灌溉、环境与水利共同体——基于清代关中中部的分析

Irrigation, Environment and the Water Community: An Analysis of the Central Guanzhong Region in the Qing Dynasty

关于明清时期的水利社会及其变迁,学术界曾以所谓的水利共同体及其解体理论进行解释,并引起过热烈的讨论;其中明末清初地权集中被作为水利共同体解体的基本原因。本文结合田野考察、发掘民间文献,分析关中中部的渠堰灌溉及水利社会,对该理论进行若干辨析与反思,认为地权的相对分散也会出现共同体内部权利与义务的脱离,各地水利共同体的解体时间未必统一于明末清初时期。

Water conservancy societies and their changes in the Ming and Qing dynasties were formerly understood in academic studies as a matter of so-called water communities and their breakdown. This was the subject of heated debate. The concentration of land was taken as the main factor contributing to the disintegration of water communities. Based on fieldwork and unofficial literature, this study provides an analysis of irrigation canals and water societies in the central Guanzhong region. In rethinking and analyzing water community theory, the author holds that relatively scattered land property rights may also lead to disproportionate rights and obligations inside a community. Water communities may have broken down at different times in different places, rather than simultaneously in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.