清代官僚制下における考成と挪伊の關係

Abstract

The examination of administrative results, kaocheng 考成, was strengthened during the Qing dynasty, and the duty to collect tax not only for the current year but also the uncollected portion of the previous year's tax revenue was imposed on local districts, and thus tended to create a greater burden on the district magistrates 知縣. However, on the other hand, it should be pointed out that with the strengthening of the kaocheng, there was a proliferation of the practice of shifting of funds, nuoyi 挪移. As regards the relationship between the shifting of funds and the kaocheng, it is well known that the practice of nuoyi was frequently employed in order to avoid punishment resulting from the examination of administrative results, as has often been pointed out in the past. However, when the relationship between the practice of shifting funds and the examination of administrative result is viewed from the point of view of operation of the system, one cannot help but wonder whether such an explanation is sufficient to grasp the issue. While the Qing dynasty used the strict regulations of the kaocheng as leverage in promoting the collection of taxes in regions on the one hand, once can see a move to operate the system more flexibly at the level of the magistrates. Using the problems of in what fashion the kaocheng was adopted by the magistrates in the process of application of punishment stipulated in the kaocheng and how the burden of carrying out their administrative duties over time, I trace the development of its actual state from the aspects of the laws concerning the kaocheng and its operation. With the strengthening of the kaocheng, the problem of the necessity of replacing great numbers of magistrates, due to their failure to complete the collection of taxes, became a great social problem in local regions during the Qing dynasty. In this situation, the combination of the nuoyi became one solution in the in operating the kaocheng. On the basis of this, I have made clear that the practice of the shifting funds served a role in the movement to solve these administrative problems flexibly, and I have taken it from a positive perspective, re-visioning its roles in the context of administrative operations. Furthermore, as a result of an analysis of the arguments on the character of the kaocheng and of nuoyi and the annual accounting books from the Yongzheng era, I have evaluated positively the complementary positions of the kaocheng and nuoyi that each occupied for the magistrates in carrying out their administrative duties. Through mutual relationship of the kaocheng and the practice of nuoyi, the government of the Qing dynasty found a method of solving and adjusting these problems. In other words, by the practice of shifting funds, magistrates could divert current year's tax revenues to make up for the shortfall of past years, and were able to meet urgent demands for payment from superiors and fulfill the present needs. If magistrates could limit the punishment for noncollection of the current year's taxes to a moderate level, the structure of the office of magistrates would be maintained and it became possible to sustain everyday operations. The bureaucratic system of the Qing dynasty maintained a rationalism that allowed it to realize its administrative aims by the ingenious method of incorporating elements from outside the official system.