The Best Of The Late Qing Dynasty Officials, Weary State Affairs

Born in Guichi, Anhui province, Liu Ruifen had been offered official positionsbecause of his militarv exploit, Liu had been mayor of Shanghai city, governor ofJiangxi province, governor of Guangdong province and officer of diplomatic serviceof the government in the late Qing dynasty. A discussion on Liu's life-long politicalthinking and activities, particularly his contributions to the introduction of foreignindustry and business and to foreign affairs, is provided according to his posthumousmanuscript and relevant materials. The purpose of this thesis is to show out aspects ofthe great figure from Anhui on the political stage from a historical point of view andto reveal the national and civilian complexion and political posture of the late Qingdynasty from the inspection of Liu.The inspection is conducted from two points of view. First, a systematic reviewof how Liu took political measures and activities is provided, which helps to show hisloyalty, being hard-working, and diligence for his duty as a local official. Specifically,he had done series of practical things in such areas as revenue recruitment, lawsuit,social security, concerns of civilian life and culture and education for the local citizens.Second, it was obvious that Liu had taken seriously how to make use of hisexperiences for practical purposes. This showed his thoughts of advances with thetimes. He was open-minded and brave to forge ahead because of his planning foreignindustry and business as the wind of western civilization was being blown to the east,which clearly showed that Liu had a basic point that Chinese should be self-renewaland make efforts to get rich. When he was a local official, he supports the point thatChinese should totally learn from the western modern civilization and establishforeign enterprise so as to achieve industry and business development and when hewas sent to the western countries he actively provided his supports for his homelandto develop foreign business affairs and had done investigation into the advancedsocial systems of the foreign countries at the same time.To have properly dealt with foreign affairs was an important part of Liu'sachievement during his whole life. In the process of dealing with issues between China and other countries, Liu had been clever and flexible in the struggle to haveprotected the sovereignty and benefits of his home country. It could be concluded thatLiu had worked for the country with no effort in the performance of his duty sparedand had been a notable official in modern history when the society was not so stablein the late Qing dynasty.