Talons and Teeth: County Clerks and Runners in the Qing Dynasty

Law, Society, and Culture in China

by Bradly Reed

For commoners in the Qing dynasty, the most salient agents of the imperial state were not the emperor's appointed officials but rather the clerks and runners of the county yamen, the lowest level of functionaries in the Qing state's administrative hierarchy. Yet until now we have known very little about these critically important persons beyond the caricatured portrayals of corruption and venality left by Qing high officials and elites. Drawing from the rich archival records of Ba county, Sichuan, the author challenges the simplicity of these portrayals by taking us inside the county yamen to provide the first detailed look at local administrative practice from the perspective of those who actually carried it out. Who were the county clerks and runners? How were they recruited, organized, disciplined, and rewarded? What was the economic basis for a career in the yamen ? How did clerks and runners view themselves as well as legitimize their role in Qing government? And what impact did their interests and practices have on symbolically laden elements of imperial government such as the magistrate's court? In addressing these questions, the author traverses the disjuncture between statutory regulations and the realities of daily administrative practice, uncovering a realm of informal, semiautonomous, yet highly structured and even rationalized procedures. Although frequently in violation of formal law, this extra-statutory system nevertheless remained an irreducible component of local government under the Qing. Recognizing the centrality of such informal practice to yamen administration forces us to rethink not only traditional assumptions concerning local corruption in the Qing, but also the ways in which we conceptualize the boundaries between state and society in late imperial China.

Genres: History, China

347 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2000

Reviews

[风花 · Rating 4 out of 5]

很诡异的读书体验，作者的史料分析（例如各种书吏与衙役间的“政治斗争”）值得五星，但作者的理论探索只能让我扣一分。作者一口一个“儒家意识形态”，却忽略了帝制“儒表法里”的话语与意识形态构造，也导致了对于帝国官僚的温情脉脉理解。同时，作者试图反驳那种“吏役都是贪污腐败或是道德败坏”的论述，但实际上却有意忽略了吏役侵害民众的那一面，就像是在分析当代城管辅警时，说“大家对城管都是坏人的看法太片面啦，是一种单向的意识形态叙事，实际上城管也是有难处的，这个不能叫贪腐。。。。。”对这本书可以对着周雪光. "从 “官吏分途” 到 “层级分流”: 帝国逻辑下的中国官僚人事制度." 社会 36.1 (2016): 1-33./周雪光, et al. "中国地方政府官员的空间流动: 层级分流模式与经验证据." 社会 38.3 (2018): 1-45.来看，周雪光的理论构建更加“常识”一点，在其中周雪光也对帝制时期与党制时期不同的“官——吏”关系做了分析。但是，作者本书的好处是写出了地方皇权对基层渗透与控制，也就是“皇权下县”的动态过程，各种差役或佐杂衙门（387页）在县级之下的存在与运作，以及乡绅和地方官僚权力间的互动。

[Chyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

恰如译者所言，这本专书，是继瞿同祖之后研究书吏和差役群体的经典之作。白德瑞修正了吏役均为贪腐之徒这一传统论述，指出规费的收取存在“非正式的正当性”。不足之处在于，作者所选取的案例，大多有头无尾，或缺乏细节，使得该书精彩程度不足。此外，巴县档案诉讼文书中的吏役，为胜诉而互相诋毁对方，因而形象难保真实。吏役的个人材料，如书信、文集、日记，或许会呈现这一群体更丰富的图像。