| After Ming Ch’eng-tsu moved the capital to Beijing,he attached great importance to ensure the supply of food and funds to Beijing’s canals,and the related river administration was established on the basis of centralized control.The maintenance and management of the Yellow River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal could not be achieved without the works of local administrative agencies,such as recruiting workers,purchasing materials,raising funds,and daily management.Therefore,the rivers used for transport were managed by the Ministry of Public Works with sub-divisions or local administrative agencies managing the rivers in sections;if there was a major project of river management,then the court would temporarily dispatch officials such as premier ministers,vice ministers,and Director-General of the Grain Transports to preside over the work.The Ming court in the practice of river affairs gradually recognized that "to manage the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal must first manage the Yellow River",and try to set the river governor temporarily in charge of the affairs of the Yellow River,Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal,but they could not decide the entire river administration managed by the central unified management or local management.For example,the river governor in later abolished,or merged with the Director-General of the Grain Transport.Governors-general and provincial governors along the river provinces governor part-time managed the river,but the Department of Public Works still manage their own river.Sometimes,the Director-general of River conservation abolished and reset.The basic system of the country in the early Qing dynasty generally followed the Ming system,but in the river administration,because the official structure of Ming dynasty was not stable and perfect,it should only improved on the basis of the Ming Dynasty river administration system.So gradually formed the river affairs managed by the permanent river governor,the local governors-general and provincial governors along the river shared the duties of the relevant river affairs,the Qing court checked,balanced and coordinated the Director-general of River conservation and local governors-general and provincial governors,control the overall situation of the river administration system.The main reason of formation of this administrative structure of river affairs,has a close relationship with the role of local administrative agencies in river affairs,the power of local governors-general and provincial governors also strengthening on the basis of this administration system.The relationship between Director-general of River conservation and local governors-general governors in the Shunzhi,Kangxi,Yongzheng three periods turned three stages.The first stage was the local governors-general governors to help Director-general of River conservation,that was,the local governor mainly assisted the general river in raising funds,material allocation,etc.The second stage was that local governors-general and provincial governors part-time managed the river administration,which means the local governors-general and provincial governors can replace the Director-general of River conservation to treat the ordinary and simple river service.The third stage was that the local governors-general and provincial governors discuss with the Director-general of River conservation,the power of the Director-general of River conservation and the local governors-general governors about river affairs became similar,and all management matters should be implemented by consensus between the two.In early years of Shunzhi period,the Qing court sent Director-general of Rivers yet.However,because the political situation in the Yellow River and Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal basin was still unstable,Director-general of River conservation took on matters such as escorting military transport,it was difficult for him to focus on river affairs,or unified coordination of the Ministry of Public Works’ river division and the local officials along the river.Therefore,the local governors-general and provincial governors were needed to take up the function of river affairs management.Especially in Henan area,since 1579,the local governors-general and provincial governors began to manage river affairs part-time,so there was a better foundation for governance,then the system of the local governors-general and provincial governors ’ part-time management was first established in Henan.During the Kangxi period,the Qing government carried out a large reform of river politics.At first,the river-affairs division of ministry of Works was abolished,Because the Qing dynasty followed the Ming Dynasty tube river management division system,its division officials often had conflicts with the local agencies.So from 1665 onwards,the river division was gradually abolished,the river affairs to the management of local officials.Second,the Kangxi promoted the system of the local governors-general and provincial governors’ part-time management of the river.In1678,the Qing government shifted the key focus area of river management to Qingkou,then the Director-general of River conservation difficult to take care of Henan river affairs alone in Henan,the river affairs of this area part-time managed by the local governors-general and provincial governors.Until 1705,Shandong,Zhili,Henan ’s river service has been all used the local governors part-time management system.Thereafter,the local governors-general and provincial governors independently handled the river affairs of the management area,and large projects involving river affairs or the regional management of rivers in cross-provincial local water conservancy bureaus needed to be reported jointly by the governors to the emperor,and in consensus with the river governor.These two reforms further increased the responsibility and power of the local governors-general and provincial governors in river affairs,and for a time there was a situation where floods subsided.However,this also led to such shortcomings as the relaxation of river management by river control officials,and by the end of the Kangxi period,the river management system became corrupt and floods became serious again.In order to manage the increasingly serious floods,reverse the corrupt culture of the local river management system,and improve the management system of the Yellow River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal,the Yongzheng Emperor took four measures.In 1724,the Yongzheng emperor set up a vice-Director-general of River conservation in Henan,and in 1729,he set up a south Director-general of River conservation to manage the Jiangnan area and an east Director-general of River conservation to manage the Shandong and Henan areas.Secondly,the local officials along the river and river governors can be transferred to each other,and managed by the Director-general of River conservation and the local governors-general and provincial governors at the same time.Third,the Yongzheng emperor asked the Yellow River,Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal affairs of various matters to be managed by the Director-general of River conservation and the local governors-general and provincial governors discussing together,and proceeded to build the management of the Director-general of River conservation and the local governors-general and provincial governors together model.Finally,the Yongzheng emperor also let officials have the power to manage the river affairs,and use this system to pushed officials work together to manage the main stem and tributaries of the Yellow River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.Through these measures above,Jiangnan,Shandong,and Henan realized a new situation in which the Director-general of River conservation and the local governors-general and provincial governors together governed river affairs.The river administration system in the early Qing Dynasty was basically established during the Emperor Ch’ien-lung period period.The advantages of the model of the Director-general of River conservation and the local governors-general and provincial governors together governed river affairs was effectively solve the floods and river supervision and management problems caused by the imperfect he local governors-general and provincial governors part-time management model at the time;disadvantage is that the the model of the Director-general of River conservation and the local governors-general and provincial governors together governed river affairs made the power of local river officials and the Director-general of River conservation overlap,which further aggravated the problems of different officials and administrators,favoritism,corruption,etc,and affect the late Qing dynasty canal administration.With the Yellow River breaking its banks and changing its course in 1855 at Tongvaxiang,most of the grain that would have been transported by canal in the south was switched to sea transport,and the main political goal of river administration-to ensure stable grain transportation to Beijing-no longer existed.The political system of river administration dominated by the central government was gradually disintegrate. |
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