金枝玉叶与收支困局——清代中后期公主经济境遇考察

Daughters of the Imperial House and the Dilemma of Getting and Spending:An Investigation of the Economic Situation of the Princesses in the Mid-and Late Qing Dynasty

尽管清代公主一生都享受来自皇室的照顾和封赏,但从乾隆朝起,公主府第的经济状况常常捉襟见肘。其后的历代皇帝皆试图解决公主的经济困境,然而收效甚微。主要原因在于,从乾隆朝起公主都居住京城,由皇室负责其家庭一切开支,而囿于制度规定和儒家规范,皇室又没有赋予公主与皇子同等的经济待遇和社会地位,导致公主们既背负着融合满、汉、蒙的政治使命,又挣扎于满汉文化之间。清代公主的经济困境,也是当时制度困局的一个缩影。

The Qing princesses,enjoying imperial rank,were looked after by the imperial family throughout their lives.However,they found it hard to make ends meet after they married.Successive emperors tried to solve their predicament with little effect.The main reason for their dilemma was that from the time of the Qianlong Emperor,the princesses lived in the capital.The imperial house was responsible for all their household expenses,but due to institutional rules and Confucian norms,it did not give princesses the same economic treatment and social status as princes.On the princesses’ shoulders fell the responsibility for the political mission of integrating Manchu,Han and Mongol;culturally,they struggled between Han and Manchu.Their economic predicament was a microcosm of the institutional dilemma of the time.