| This paper makes the Qing Dynasty Anhui post station as the study object.The time span is from 6 of Kangxi Emperor(AD 1667)when Anhui was officially built to 3 of Xuantong Emperor(AD 1911)when the Qing Dynasty collapsed.The research area is subject to administrative regions in Anhui province divided in 3 of Xuantong Emperor(AD 1911),that are 13 county administrative zones(including 8 House,5 Zhili state)and 55 county-level district(4 states,51 counties).Post station system developing to the Qing Dynasty has become increasingly perfect.Whether Hui tong guan,Huang hua yi and courier office in the central level or Yi,Zhan,Tang,Tai,Suo and Pu in the local level,the vast setting territory,diverse forms and developed post roads all are more perfect than the former dynasty.Among them post stations and emergency express shops are the two main carriers bearing the government information transmission.The of setting number is larger than other postal forms.In the Qing Dynasty,the number of post stations and emergency express shops in Anhui province were 81 and 867 respectively.The distribution pattern of the post stations was presented a diminishing number and scale from the north to the south bounded in the Yangtze River.And the emergency express shop as the main transfer between the central and local,local and local instruments,its number and distribution is very different from the post station.Which affects the number and distribution pattern of post stations and emergency express shops are nothing more than political,economic,military,geography other natural and social factors.Based on the distribution pattern of 81 post stations there are three main post roads:north and south main line,entering into the Jiangxi Post Road and waterway.They together constitute both land and sea and all directions of the postal network in the Qing Dynasty Anhui.The Qing Dynasty post station system is rich in historical data.So as long as carefully grasping the relevant historical data it is possible to interpret the Qing Dynasty postal system.The Qing Dynasty Post station system involves the postal code,station fees,journey,horse,carriage,ship,station forbidden,Geiyi(and miscellaneous),Cheng xian and other projects.And the station fees is a very key link.The station fee is the economic base to maintain the normal operation of the postal system.How to deal with the station fee problems and make it play the biggest effect puzzles the Qing Dynasty rulers.From the early Qing Dynasty to Qianlong Emperor and then to Jiaqing Emperor,the Qing government Has experienced repeated times on the policy about the distribution of station fees.But it has not been completely resolved.In the Qing Dynasty,it has a close relationship between the amount of the station fees in Anhui and the change of the total expenditure of station fees in the Qing Dynasty.It generally experienced a tendency from more to less then to stabilization.After comparing with other provinces’ station fees,Anhui Province slightly was inadequate.Facing such a dilemma,how to better play the functions of post stations in delivering document,receiving officials,transporting silver,escorting the prisoners,adjusting the military,developing regional economic and other aspects as well as how to form a benign interaction in favor of Anhui province inside,the surrounding provinces and the central government is a pondering question.After the Opium War,China has had a great change which never appears in thousands years.With a series of unequal treaties signed,telegraph,postal,railway,ship and other new communications and transport also followed.It is a fatal Shock to the traditional postal transmission system and ultimately it is difficult to escape the fate of cutting post to mail.Crisis is always accompanied by the opportunity.In the tide of Cutting post to mail Anhui province becomes one of the first provinces setting up a new style of post and telegraph in the late Qing Dynasty,which makes its postal career a complete evolution in modern transformation. |
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