<論説>清初地方官の考課制度とその変化 : 考成と大計を中心にして

Abstract

清代の官僚制は、案件処理を州県・府・道・布按・督撫の順に日常的に報告し、それをもとに稽査を受けるという運用が体系的になされることになっていた。しかし、考成・大計と清代の官僚制の体系との関係、その結果として起こった、それらの変化の問題については、まだ十分な関心が向けられているとはいえない。この小論では、まず第一章、第二章において、考成が拡大していく過程、大計の運用が変化していく過程を記述し、清代の官僚制の運用体系がそうした背景の中にあることを確認する。そこから、清代の官制運用の体系が、考成と大計の運用にどのような影響を及ぼしたのか、それが考課制のどのような性格に依拠したものなのかについて検討する。第三章では、考成が全体として大計にどのように反映したのかという視点から捉え直し、さらに、考成が官僚の評価上のシステムとどのように結び付いていったのかについても、明らかにしていきたい。

Many of the personnel systems of the Ch'ing dynasty had been inherited from the preceding Ming dynasty. Both the k'ao-ch'eng 考成 (examination of administrative results)and ta-chi 大計 (the triannual evaluations) coexisted during the Ch'ing as parts of the routine efficiency rating system. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the changes in the relationship of the k'ao-ch'eng and ta-chi. In this article, I focus on the magistrate class of regional officials, who were chiefly the object of the k'ao-ch'eng and ta-chi. Under the Ch'ing bureaucracy, the system for handling governmental affairs involved a routine series of reports and their administration conveyed up from the level of chou and hsien 州県 (magistrate) to fu 府 (prefect), to tao 道 (intendant), to pu-cheng-shih 布政使 (provincial treasure), to an-ch'a-shih 按察使 (provincial judge), to hsun-fu 巡撫 (governor), to tsung-tu 総督 (governor general). However, few scholars have shown sufficient interest in the issues of the relationship of the k'ao-ch'eng, ta-chi, and the Ch'ing bureaucratic system and the change resulting from the relationship. In the first two sections of this article, I deal first with the process of the expansion of the k'ao-ch'eng system and changes in the operation of the ta-chi and then confirm that served as the background to the operation of the Ch'ing bureaucracy. Given this, I next examine how the Ch'ing bureaucratic system effected the operation of the k'ao-ch'eng and ta-chi system and to what extent this depended on the character of the efficiency rating system. The third section focuses on the connection between k'ao-ch'eng and ta-chi. Scholars have often pointed out the emphasis on tax collection revenues in cases of the ta-chi. Applying this point of view, I have attempted to demonstrate how the k'ao-ch'eng effected the ta-chi as a whole, including tax collection. Furthermore, I make clear how the k'ao-ch'eng system was connected to the efficiency rating system, including how it was employed in administrative dismissals. The following are a summary of the results of my study and the outlook for future study. Under the Ch'ing dynasty, the k'ao-ch'eng was extended into the fields of tax collection and judical matters. This was due to the fact that the affairs that were the object of the k'ao-ch'eng system were routinely considered in the Ch'ing bureaucratic system. In the ta-chi system, the character and ability of bureaucrats was evaluated. As a result, integrity was valued above all else and administrative responsibility emphasised. However, aspects of character such as personal could not be grasped approproately by the bureaucratic system. This fact harbored the impetus to drive the ta-chi system into empty formalism, By way of contrast, the k'ao-ch'eng system became a factor that effected the operation of the ta-chi, because administrative results were routinely considered in the Ch'ing bureaucratic system. As the k'ao-ch'eng system tended to expand into the tax collection and judical matters, the magistrates regularly reported the number of chia-chi 加級 (added subgrade), chiang-chi 降級 (demoted subgrade), chi-kung 記功 (recording merit), chi-kuo 記過 (recording demerit) on the basis of the k'ao-ch'eng each season. As a result, the number of rewards and demotions based on k'ao-ch'eng came to represent the evalution of bureaucrats. In ta-chi, magistrates had an obligation to report the number of chia-chi, chiang-chi, chi-kung, and chi-kuo. These records became a factor in determining whether a bureaucrat was to be judged superior and whether his achievemants were to be judged excellent. This situation developed in the direction of a general social trend as well as in the operation of the system of promotions.