明代工赈述论

以工代赈是中国古代传统的救荒方法,明代继承了这种赈济手段。明代的工赈主要由地方政府来组织进行,地方富民(士绅)也在其中扮演了重要角色,但国家缺乏相应统一的政策和制度。明代中后期,随着地方财政收入的多样化和人们认识的转变,工赈获得了更加广泛的运用。明代工赈虽然在实际运用中取得了较好地效果,大批饥民得以生存,但并没有突破其"临时性"的特征,因此其局限性仍然明显。

Research on Relief Method of Welfare-to-work in the Ming Dynasty

“Welfare-to-work” was an efficient traditional famine relief method in ancient China,which was inherited in the Ming Dynasty. The welfare-to-work program was mainly organized by the local government,but the local rich class also played an important role. However,there were lacked a set of uniform and nationwide policies and systems.“Welfare-to-work” was applied more widely in the mid and final period of the Ming Dynasty,due to the diversification of local fiscal in-comes,and the change of attitude towards the“welfare-to-work” among people. Work relief program were largely and effec-tively used in practice in the Ming Dynasty,and a large number of hungry people survived. But the application of work relief were mostly temporary,therefore there were still obvious limitations.