提 要：“留中”指皇帝将臣属的奏疏不做批示下发而留置内廷。万历朝奏疏“留中”事例萌于神宗初政时期，万历中期以后趋于严重，成为凸显的政治现象。这一现象使得国家行政中枢的运转机制被破坏，政府功能亦随之下降。万历朝奏疏“留中”现象发生的原因主要在于后张居正时代国家行政中枢内部矛盾的激化以及君臣双方的严重冲突。奏疏“留中”既反映万历朝政治上层统合力之趋弱，又映衬出明代政治文化对君主绝对专制保留的些许约束，这种约束与明代士大夫的政治价值意识密切相关。

关键词：万历 奏疏 留中 士大夫 政治文化

Title: On the Phenomenon of Memorials Liuzhong of the Wanli Period of the Ming Dynasty

Author:Li Jia, Ph.D. Candidate, School of History and Culture, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin, 130024, China.

Abstract: Liuzhong(留中) means an emperor keeps the memorials of the officials in his inner chamber without official and public reply. Such a phenomenon significantly emerged since the early days of Emperor Shen Zong’s reign(A.D. 1573-1620) and became more serious afterwards until the end of Shen Zong period. As a prominent political problem, this practice brought about serious damage to the operative mechanism of the central administration. The cause of liuzhong lies in the intensification of the contradictions within the state administrative center including the confliects between the Emperor Shen Zong and the scholar-officils. The emergence of liuzhong reflected the weakening of the internal unity among the scholar-officials. On the other hand, in a close observation of this phenomenon, one can see some clues about the political value of the scholar-officials in that period. The political appeal of the scholar-officials constituted limited restrain of the autocratic power of the emperors.

Key words:Wanli period memorials to the throne liuzhong scholar-officials political culture