Minpen - Minpen

This refers to urban riots that occurred in China during the Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen eras (1573-1644) at the end of the Ming dynasty. However, this is a common usage in Japan, and in China, riots by local people against local authorities during the Ming and Qing dynasties were broadly called minpei. During the Jiajing era (1522-66), in cities in central and southern China and along the Grand Canal, the number of urban residents known as "citizens" and "city people" increased against the backdrop of the development of commerce and industry, and an awareness of common interests was born. The Hangzhou Rebellion in 1582, in which a group of town gentry who were obstructing a movement to abolish nighttime patrol labor was attacked, and the anti-tax, anti-eunuch rebellions that were widespread in major cities across the country, such as Linqing (Shandong) and Suzhou, protested against the sudden increase in merchandise tolls and business taxes imposed to make up for shortfalls in the court's expenses, and the cruelty of the eunuchs who were in charge of collecting them. Representative examples of these were the Kaidoku Rebellion in Suzhou in 1626, which protested against the political oppression of reasonable town gentry who were sympathetic to the interests of urban residents. The rebellions, along with food riots by urban residents and strikes by handicraft artisans for wage increases, which became more active around the same time, embodied the development of commodity production and the improvement of the people's social power, and took on a new character that was different from previous popular movements in Chinese history.

[Masao Mori]

"History of the Chinese People's Rebellion 4" edited by Michio Tanigawa and Masao Mori (Heibonsha, Toyo Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、明(みん)末の万暦・天啓・崇禎(すうてい)年間（1573～1644）に起こった都市民衆暴動をいう。ただし、これは日本での慣用であり、中国では、明・清(しん)時代、地域の民衆の地方官憲に対する暴動を広く民変といっている。嘉靖(かせい)年間（1522～66）、華中・華南、大運河の沿辺における都市では、商工業の発達を背景に、「市民」「市人」と称される都市住民が増大し、共通の利害に対する自覚が生まれた。夜間巡回の労役廃止運動を妨害する一群の郷紳(きょうしん)を襲撃した1582年の杭州(こうしゅう)民変、宮廷経費の不足を補うため行われた商品通行税・営業税の急激な増徴と徴税を担当した宦官(かんがん)の無道とに反対して臨清（山東）や蘇州(そしゅう)など全国の大都市で広く展開された反税反宦官民変。都市住民の利害に同情的な良識派の郷紳への政治的弾圧に抗議した1626年の蘇州の開読(かいどく)の変は、その代表的なものである。民変は、同じころから活発になった都市住民の食糧暴動や手工業職人の賃上げストライキなどとともに、商品生産の発展と民衆の社会的力量の向上を体現しており、それまでの中国史上の民衆運動とは異なる新しい性格を帯びていた。

［森　正夫］

『谷川道雄・森正夫編『中国民衆叛乱史4』（平凡社・東洋文庫）』

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