Individual Perspective Of The Bureaucracy In Late Qing Dynasty:A Study Of Zhang Zengyang’s Political Career

In the clan of Zhang Zengyang(张曾敭),some family members had passed the imperial examination and became official in the Ming Dynasty.Because of this,their family has a respected social status in Nanpi County,Zhili Province.The background of the official family allowed Zhang Zengyang to receive the influence of Confucianism from an early age,so his path to imperial examination was relatively smooth,and he entered the Imperial Court of the Qing Dynasty official reserve bank as an official.Zhang Zengyang appointed as a local governor was a great honor for his family.However,due to the abolition of imperial examinations in the late Qing Dynasty,social circulation channels were closed.Therefore,his family also gradually declined.Although Zhang Zengyang used the imperial examination to enter the official position,it was still difficult to upgrade,so he used the donation to quickly upgrade the rank,and he became a second-grade government official.In his formal career of more than 20 years,Zhang Zengyang was often tossed and moved,and due to his poor health,he was retired many times.However,under the persuasion of Zhang Zhidong(张之洞),Lu Chuanlin(鹿传霖),and others,he has been floating in officialdom.He strictly abides by the rules and regulations,and because of his integrity,he didn’t hesitate to rift with his colleagues.His cautious and attentive behavior could help him reduce the number of mistakes,but this was inevitably bound by regulations.Zhang Zengyang’s background and career experience made him a purely Confucian official.He began to defend Confucianism and failed to adjust and reflect on his thoughtsZhang Zengyang used traditional methods to deal with new problems such as the railway wave and the revolutionary party when he was appointed as a local governor.In the end,he hurriedly killed Qiu Jin(秋瑾)and was criticized by public opinion,which eventually ended his political life.After the Revolution of 1911,Zhang Zengyang claimed to be an adherent of the Qing Dynasty,and called for the"Two Fierce Women of the Zhang Family in Nanpi"(南皮张氏二烈女)incident,and made the last struggle for the culture he insisted on.It can be said that Zhang Zengyang is a typical official who has received imperial examination training.He became a great local governor after years of accumulation,but he was also a mediocre one.In the great changes in the late Qing Dynasty,Zhang Zengyang adhered to the law and did not actively adapt.His act as a local governor is the product of bureaucracy gradually fulfilling its duties without much subjective effort.To some extent,Zhang Zengyang is a mediocre local governor made by the bureaucracy.