Study Of Tidying Up The Three Northeastern Provinces' Finance In Late Qing Dynasty

The finance is the base of the administration,and the financial reform became the basis of Constitutional reform in Late Qing Dynasty.Tiding up finance,which was to concentrate financial power and construct fiscal system,became the basis of the financial reform.The Three Northeastern Provinces attracted attention from various parties because of the special status.There was serious domestic trouble and foreign invasion in this district.Considering the whole situation,the Qing government decided to reconstruct the Three Northeastern Provinces'system.Provincial system was established in the Three Northeastern Provinces was significant, which is also one of the backgrounds of the tiding up finance.At this time, the Three Northeastern Provinces'finance was in difficult condition for several reasons.According to the national and the Three Northeastern Provinces' situation, it was necessary to tide up finance.As operational institution, the Three Northeastern Provinces'bureaus for tiding up finance were established by duzhishi under the governor's order.The personnel consisted of financial supervisor, who were dispatched by Ministry of Revenue, and provincial officers.They had bureaucratic system of management and made strict rules for the sources and operation of funds. They were specially established for tiding up finance, whose right was checking finance situation, improving methods for provincial income and expenditure and analyzing the pros and cons of the financial history. The bureau cooperated with others,like the Ministry of Revenue, the governors, the state and county government and Provincial Assembly. The Ministry of Revenue and the governors controlled the tiding up finance by many ways, particularly through financial supervisor and duzhishi. The Three Northeastern Provinces'bureaus also needed to coordinate with each other.Checking finance situation was the base of the tiding up finance. This checking mainly focused on the income and expenditure, which were beyond governing and without being known by the central government. This kind of finance existed, which was caused by many factors, like the rigidity of the old finance system, the serious imbalance between the administrative rights and the financial ability. The Qing central government didn't know the Three Northeastern Provinces'finance. The Three Northeastern Provinces'governors also didn't know the state and counties'finance. For the respective benefit, there were contest between checking and hiding, among the central government, province government and the state and county government. Because of these contests, the tiding up finance was complicated and difficult. As financial supervisors, who were dispatched by the Ministry of Revenue, were in difficult position. Because of the flaw of system, personnel disputes and other factors, their authority was unclear. They were in conflicts between central and local government and faced disputes of interests, politics, and factions. The budget system is an important component in modern financial system, and is also the aim of tiding up finance. The Three Northeastern Provinces experimented on provincial budget first, which was the foundation for the national budget's formulation. For maintaining and expanding their own benefits as far as possible, the administrative organizations, including the central government, province government and the state and county government, bargained mutually and strived for maximum benefit in process of the national budget's formulation and implementation. Simultaneously, there were conflicts between administrative power and legislative power. All parties sticking to their own interests tenaciously, which made the budget exist only in name and affected the budget's authority.Dividing national and local tax could clarify the financial relationship between central and local governments, and was also advantageous to the national budget's establishment. It was an important step to construct the financial system, and became an important content of tiding up finance. In the process of tiding up finance, the Three Northeastern Provinces rectified tax effectively and made preparation for dividing national and local tax around restructure of the provinces'system. The governors had the intention to maintain the provincial financial revenue, even reserved provincial tax explicitly in the tax revenue level's discussion. The Ministry of Revenue wanted to concentrate financial power through dividing national and local tax. The state and county government also wanted to maintain their own interests. The Three Northeastern Provinces'bureaus for tiding up finance proposed provincial tax, which caused discussions and arguments on provincial tax.Tiding up finance included the reorganization of financial order, and was carried out by the officials. There were some administrative problems related to reorganization of financial order, like arranging the government expense, downsizing and reducing salaries, rectifying officials" financial corruption and so on. then the reorganization of officials'management had double meaning-rectifying finance and official management, was also an important content of tiding up finance.Tiding up finance is the base of the financial reform, and an important component of the Reform in late Qing Dynasty. It was not only a financial problem, but also involved the disputes of interests, the situation and environment of reform, policies and strategies of reform. The effect of tiding up finance depended on many factors. As an important component of the whole country's financial reform, tiding up the Three Northeastern Provinces" finance had achievements, but it had its limitations, affected the Reform in late Qing Dynasty, even the stability of the country.