淸代江南デルタの鄕鎭志と地域社會

Abstract

Many of town gazetteers (Xiang-zhen zhi 郷鎭志) began to be compiled in the Jiang-nan delta 江南デルタ from the latter half of the Ming dynasty, and the compilation activities became noticeable since the Qianlong 乾隆 era, particularly after the Jiaqing 嘉慶 nd Daoguang 道光 periods of the Qing dynasty. The name, Xiang-zhen zhi, itself originated from this time, and the editors who were resident in shi-zhen 市鎭, that is, local market towns, recognized the establishment of local communities through the distribution of daily commodities among these local market towns and their outlying farming villages. In the northern and central parts of the Jian･nan delta, these communities came to be dealt with as administrative units one level beneath prefecture. One of the external factors behind the sudden increase in the compilation of town gazetteers was the growing popularity of town gazetteers in adjacent districts. Another reason is that the establishment of a hierarchical structure of gazetteers at the prefectural, county, province and state lebel was deemed necessary to complement the hierarchical, administrative structure comprising prefecture, county, province and state. These two factors were instrumental in promoting the compilation of town gazetteers as the local histories about local communities centering on shi-zhen. Nevertheless, the editors of town gazetteers were keenly aware of the obvious difference between local histories compiled by the government and town gazetteers that were voluntarily complied by the residents of local community. This awareness is reflected in the series of town gazetteers compiled between the 1760s and the early 20th century, which shows that the editors were deeply involved in the practical issues common to their local communities. The rapid increace in town gazetteers factors mentioned above. However, the spontaneity that was already manifest in the compilation of town gazetteers in the latter half of the Ming dynasty, reflected the establishment of shi-zhen centred communities, and was further strengthened during the Qing dynasty.