从“黄宗羲定律”到帝国的逻辑：中国国家治理逻辑的历史线索

From the “Law of Huang Zongxi” to the Logic of the Empire:the Historical Lead of the Logic of Chinese State Governance

本文在中国大历史视野下认识国家治理逻辑。在前半部分,以近年来学术界、政策研究界关注的"黄宗羲定律"现象为切入点,分析中国历史上税收财政领域中"杂税丛生—并税式改革—杂税丛生"的周期性现象,解读其中折射出的中华帝国的治理困难和由此衍生的制度安排。在后半部分,则着眼于中国大历史脉络,提出三对(概念)关系——"委托与代理"、"正式与非正式"、"名与实"——来概括中华帝国的治理逻辑,特别强调正式制度与非正式制度并存转化的核心地位,阐述这些关系以及相应的分析概念和研究问题。笔者认为,当代国家与中华帝国面临着类似的治理困难,而且这一治理逻辑在当代社会中面临着深刻的适应危机。

This essay seeks to understand the logic of state governance in the perspective of Chinese mega-history. In the first half of this essay,the so-called'Law of Huang Zongxi',which has got much spotlight in recent years,is taken as the point of departure to analyze the cyclic phenomenon of'tax multiplication-- tax unification reform-- tax multiplication'in tax revenue in Chinese history and discuss how such a cyclic phenomenon betrays the difficulty of governing the Chinese empire and what institutions it has generated. In the second half,with the entire context of Chinese mega-history in view,the author proposes three dichotomies to summarize the governing logic of the Chinese empire,namely'entrustment and agency','the formal and the informal',and'the nominal and the real'. Emphasis will be placed on the core status of the coexistence and transformation of the formal and the informal institutions,and the analytic concepts involved in the discussion of their relations.The author maintains that modern China and her predecessor,the Chinese empire,are confronted with the same governing dilemma,and the time-honored governing logic has been thrown in a profound adaptation crisis in modern society.