法权伸张:晚清新疆建省的法律因素

The extension of legal authority:Legal factors involved in the establishment of Xinjiang province in the Late Qing Dynasty

行政地理与行政区是王朝国家划分空间塑造政治认同的重要方式,是国家领土观的重要体现。天下观念与天下体系下,新疆历史上长期以军府制治理为主,直至清末改建行省。作为历代治疆的一个重要事件,学界给予晚清新疆建省较为充分的关注,但长期以来忽略了新疆建省的法律维度及作为法律实践的新疆建省。晚清政府将边疆建省作为对内整合凝聚、对外塑造国际形象,重塑国家行政地理的重大改革举措,新疆以前所未有的明确的法律地位成为晚清首个边疆省份及清代第19省,建省具有突出而深广的法律意涵及政治意义。本文将晚清新疆建省的研究视野拓展到政治、经济、军事、文化之外的法律领域,尝试探索在更大广度、更多维度及更深层面理解晚清新疆建省这一19世纪末期近代中国追求更广泛的国家统一性的努力,并以此为切入具体而微地思考近代以来以“大一统”为指向的法权秩序与中国道路的多样性、复杂性、差异性与开放性。

Administrative geography and territorial divisions are important tools used dynastic states to organise space and shape political identity,serving as crucial indicators of national sovereignty.Within the cosmological framework of"All-under-Heaven"(天下),historically,Xinjiang was primarily governed through the jun-fu system until the formal establishment of its provincial status by the late Qing period.As a key event in the history of Xinjiang governance,the establishment of the province has received considerable scholarly attention.However,the legal dimensions of this reform,and the nature of the event as a form of legal practice,have long been overlooked.For the late Qing government,establishing provinces in frontier regions was a significant reform strategy aimed at internal consolidation and the construction of international image.It also contributed to the reshaping of the administrative geography of the nation.The unprecedentedly clear legal status of Xinjiang posited it as the first frontier province of the late Qing China and the 19thprovince of the dynasty.As such,this administrative reform bore great legal implications and political significance.This article expands the study of the late Qing Dynasty's establishment of province in Xinjiang beyond the political,economic,military,and cultural scopes to include the legal domain.It seeks to understand this event on a broader scale and at deeper levels,symbolising the efforts of late 19th-century China toward greater national unification.Furthermore,it will serve as a starting point for a meticulous reflection on the evolving legal order tied to the concept of Great Unity(大一统)since the modern era,as well as the diversity,complexity,differentiation,and openness of China's developmental trajectory.