Political Order And Administrative Efficiency: Research On Official Documents System In The Nanjing National Government

During the Nanjing National Government period, the construction and reform of official documents system gained broad attention from the circles of politics, academics and business, and produced a great many academic and practical achievements, which had wide-ranging social influence. Presently the academic circle has not conducted much research on this important political system. On basis of extensive collections of original documents and records, this dissertation explores the construction and evolution process of official documents system during the Nanjing National Government period in details from the perspective of political order and administrative efficiency interacting with each other.The Chinese society experienced significant historical transition during the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic of China, at which time the official documents system transformed rapidly from tradition into modernization. Through learning from and transplanting the political institution elements of the European countries and the United States, and at the meantime combining the features of Chinese democratic republic institutions, our official documents system got disintegrated and reorganized during its own developing process. The transformation from Memorials to the throne to Palace Memorials represents the principle of Efficiency First, whereas the rule of Countersigning Imperial edict annotates the political thought of checks and balances. The series of path-breaking measures adopted by the Nanjing Provisional Government, laid the cornerstone for modern official documents system. However, Yuan Shikai’s restoration of the dethroned monarch’s official documents rules declared that the modernization transformation was no easy task. After that, the Beijing Government made a great effort to systematize and rountinize the processing procedures of its official documents, which to a large extent influenced the Nanjing National Government in terms of its official documents system’s construction and evolution.The construction of the Nanjing National Government’s official documents system featured the promulgation and amendment of statutory official documents formulas, which stipulated the types of documents and the rules in signing and sealing, timing and numbering, and publishing, etc., together composing the fundamental norm of national government administration. In the preliminary stage of the Nanjing National Government, Kuomintang consecutively issued Regulation on Formulas of Official Documents, Formulas of Official Documents for the Party Headquarter of Chinese Kuomingtang and Inner Mongolia-Tibet Formulas of Official Documents, and meanwhile initially established the macro-level party and government official documents system. Through the political meaning embedded in official documents symbols, the National Government realized the nominal rule over all provinces in China including Inner Mogolia and Tibet. During the War of Resistance against Japan, in order to fit in with the efficient administrative operation, the Nanjing National Government amended the national-level Regulation on Formulas of Official Documents for the last time. Throughout the National Government period, formulas of official documents as a law received widespread attention and interpretations, which in turn pushed its modernization objectively.Transformation of formulas of official documents always has close connection with political institutions’alternation. The merging of government’s work systems on the provincial level, the bureau reduction and section establishment on the county level, the implementation of district organizational system, and the war-time adjustment of operation mechanism of the party, government and army not only caused changes in the framework of institutions and their functions and powers, but also brought about sequent changes in formulas of official documents among different levels of administrative organizations. Disputes occurred constantly due to the mess in official communication between party and government, army and government, and parallel organizations within the same system. The same problem also resulted in frequent conflicts between civil bodies, especially Chambers of Commerce, and administrative organizations. Setting up norms by establishing formulas, then outdated formulas provoking arguments and triggering adjustment, such series of process almost became the basic evolution mode of official documents formulas during the period of the Nanjing National Government.The Transformation in official language, structure and segmental punctuation, namely creating new-style official documents, was important move to establish official documents system by the Nanjing National Government for the purpose of promoting government image and administrative efficiency. In order to popularize new-style official documents, the central authorities promulgated various rules and regulations such as Provisional Reform Measures for Official Documents (1928), Measures for Unifying Educational Authorities’ Official Documents Format(1930), Review of Departments and Chambers Regarding Measures to Improve Official Documents’Processing(1933). As a result, the class distinction implied in polite formulas and address forms was undermined whilst official documents structure got normalized and simplified step by step, and punctuation was popularized. Thus, official documents, as the modern tools, started to manifest their values in equality and efficiency.Order and efficiency could hardly be balanced when processing official documents. To solve this problem, the Nanjing National Government took measures from two aspects of techniques and institutions. The technical measures included establishing priorities for official documents’processing, setting standards for no-replying documents, sorting survey forms and books, and applying Chain Method to documents and records, etc.. As to institutional aspect, hierarchy responsibility system was implemented to strengthen official documents processing efficiency.Through persistent efforts and practice, the Nanjing National Government established relatively complete formulas of official documents covering multiple systems of the party, government, army and civil bodies. Especially by the vernacular and punctuation’s popularization and by official documents structure’s simplification, the official documents became more folksy and concise in form, differing essentially from the old ones. Therefore, from the institutional angle, the Nanjing National Government had established new official documents system adapting to modern administrative operation institution. However, in practice, these efforts had not eliminated non-modern factors in the operation of official documents fundamentally. It seemed to be common that scientific institutions and conservative processing methods coexisted at that time, which substantially impeded the promotion of administrative efficiency, and failed the political mission to consolidate Kuomintang’s reign. On the one hand, this was rooted in China’s longstanding bureaucratic cultural tradition. And on the other hand, it was related directly to Kuomintang’s one-party dictatorship.