明代的里甲制及其在應天府的施行

THE LI-CHIA SYSTEM IN MING TIMES AND ITS OPERATION IN YING-T'IEN PREFECTURE

里甲制度在明代地方基層行政體系中，扮演著相當重要的角色。不論在都市或鄉村，明朝政府都透過里甲制度對人民直接行使收稅、課役的權力。本文以應天府（南京）八個轄縣（上元、江寧、江浦、句容、六合、溧陽、溧水、高淳）為中心，討論里甲制在這個區域的運作情形。

The li-chia 里甲 system, which operated at the lowest administrative level in Ming China's fiscal hierarchy, played a vital role in both tax collection and labor conscription. In 1381, the central government ordered the local governments to compile ''yellow registers'' (huang-ts'e, 黃冊), thereby providing the Ming government the machinery with which to collect agricultural taxes and register conscript labor. The mechanics of this machinery-the li-chia system-were officially inaugurated in the same year.