社会杂志 ›› 2019, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (2): 1-30.

• 专题一：国家治理研究 •    下一篇

黄仁宇悖论与帝国逻辑——以科举制为线索

周雪光   

  1. 斯坦福大学社会学系
  • 出版日期:2019-03-20 发布日期:2019-03-20
  • 作者简介:周雪光,E-mail:xgzhou@stanford.edu

The Huang Renyu Paradox and the Logic of the Empire

ZHOU Xueguang   

  1. Department of Sociology, Stanford University
  • Online:2019-03-20 Published:2019-03-20

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摘要：

黄仁宇悖论描述了中华帝国组织形态松散关联但国家秩序坚韧稳定的矛盾特点。本文以科举制为线索，着眼于历史上中华帝国的观念制度来解读这一悖论，特别是这一松散关联组织形态的机制和过程。在中国历史上，科举制度提供了观念一体化的组织基础，导致了官僚体制内外正式与非正式制度的双向渗透和互构，国家与基层社会上下名与实的仪式性连接。这一观念制度提供了各地区、各层次间的同构性和相互关联，同时造就了一个松散关联的官僚组织。结束部分的“余论”指出，在当代中国，国家治理模式发生了重要转型，从观念一体化转向为组织一元化，为国家治理带来了一系列鲜明的特点和新的挑战。

关键词: 黄仁宇悖论, 帝国逻辑, 观念一体化, 松散关联组织, 组织一元化

Abstract:

In a series of writings, historian Huang Renyu (Ray Huang) depicted a paradoxical phenomenon in the Chinese history-the coexistence of loose-coupling in China's governance on the one hand and the resilience and stability of political order on the other. The Huang Renyu Paradox has been observed throughout the long Chinese history: The stability and perpetuation of dynasties and royal successions were coupled with a bureaucratic apparatus whose downward reach had never gone beyond the county level. This article aims to interpret the Huang Renyu Paradox in light of the unified ideology based on the civil examination institution in the Chinese history.It has been observed in the organization literature that there is a substitution effect between professionalization and bureaucratization. That is, a lower level of bureaucratization tends to accompany a higher level of professionalization in formal organizations. Drawing on this insight, I argue that there is a similar substitution effect between ideological unification and organizational solidarity in China's governance. In particular, the unified official ideology, sustained by the institution of civil examination, played a central role in the making of the Huang Renyu Paradox. The civil examination can be seen as a professionalization process of official-scholars who became the carriers of the official ideology, in the form of Confucianism. The unified ideology provided the isomorphic institutional basis across different localities, areas, and layers of the bureaucracy, and hence the integration of the empire, giving rise to a loose-coupling system of governance in the Chinese history. Specifically, the civil examination institution led to (1) horizontally, the mutual diffusion and intertwining between formal and informal institutions across the boundaries of the Chinese bureaucracy, and (2) vertically, the link between the state and society that shifted between ceremonial and substantive authority. These lines of arguments are illustrated drawing on recent historical research on social history, legal history, and local and kinship organizations.This article concludes with the observation that, in contemporary China, the mode of governance experienced a significant turn, a shift from governance on the basis of a unified ideology to organizational solidarity. The institutional building based on formal organizations has generated a set of salient characteristics as well as challenges for the governance of China today.

Key words: The logic of the empire, unified ideology, organizational solidarity, Huang Renyu Paradox, loose coupling