晚清六部司官公务生活的时与空——以刑部司官唐烜为中心

The “Hour” and “Space” of the Officials' Life in the Six Ministries in the Late Qing Dynasty:The Example of Tang Xuan of the Ministry of Punishments

本文以一个司法部门司官为中心,在晚清大变革这一特定的时空中,以其工作时间为线索,来勾勒六部司官工作、假期、值班等公务活动的轮廓。通过梳理可以看到,司官因部中职责的不同,在工作时间和强度上有很大的差异,负责本司具体事务的"掌印、主稿"工作强度比较大,普通司员较为清闲,甚至大部分时间可以不用进署;正常工作时间外,司官还有本衙门值班和早朝值班。同衙门中,堂官负责决策事务,不常入署,工作相对清闲,书吏因负责大量的文案、后勤工作,工作最为忙碌。六部中,吏、户、刑等部司官工作压力较大;工、礼等部司官压力相对较小。

Taking an official of the Ministry of Punishments as an example, this paper sketches the outline of the duties, vacation, duties and other official activities of officials in the Six Ministries in the specific time and space of the late Qing Dynasty using insights drawn from their working schedules. From these schedules the article combs out the different responsibilities of the various officials in the Ministry of Punishments and reveals that the amount of time and the intensity of the work varied greatly. For example, ＂seal-holders＂ and ＂drafters＂ who were responsible for the specific affairs of the Division had relatively heavy workloads, while other ordinary officials had more leisure, and some, were not at the office most of the time. Some officers were on duty outside the normal working hours and others had early morning duty. Within the same ministry, official duties varied widely with some officials holding decision making responsibilities rarely at the posts, while the clerks responsible for the bulk of the copying and logistical work, were the busiest. Among the Six Ministries, the officials of the ministries of Personnel, Revenue, and Punishments were under the greatest pressure, while the officials Ministries of Public Works and Rites were under less pressure.