清代州县的“省务”运作

A Case Study on the Political Operation Between Counties and Their Superior Governments During the Qing Dynasty

从甘肃省友宋树森所记存的州县交代、差车控案、禀修工程等案例来看,州县与行省间的禀详和札牌仅为清代上下级衙门正常运转的载体,并非解决问题的主要手段。州县省友在使费基础上请托司、院书吏对州县省务的运作,从酝酿、沟通、协商到最终解决,才是州县和行省间行政运作的实况和常态。省友这种利用体制外的非正式和私人因素从事的州县省务运作,一定程度上起到简化行政程序、提高行政效率的作用,同时又使州县规避相应的处罚。

Contemporary scholars have focused on the official documents when dealing with the administrative operations between counties and their superior governments. Few thus have achieved in the study of specific administrative operations. From Song Shusen’s systematic records about his role as Shengyou in Gansu Province during the Guangxu period, we may conclude that various official documents worked only as vehicles in daily operations. By paying custom fees to clerks in provincial governments, county affairs were mostly processed informally. This kind of operation was surely an integral part of political bureaucracy, and could improve and enhance the administrative efficiency between counties and their superior governments in Qing China, and at the same time enable counties to avoid unexpected punishments.