自杀与社会：以清代北京为例

Suicide and Society:A Case Study of Beijing in the Qing Dynasty

文章以394宗样本为基础,对清代北京的自杀状况作了较系统的分析,内容包括自杀者的年龄、性别、所属群体.以及自杀手段和自杀原因。在探究自杀原因中,有一定身份的家庭和普通百姓是有所差别的。前者常不据实报告,且多含隐情;后者则以穷困为最众。样本还显示,由心理疾病而导致自杀的占有相当的比重,说明即使像清代这样的传统社会,同样存在着抑郁和精神分裂一类的心理性疾病,而且为数不少。文章认为北京的自杀样本,更多地反映了常态条件下的一种社会状况,有的在当时具有一定的普遍性,但也有的只是在城市或北京这样的城市才显得突出。

Based on 394 cases,this paper analyzes systemically suicide situation of Beijing in the Qing Dynasty,includ- ing elements such as suicide's name,sex,social status,as well as method and reason of committing suicide.It shows that there is a difference between a family of high standing and an ordinary one in terms of reason for committing suicide, the former often not reported facts due to privacy and the latter was mostly caused by poverty.The cases also show that a considerable proportion of suicide is resulted from psychological illness,which reveals that there was also mental illness such as depression(melancholia)and schizophrenia in a traditional society in a dynasty like the Qing and the cases were not in small number.It argues that the case study of suicide in Beijing reveals,in most case,a normal social situation and has a generality for that period d time.But,that situation was only more serious in urban areas,especially in a city like Beijing.