“乡绅支配”亦或“制度性制约”——清代练湖水利纠纷再探讨

“Gentry Domination”or“Institutional Constraints”:Revisited the Irrigation Dispute on Lian Lake in the Qing Dynasty

练湖曾为镇江丹阳县境内最重要的人工湖,围成于西晋初年。因练湖无源,夏涨冬涸,极易成田,故私垦湖田历代不绝。自唐以降,练湖即陷入不断的兴废循环。清初练湖又经历三废三复。康熙四十八年(1709)复湖后,数百年来屡禁不止的“盗湖”现象随着湖民“均包湖赋”而彻底终结。与“乡绅支配”相比,“制度性制约”能够更好地阐释清代练湖纠纷的过程与结局。在“政府利益最大化”原则下,水利纠纷不只是权力对抗与资源争夺,更是围绕国课问题的多方博弈,废湖、复湖皆系于此。无差别性的制度制约在牺牲个体利益的同时,也有助于弱化身份特权,维持日常政治的底线公平。这或可为理解清代地域社会的秩序原则提供另一思路。

Lian Lake was once the most important reservoir in Danyang County of Zhenjiang,and was enclosed in the early Western Jin Dynasty.Because there was no source of Lian Lake,it rose in summer and dried up in winter,making it easy to become farmland.Therefore,unauthorized cultivation of lake fields had been ongoing in all ages.Since the Tang dynasty,Lian Lake had been trapped in a continuous cycle of“change the lake into farmland”and“restore the lake from farmland”.In the early Qing Dynasty,Lian Lake went through three rounds of“farmland”and“lake”.After the restoration of the lake in the 48th year of the Kangxi reign(1709),the phenomenon of“change the lake into farmland”that had been repeatedly banned for hundreds of years came to a compete end with the lake residents“share the lake tax”.Compared with“gentry domination”,“institutional constraints”could better explain the process and outcome of the irrigation dispute on Lian Lake in the Qing Dynasty.Under the principle of“maximizing the government interests”,the irrigation dispute was not only power struggles or resource competition,but also multi-party games around the issue of state revenue.“Change the lake into farmland”or“restore the lake from farmland”was all related to this.Undifferentiated institutional constraints not only sacrificed individual interests,but also helped weaken identity privileges and maintained the bottom line of fairness in daily politics.This may provide another perspective for understanding principles of regional social order in the Qing Dynasty.