制造权威——从秦简看秦代国家对中央威权的塑造

The Making of the Central Authority of the Qin Dynasty: A Study Based upon New Materials from theUnearthed Wooden and Bamboo Slips

秦建立起中央集权的政治体制,但由于行政技术手段滞后、合格吏员短缺,疆域辽阔等因素,导致中央威权的发挥有一定限度。人们观念和信仰方面表现出弹性,也使中央威权面临更为棘手的挑战。因此,秦代国家采取了一些相应措施:确立王室祠的合法地位,地方官员对王室宗庙定期巡视维护,排挤其他祭祀活动。中央划定郡县边界,地方政府需要定期校对律令。中央直接插手地方行政事务,在日常政治生活中,中央事务表现出优先权。国家甚至还着力塑造基层社会的面貌,以塑造中央权威。

After the establishment of the Qin centralized political system,the central government was still hard to enforce its authority effectively.This was due to the lag of administrative skills,the shortage of qualified officials,and the extensive scale of the territory.The uncertainty of people's mentality also constituted a factor of instability to the government.In such a circumstance,the Qin government took the following corresponding measures:protecting the Royal ancestor sacrifice with the law while restricting other sacrificial activities;fixing the boundaries among the prefectures and counties;requiring local government to inspect the condition of law enforcement;directly intervening local administrative affairs as common practices;treating the central governmental affairs as priorities in daily life;making efforts to shape the structure of the grass-roots society.All These measures were taken for the purpose of strengthening the authority of the central government.