宋代县望等级的划分标准探析

宋代县望等级制度基本承袭唐代,按“政治地位”和“户口”两大标准划分。但唐宋县望等级存在不少差异,其中的演化少不了后周制度的作用和影响,后周时期,望县、紧县失去按“政治地位”划分的资格,转而按“户口”划分。这一制度被宋代继承,实质是受次赤、次畿县的冲击影响。北宋前期,诸府属县严格按“政治地位”标准划分,与诸州属县按“户口”划分形成鲜明对比。至北宋末年,府、州政区属县等级“泾渭分明”的划分格局被打破,次府属县等级开始转向按照“户口”划分。唐宋划分县望等级的“户口”含义有所不同,唐代完全依据户数,宋代则根据纳两税的“主户”数,这一差异变化也与后周制度有很大关系。北宋前期,动态划分县望等级的政策得到了执行;到后期,则出现了“户口多而县望等级低”等脱离实际的现象,提升县等的户口标准成为解决县等与户口脱节问题较为务实的方案。

Exploration and Analysis on the Criteria of County Tier Designation in Song Dynasty

The county system of Song Dynasty basically inherited that of Tang Dynasty, when counties were designated according to the double standards of “political status” and “registered residents”. However, it existed many differences in the county system between Tang and Song Dynasties, and the Later Zhou Dynasty played an important role in this historical evolution. In the Later Zhou Dynasty, Wang county and Jin county lost the qualification to be classified by “political status” but using registered household standard, which was inherited by Song Dynasty. Basically, it was influenced by the impact of Ci Chi county, Ci Ji county. In the early Song Dynasty, the counties under Fu (superior prefecture) were strictly classified according to their political statuses, which was in contrast with counties under Zhou (prefecture) in Later Zhou, designated by registered households. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the clear-cut division pattern was broken that the counties subordinate to Ci Fu were classified according to the registered households. Also, the meanings of “registered household” was different between Tang and Song Dynasties. It meant the number of households in Tang Dynasty but the number of “main households” that paid two taxes in Song Dynasty. This was also impacted by the policies of Later Zhou Dynasty. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, the policy of county tier designation was dynamic. Till the late Northern Song Dynasty, it gave rise to the mismatch of counties with more registered households but lower county levels. Therefore, a practical solution of disparity between county tier and household registration was to raise the threshold of registered households.