中国近现代“公安”一词的起源及含义考

On the Origin and Meaning of Gong'an in Modern China

"公安"是理解中国特色公安学和公安制度的前提。当前关于"公安"一词的起源有六说,含义有广、狭之分,但史料、方法存在问题。据现有史料,近现代意义"公安"源自明治时期日人对英语commonweal、welfare、publicweal及德语gemeinwohl等的和制汉字翻译,晚清时经黄遵宪等人传入中国。民国初年,孙中山、黄兴、孙科等人倡导将我国旧有自治传统与美国最新自治制度结合,以"公安"命名警察局。中日近现代的"公安"均指国家、社会的安宁幸福,但维护方式不同,日本"公安"之"公"意指国家公权力;中国既指国家公权力,也指公众参与。表现为:中国近现代"公安"先后用于冠名社会组织和警察机构,具有自治性,离不开人民参与,体现了中国古代"官治"与"民治"结合的治安传统。国民政府改公安局为警察局,放弃了"公安"的人民参与。从中国近现代建警的过程来看,"公安"一词反映了近现代中国在批判继承古代官治民治相结合治安传统的基础上学习世界先进警察制度的努力。本土传统与世界潮流的结合,应该是理解中国近现代警察制度乃至当代中国特色的人民公安制度的主线索之一。

The origin and meaning of gong’an is a prerequisite for understanding the Public Security Science and its institutions with Chinese characteristics.There are six viewpoints on the origin of gong’an and two different ways to understand its meanings in current research.Because of mistakes in historical materials and methods,all the viewpoints mentioned in the article are incorrect.This article,based on textual research,argues that gong’an in Modern China derives from Japanese-coined Chinese'公安',which was translated from English words like commonweal,welfare,public weal and German word gemeinwohl during Japan’s Meiji Restoration and then was introduced into China by HuangZunXian in the late Qing Dynasty.In the early Republic of China,the way that Chinese police organ was named after gong’an,which combined Chinese self-government traditions with the up-to-date system of autonomy in USA,was advocated by SunZhongShan,HuangXing and SunKe.Gong’an refers to peace and well-being of a country in both Modern China and Japan,but the ways are different.Gong(公)in gong’an means state public power in Modern Japan,whereas Chinese gong(公)means not only state public power but also public participation.Specifically,both social organizations and state police organs are named after gong’an;gong’an has the nature of self-governing;gong’an stresses public participation;gong’an,as a Chinese public security tradition,is a combination of government by the state and that by the people.The fact that the National Government replaced'Gong’anju'by'Jingchaju'indicates the connotation of public participation has been abandoned.Observed from the process of police establishment in Modern China,gong’an reflects that Modern China endeavors to learn the advanced police system in the world based on a critical inheritance of the public security traditions with a combination of government by the state and that by the people in Ancient China.China’s traditions and the world trends should be a major perspective of understanding the police system in Modern China and the People’s Public Security system in contemporary China.