论“吏民”的社会属性——原“吏民”之二

“吏民”一词虽然在中国古代长期存在和广泛使用,但涵义模糊,且并未引起学术界足够的注意,偶有论及者亦莫衷一是。实际上,“吏民”并非指庶民中有爵位的、富有的特定群体,也不是“吏户”与“民户”的合称。“吏民”中的“吏”是与“长吏”相对应的“下吏”,秦汉以降两者之间的界线呈逐步下移趋势。这些“下吏”来自于“民”,又复归于“民”,与普通农民共同组成中国古代皇权统治之基础——“吏民”。从社会结构而言,他们是社会金字塔的底层;从国家政治统治来说,他们是地方政府管治的基本民众。

Again on the social attributes of Li-min(the official-folk)

Though the word Li-min has been used for long and widely in ancient China, its meaning remains fuzzy. This issue has not caught enough attention of scholars. And when there is any attention to it, their views are different. The doesn't feel that Li-min refers to the particular rich group with feudal titles among the people, nor does it refer to Lihu and Minhu in combination. Li in Li-min stands for Xiali (lower official) as contrasted with Zhangli (upper official), and from the Qin and the Han dynasties on, the boundary between them showed a tendency of down scaling. The whole group came from the people, and returned to the people again. Together with the common farmer, they constituted the foundation of the imperial power in ancient China. In social structure they formed the base of the pyramid, and in political governance they are the very basic people ruled by the local government.