Compared with “sweet, bitter, spicy and salty”, it is the so-called “birth, old age, illness and death”. Say they are civil affairs organs, but there are other competent departments in the county government, such as household houses and workshops; Say they are social charities, but they are really run by the government rather than the people. In the draft of seven revisions written by Lang Ying of the Ming Dynasty, the specific classification of “birth, old age, illness and death” is as follows: the Bureau of caring for children is called “health” and specializes in the adoption of abandoned children; The nursing home is called “old” and specializes in the adoption of orphans; Anji square is called “disease” and specializes in the adoption of the sick and disabled; Louzeyuan is called “death” and is responsible for the collection and burial of abandoned corpses. It is also said that if the county prison is added again, it can be added up to a “bitter life, old age, illness and death”.
Say “Sheng” first. According to the records in “Zhou Li, di Guan and Da situ”, it can be considered that the Chinese government in the Western Zhou Dynasty had attached great importance to population maintenance. The first of the so-called “six to protect interest and raise the people” is “being kind to the young”. Zheng Xuan’s annotation is: “loving the young means loving the young and loving the young. Three children are born with their mother, and two with them.” In the spring and Autumn period, the system of the state of Yue was that when a woman was about to give birth, she had to report to the government. The government sent a doctor to guard her. If she gave birth to a boy, she was rewarded with two pots of wine and a dog, and if she gave birth to a girl, she was rewarded with two pots of wine and a pig. For those who have three children, the government will send them to the nursing mother to feed them (national language, Yue language). In the state of Qi, there were also special “child leaders” in the government, who were responsible for rewarding “glorious mothers”. For example, mothers with three children could be exempted from taxes; If there is another one, the whole family will be exempt from taxes; If a fifth child is born, the government will send a nanny. The state will bear all the rations of the old five and the nanny. In addition, there are “orphan in charge” officials around the country, who are specially responsible for finding adoptive families for orphans. Orphan families are exempt from tax, and “orphan in charge” officials often go to inquire. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, this kind of function has become the legal responsibility of prefectural and county yamen. The biography of Jia Biao in the later Han Dynasty records that when Jia Biao was the head of Xinxi County, theft and murder occurred in the south of the city and drowning occurred in the north of the city. Jia Biao ordered to drive the car for the case investigation. The “officials” thought that compared with the two, it was naturally important to rob and harm people. They were going to take him to the south of the city. County magistrate Jia was angry and said, “it is common sense that bandits and thieves harm people; mother and son hurt each other, and they go against the law.” So he drove north. Over the years, Xinxi county has added thousands of young lives. It is said that it is only the head of Jia county that can survive. Therefore, all the boys are named “Jia Zi” and all the girls are named “Jia Nu”. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Shi youmingzai’s government-run charity and children’s Bureau appeared. However, people were still encouraged to come to the bureau to adopt them. Officials gave Qian MI or appointed nursing women. Even there was a saying that “if you don’t raise healthy children, you raise beggars”. Since the Song Dynasty, kindergartens have gradually become popular. Later, there were also people called nurseries. However, the special officials who were “in charge of orphans” were no longer staffed and changed to miscellaneous positions.
Say “old” for the second time. Giving preferential treatment to the elderly is a fine tradition of the Chinese nation. The responsibility of lineal descendants is to respect their relatives and “filial piety”, while raising is the minimum condition. The so-called “there are three aspects of filial piety, the great filial piety respects their relatives, and the second is to put shame on others, and the next is to raise them” (the book of rites · sacrifice righteousness). The state should take care of those elderly people who have no children, or who belong to a subsidiary branch of the clan tree and clan party and cannot inherit the property of their ancestors. The book of rites, the king’s system, said: “the people of Yin were old enough to support the right school and the people of Zhou were old enough to support the East Jiao and the people of Yu Xiang.” It seems that the earliest nursing homes were built together with schools. Like Ciyou, from the Qin and Han Dynasties, old-age care was also transferred to the state and county executive. The system of residential nursing homes has been widely established throughout the country. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty changed its name to Yangji hospital. The dayuantong system stipulates that “all widows, widows, orphans, old and weak, disabled, poor and without complaints shall be adopted in Yangji hospital. Those who should be adopted but not adopted, and those who should not be adopted but adopted, are guilty of guarding the slaughter.” The Ming and Qing Dynasties inherited the song and Yuan Dynasties, and there were Yangji homes in all prefectures and counties. According to the notes of Xiangzu, Yan Song, the acting Minister of power, lived in the Hangzhou Yangji home after he was deprived of his home. Until his old death, the Hangzhou Yangji home still worshipped him as a hospital God. In the opera, Yan Song has a face of “feeding dogs when they die” can you imagine that he can still enjoy incense offerings behind him?
It is also an old tradition to provide for the sick and disabled. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was an official charity hospital that “made it possible for people suffering from diseases inside and outside the capital to live in a place where they could be cured” (Volume 27 of Xinyu congkao). In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Wu Zong launched a campaign to exterminate the Buddha. The supporting policy was to turn many monasteries into mournful fields for recuperation, and use rice rented from temple fields as maintenance funds. In the Song Dynasty, although many Buddhist temples were restored, this system still had to be retained. There were Futian courtyard in the capital and Anji square all over the country. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, a western missionary, Klaus, who came to Guangzhou to travel, wrote an article introducing the treatment of poor, sick and disabled patients by Chinese local governments——
Lame people and lame people, some without immediate family members, some who, although they have, are unwilling or unable to support them, appeal to the emperor’s tax supervisors (local officials); So their relatives were censored by the officials. If any of the relatives is able to support them, they shall ask their nearest relatives to do their duty to support them; If relatives could not support them, or there were no relatives in the area, the tax supervisor ordered them to be admitted to the emperor’s hospital. Because the emperor set up large hospitals in all cities, in which there were many rooms. The officials of the hospital were responsible for providing rooms for those who were bedridden, and the emperor’s Treasury paid enough rent for this.
The lame people who do not lie in bed receive a certain amount of rice every month. They can live on this rice and some chickens and pigs they raise in the hospital. All this was paid in full without error. At the same time, those admitted to the hospital are generally suffering from incurable diseases, so they get lifelong support. Those admitted to the hospital under the order of the Commissioner of taxation are registered. Every year, the officials of the hospital have to report the expenditure figures and the relief of the poor and sick. If there is any error or neglect of duty, they will be severely punished. (edited by C. R. bocker, translated by he Gaoji, southern China in the 16th century, Zhonghua Book Company)
It should be noted that the so-called “lame” and “lame” of Klux generally refer to the disabled who have lost the ability to work and earn a living. The so-called “hospital” refers to the shelter for the disabled. The Chinese people call it the compassionate field hospital, the nursing home, the hospice, etc. The so-called “hospital officials” refer to those appointed by the government to manage these institutions. In fact, there is no official establishment.
There are two aspects of the traditional Chinese etiquette culture, one of which is that life is supported and the other is buried. The historical facts of official cemeteries and public sacrifices in the Eastern Han Dynasty are clearly written in the book of the later Han Dynasty. However, it was not until the Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty that there was a system of imperial edicts to operate “tombs” throughout the country. In the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, it was said that it was Cai Jing’s idea to open a “leaky garden” on the basis of the tombs, which means that the emperor’s grace is like rain and dew, and don’t leave the dead or dead bones behind. Therefore, public cemeteries funded and operated by the government were set up in all prefectures and counties across the country to concurrently handle funeral affairs. Those who bury the dead without land in their homes can be buried in public cemeteries at a low price. The dead without owners or poor families can be buried free of charge. All these work have been included in the assessment of local officials. So Zhao Yi thinks that if Yan Song can be the God of Yangji hospital, Cai Jing can also enjoy incense in Liuze garden.
Some readers may have a question: how can they care about the life and death of the common people when they always know that the feudal government will only oppress the common people? There are also several reasons for this: first, the national fiscal revenue is taxes, and the population is the source of taxes. Maintaining the long-term interests of households is to raise chickens and eggs; Secondly, the influence of the traditional cultural concepts of caring for the children and providing for the aged, giving birth to the children and burying the dead cannot be underestimated. Moreover, allowing the corpses to be arbitrarily discarded or buried in shallow places will also lead to serious consequences of the epidemic of plague; Third, why should the prefecture and county yamen seriously or at least pretend to do this? Not to mention that they are all part of the assessment of political achievements. In terms of the fact that the grades and staffing of counties and prefectures are related to the number of local households, they are also stimulating factors.
Just like the disappearance of the “lone leader” official, there is no special organization in the prefecture and county yamen, such as Yangji hospital, Anji square and louze garden. They are also managed by miscellaneous posts. Therefore, compared with the monk officials, Taoist officials and medical officials who “set up an official but do not give a salary”, this is a higher level that neither sets up an official nor gives a salary. But even so, many people want to curry favor with these positions. In terms of nominal name, there is no such thing as the establishment, but it is almost the same as the regular armour. At least it can be regarded as a “chicken feather officer” outside the establishment? Moreover, this “chicken feather official” has a particularly high “level” and is appointed by the prefecture and county yamen. In fact, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such miscellaneous posts in many prefectures and counties were occupied by teachers and relatives brought by the principal and subordinate officials. Otherwise, they were divided up by the rich and powerful gentry. The name of “official” seemed more convenient. In terms of practical interests, there are more opportunities for the upper and lower levels to share the same disadvantages. The two funds allocated by local finance and social donations are large, and we still have to worry about whether we can support ourselves? To take the simplest example, Zhu Mu, a native of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in his book a little knowledge of Ming Zhai. He said that the nursing home in Qingpu County, his hometown, is located by the West Hongqiao bridge. There are more than ten houses. The adoption quota is 45 people. Each person is given rice, two Dou and four liters a month and 45 Wen a month. He goes to the County warehouse on the second day of each month to collect them. In fact, there are no such people in the hospital. The people in charge of the hospital only eat “vacancies”. Every second day, they hire some people to claim money under their own names. Those who have to be taken away face to face can still cheat like this, and it is not difficult to imagine the rest.
Shen bang, who once served as the county magistrate of Wanping in the Ming Dynasty, also wrote about this in his famous book “notes to the Wanzhou bureau”. He came to office in the 18th year of Wanli (1590). Before that, Wanping nursing home adopted 2165 orphans, poor and old people in three batches from the first year of Wanli (1573) to the tenth year of Wanli (1582). Each person will be given a piece of armour library cloth every year, and Taicang rice Sandu every month. The county magistrate will go to the hospital to check once a month, make a book and distribute it, and entrust a group of “huitou” to take charge of it. By the time Shen Bang took office, the so-called system had long been “old enough to play”, and the handlers were entrenched in it. “The deceased don’t pay one out of ten, and the depositors don’t give one out of ten”, that is, those who have died are not crossed out from the list. Even one tenth of those given out according to the list are not available, and those who handle them have made a small fortune. A little more truthful with them, “the crowd shouted loudly, leading hundreds of people who were old and” nc026 “to wear filthy clothes”, waiting for a petition in the way of Beijing’s official road, and “begging for mercy around the degradation” to jiuqingke road. If the social influence is not good, the leaders should blame it. Shen bang was determined to rectify the situation. “Those who are strict with the law should follow the law” and called out the original files of the old people who received them. “According to the original report, five people over 100 years old, 27 people over 95 years old, 52 people over 91 years old, more than 100 people over 85 years old, and countless people under 81 years old were found.”. The orphanage has become a village of honor for people, and its disadvantages are easy to see. However, “ask the officials, the officials, and the old man alone, and you can’t win it.” obviously, you have already concluded an offensive and defensive alliance. Then he proposed to call the roll in person, “then he pleaded that the officials would not give him what he needed and scattered around the village to look for food”, that is, they had already gone out to beg for food and could not gather, “beg for mercy”, and then “Xu Ji’s nameless person took the chance to respond”. Shen bang, such a talented person, personally rectified the situation, and the result was only “in half a year, he got rid of more than 100 names, which can save hundreds of stones in Taicang rice and more than 100 Kubu horses”. How many fiscal losses are there in more than a thousand counties across the country every year? How can this account be calculated?
Perhaps some readers would like to raise questions: even if it is said that there are many benefits to manage these “birth, old age, illness and death”, after all, they are not included in the compilation. How can they be introduced in the prefecture and county yamen?
This leads to an interesting phenomenon: in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, almost all these miscellaneous jobs had “official positions”. Where did you come from? It comes from the four words “birth, old age, illness and death”. It is well known that the number of donation cases and insurance cases in the middle and late Qing Dynasty rose sharply. We will talk about the specific content later. Here’s just the way to choose officials for miscellaneous positions: whenever there are natural disasters such as drought, flood and locusts, the state should not only implement relief and tax exemption for the disaster areas, but also instruct local governments to collect donations to help the government share the burden. For those who have made meritorious contributions to the collection, the local officials can propose a guarantee award to the officials; Those who donate a large amount of money can also give a rank as an example. After receiving this kind of edict, people who are prefectural and county governors often appoint these people who are in charge of the Tzu Chi children’s Bureau, the nursing home, the louze garden and other institutions to handle donations. On the one hand, they are greedy for their cronies, and on the other hand, because they are originally in charge of charities on behalf of the government, so it is natural for them to make things more beautiful. For these people, it is a good opportunity to make disaster money or to raise money. For those who are rich but not benevolent, they usually don’t get a dime. Now they donate a large amount to buy official products. The officials get it by themselves, but the credit for making contributions belongs to others; Most of them are ordinary people, who can’t give much. They donate eight articles and one hanging to show the intention of the poor. On the contrary, they feel that they are too few and refuse to give their names. However, if we add up the amount donated by these anonymous people, the result will be considerable. So the donors summarized most of them in the names of one or several people, and exchanged several official photos with the state. They could sell them to others if they could not use them; The way is for people who want to be addicted to official affairs to donate some money and then give a ticket to the donor, so that he can gather up the number of anonymous people and assign them to his name. As a rule, the donor should publish the number of donations made by the donor to show his selflessness. Therefore, he always leaves some “anonymous” on the list. When the “anonymous” see them, they all think they are themselves without doubt. How did they know that these people also made money, earned fame, and won the official! In the 34th chapter of the story of officialdom, shenyifu, a “three generation philanthropist”, was introduced, “Since his grandfather started his charity, whatever relief donations he made, his family has started. There are no famous shenyifu philanthropists who are not familiar with. Shenyifu has a few articles in his hands. Every time shenyifu makes a relief donation, he even donates and guarantees. In less than five or six years, he has been promoted from Zhixian county to Daotai, referring to Zhejiang Province. Because the times have been very good in recent years, he simply stays in the county and continues to” do good deeds “, That is the elite in this way.
With the “official body”, the “chicken feather officers” also put on patchwork clothes one by one, and became a member of the Nianxiang station.