清末湖南地方自治教育与社会动员

Local Autonomous Education and Social Mobilization in Hunan in the Late Qing Dynasty

湖南地方自治研究所为全省自治教育总机关,讲员全部具有现代法政知识,开设资本主义宪政、法制乃至经济学相关课程,为各地培养自治动员人才。城乡普遍设置长期与短期宣讲所,置长期专任宣讲员、长期兼任宣讲员和短期宣讲员;宣讲内容以自治章程规则、自治专门讲义为主。同时,通过创办自治白话报,普及自治思想,其内容以地方自治信息为主。清末地方自治教育与动员,是一场对底层民众进行的思想启蒙,是近代中国全方位对县镇乡广大底层民众进行启蒙之嚆矢。但由于清政府自身的腐败和无能,自治教育运动未取得预期效果。

Hunan Institute of Local Self-Government, as the general office for autonomous education in the province, employed lecturers with knowledge of modern laws and politics and offered courses regarding constitutional system of capitalism, legal system, and economics to train autonomous mobilization talents all over. It established a number of short-term and long-term lecturing offices in rural and urban areas and hired long-term full-time lecturers, long-term part-time lecturers and short-term lectures to mainly promote rules and regulations for autonomy and deliver special lectures about autonomy. The Institute also adopted and publicized the promotional books published by constitutionalists for developing people’s awareness of participation in politics and capabilities of self-government. Furthermore, the Institute founded a vernacular autonomy newspaper to publicize autonomy thoughts. The newspaper mainly published local self-government information, and also included new ideas, knowledge and concepts such as state concept, popular sovereignty, and new social tendency. Local autonomous education and mobilization in the late Qing Dynasty have enlightened the lower classes ideologically and mark the beginning of all-round enlightenment movement among common people in counties, towns, and villages of modern China.