectively their official post and scholarly honor. The Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns were the key period for the change in the official-gentry relationship, and the situation in Gauangdong was unique. The case of Guangning county during the Tongzhi period can help to increase our understanding of late Qing political power and society at the basic level.