The Research On The Jining Canal Sluice Officers In Qing Dynasty

After the opening of Hui-Tong River in the Yuan Dynasty,the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal was cut and straightened,which laid a foundation for the inland river shipping system in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.The Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming and attached great importance to the construction of the canal system,which reached the highest level of the canal management system.After the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal passes through Shandong Province,the locks are used to control the water flow to overcome the problems of high terrain and uneven distribution of water resources in Shandong.The necessity of the sluice seat’s setting and management to the canal passage makes the sluice officials play a prominent role in the canal management and play an important role in the canal management in the Qing Dynasty.Jining area is the commanding high point of the whole Beijing-Hangzhou Canal,which is densely covered with sluice blocks.On the basis of previous studies,this paper attempts to explore the construction,duty and influence of Sluice officers in the Qing Dynasty by collecting official historical materials,local Chronicles,literati’s travel notes and other relevant historical materials.Although the Sluice officers was listed in the official system of the Qing Dynasty,most of them were minor officials.There are few related records about Sluice officers in the historical materials of Qing Dynasty,but it can’t deny its role and influence in the canal management and local society of Qing Dynasty.This paper will be divided into four parts to try to explore the Sluice officers in Qing Dynasty.The first part will analyze the key role of sluice group setting in the smooth flow of Beijing-Hangzhou canal in Qing Dynasty from the topographic water environment of Jining Canal,and demonstrate the inevitability of paying attention to sluice officials in the canal management of Qing Dynasty.The second part,according to Jining local literature and related literati notes,sorted out the work content and management responsibilities of the gate officer.The third part presents the local canal management system of the Qing Dynasty by sorting out the position and role of the sluice officers in canal management.In the fourth part,the relationship between the sluice officers and the local socio-economic public security culture of the grain transport system is explored,and the role of the sluice officers in the grain transport system and the specific implementation of the local grain transport management are analyzed.As a part of the national administration,the gate officer is responsible for maintaining the stability of the national system.At the same time,the gate officer’s social life and specific management functions are closely related to the local society.The removal of the officials at the gate in the late Qing Dynasty is the epitome of the decline of the canal transport system and the embodiment of the fall of the local canal society.