明清吴中地区的县衙与社会

县衙是传统中国地方行政展开的基础与重要空间,与县政建设及地方民生之关系密不可分.以苏州府为中心的吴中地区,在明清两代中国政治与社会经济发展过程中占有极为重要的地位.这里的州县行政既很成熟,又较复杂.本文以县衙的考察为中心,扼要地分析了其内部建构与外在表征在明清两代的若干变化侧面,进而论述县衙与地方社会的内在关联,以及在当世民众心目中的感觉与评判,并藉此透视州县行政与社会关系的地区差异和时代变迁,从而对帝国后期的州县地位和作用进行重新评判.

The County Yamuns and the Local Community of Central Wu in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

County yamuns,as the base of local administration in traditional China,are closely related to county construction as well as local people's livelihood.Central Wu,whose center is Suzhou,plays a vital role in Chines economic and political development of the Ming and Qing Dynasties,where the county administration is both mature and complex.Centering on the investigation of county yamuns,the paper briefly analyzes several changes in their internal structure and external tokens during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.It further discusses the internal relation between the county yamuns and the local community as well as people's opinions and evaluation of county yamuns,and through that indicates both regional difference and change of county administration and social relations,thereby reevaluating the position and role of counties in the late stage of the empire.