中国近代制度转型中的省制刍论

Study on the Provincial System in the Institutional Transformation of Modern China

省制作为地方最高管理层级,元代以后在国家治理结构中已经具有不可移动、不能移动的层级功能,对于国家机器的正常运转和国家的统一,有着不可代替的重大管理作用。然而,近代以降,由于中国从社会到国家处于从传统到现代的巨大转型之中,省制作为国家最重要的地方层级制度,与近代中国的艰难转型一样,也经历了从传统体制到现代体制的曲折发展历程。在近代省制不断改易、变动的背后,反映的不仅是省制转型的困境,实关乎中央政权的稳定、社会的安宁与国家的统一,是那个历史时代的大问题。省制作为国家建制中的地方最高层级的制度,从制度现代化转型角度探讨省制的变易历程及其发展特点和趋势,对于进一步认识省制在近代中国历史演变中的重大价值及其丰富的历史内涵,认识中国国家现代化转型的艰难历程及其规律和特点,以明国家治道与得失之理,无疑具有重要的学术价值和现实意义。

As the highest level of local management,the provincial system had been unmovable for the central government to run the country after the Yuan dynasty.It played the irreplaceable management role in the normal operation of state machinery and the unity of the country.However,in the modern times,with the transformation of Chinese state and society from traditional to modern ones,China’s provincial system,as the most important local-level system of the country,underwent the tortuous development from a traditional system to a modern system as well.The constant change of modern provincial system not only reflected the transformation predicament of the system,but also concerned the stability of the central government,the peaceful development of the society and the unity of the country.Therefore,it was a big issue in that historical period.As the top local system in the state’s organism,discussing the changing process of provincial system,exploring its development trend and characteristics from the perspective of the nation’s modernization transformation possess important academic value and practical significance.It is helpful to treasure the important value and rich historical connotation of the provincial system in the historical evolution of modern China.It is also conducive to understand the difficult course of China’s modernization transformation,its rules and characteristics,so that we can learn statecraft and the truth of gains and losses from it.