淸末 天地會의 性格에 대한 考察

Abstract

天地會는 反淸復明을 신조로 하여 淸末에 南中國 일대에서 활약한 秘密結社이다. 洪門, 三合會, 三点會 등으로도 稱하였던 天地會는 反淸運動이 자취를 감추고, 中國이 사실상 淸의 支配下에서 안정된 乾隆期를 지나면서 새롭게 下層 民衆들에 의해 反淸復明을 부르짖고 일어났다는 점에서 주목을 끈다. 本 硏究는 天地會가 淸末 民衆運動史에서 갖는 위치와 의미를 糾明하여, 天地會의 활동에서 보여진 民衆意識을 살피는데 目的이 있다. 구체적으로 天地會組織이 갖는 특징과 反淸復明思想을 검토함으로써 民族意識이 강한 政治結社로 알려진 天地會에 대한 一般的인 見解에 대하여 天地會의 실제적인 性格은 어떠한 것이었는가를 糾明하는데 중점을 두었다. 이같은 의도하에서 얻어진 결론은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 天地會는 台灣 林爽文의 亂으로 表面化된 뒤 거의 100여년간 南中國 일대를 소란케 하였다. 그들은 어느 경우이건, 그 지역사회의 모순이 해결되지 않는 곳에서 反官을 부르짖고 일어나 反體制的인 民衆運動을 일으켰다. 초기에 단순히 反官으로 표현된 그들의 주장은 마침내 反淸으로 확대되어 그들의 사상의 중심이 되었다. 둘째 天地會는 조직상 중추권력을 缺하고 있어서 전 지역에 만연한 天地會支部들을 통솔할 수 없었으며, 이것은 곧 民衆의 활동과 의식의 성장을 저해 하는 중요한 요인이 되었다. 셋째, 그리하여 天地會는 社會的 矛盾에 반대하고 현실을 타도하려는 목적을 실천에 옮길 힘이 있었음에도 불구하고, 구체적으로 현실을 대신할 이상적인 체제를 제시할 수 없었다는 民衆意識 水準의 限界를 여실히 드러내었다. 넷째 일반적으로 天地會의 反淸復明思想은 民族主義라는 차원에서 중요시되어 왔으나 사실상 天地會의 性格은 단순히 사회적인 모순에 反感을 품고, 자신을 보호하려는 목적에서 反官으로 구체화된 反體制的 民衆運動의 차원에서 이해되어져야 한다. 따라서 天地會를 淸末 民族運動史의 한 중추세력으로 보고, 그 反淸復明思想을 王朝末의 孫文등에 의한 反淸民族主義運動에로 연결시키고자 하는 시도들은 일단 재검토의 필요성이 있다고 본다.;Heaven and Earth Society (天地會) is the secret society which played the important role in the movement of overthrow the Ch'ing and restore the Ming (反淸復明) in the region of South China at the end of the Ch'ing dynasty. It is a remarkable fact that Heaven and Earth Society, that was called by the name such as Hung Men (洪門), San Ho Hui (三合會), San Tien Hui (三点會), had been arisen to advocate overthrow the Ch'ing and restore the Ming by the lower class of people during the period when China became politically stabilized under the reign of the Ch'ing dynasty since the anti-Ch'ing influence has disappeared. The purpose of this study is to show its meaning and significance of the Society in the history of the popular movement at the end of the Ch'ing dynasty, and also to examine the consciousness of the people that was manifested in the activities of the Society. This study was carried out with a special emphasis on the characteristic of the Society and the ideas of overthrow the Ch'ing and restore the Ming. It was intended to examine what was the actual characteristic of the Society against a general opinion that is the Society was known as the nationalistic political organization. The conclusions of this study are as follows: 1. Organization of the Society was made public by the Taiwan Lin Shuang-wen (臺灣-林來文) revolt, and ever since this revolt the Society had dist rbed in the region of South China for nearly 100 years. They, in any case, agitated the popular movement against the governing authorities in those regions where the social problems were not yet solved and the public felt discontented with the situation. 2. As the Society did not have the leading power within the organization, it was unable to command its local chapters, and it directly caused an important factor to hinder the public activities and the development of their consciousness. 3. Though they were powerful enough to fulfil their aim of destroying the discontented reality, they evidently revealed the limited level of the public consciousness that they were not able to present concretely the ideal governing system in order to change the reality. 4. Generally the idea of overthrow the Ch'ing and restore the Ming was regarded as an important idea looking from the viewpoint of nationalism, but actually the characteristic of the Society should be understood as the popular movement for the anti-regime with the purpose to protect themselves from the reality, resisting against the social unjustness. Considering the activities of Heaven and Earth Society as a turning point in the history of the popular movement at the end of the Ch'ing dynasty, it is necessary to reexamine the attemps that tried to connect the idea of overthrow the Ch'ing and restore the Ming with the anti-Ch'ing nationalistic movement led by Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) and others at the end of the dynasty.