晚清官绅政治与帝国崩解——以重庆团练与地方权力结构为视角

Gentry Politics and the Collapse of the Empire:From the Perspective of Militias and Power Structure in the Late Qing Dynasty A Case Study of Chongqing

官绅政治是清代地方政治的基本架构,允许绅权存在是清代社会的常态,而非异态。咸同时期,地方士绅因举办团练,绅权或有扩张,然"绅权扩张"与"帝国崩溃"并不构成因果关联。重庆在咸同团练举办后,地方权力结构呈现出延续守旧的特点,官权仍然控驭绅权。但19世纪中叶以后,重庆的官绅政治架构在外国进入导致的各类"新危机"中渐显裂隙,终在20世纪初士绅退出的过程中轰然解体,致使地方秩序失控,为辛亥革命在重庆爆发提供了土壤。清帝国崩溃与地方官绅政治体系失控同步,非绅权扩张所致。

As a fundamental framework of local politics in the Qing Dynasty, gentry system allowed the "normal" rather than "abnormal" preserving privileged power and social status of the elite literati. In the period of Emperor Xianfeng and Tongzhi,the scholar-officials tended to expand their power by organizing local militias. Nevertheless, the "power expansion" and the "empire disintegration" did not constitute causal correlation. After holding militias in Chongqing, the local power structure assumed continuity and conservativeness, and the official power still controlled the gentry’s power. However, the fissure of gentry political structure gradually emerged with various "new crisis" caused by foreign invasion and interference in Chongqing after the mid-19th century. The system collapsed eventually when the tide of scholar-officials faded in the early 20th century, resulting in local disorder in the regime, which provided the opportunity for the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution in Chongqing. The disintegration of Qing Dynasty was synchronized with derailing political system of gentry, instead of an outcome of the power expansion of scholar-officials.