The Study Of The Sale System Of Rank And Office In The Late Ch'ing Period

Since the nineteenth-century,the finance condition of the Ch'inggovernment was gradually declining. It was more important for theJuan-na system to the finance of the Ch'ing government.There weremany incidents in the late Ch'ing period, the temporary outlay of themilitary expenditure, the River-project and the disaster-relievingdepended on the income of the juan-na.The Opium War broke out in the mid Tao-kuang Dynasty,military expenditure of the Ch'ing government was heavy and thefinance was embarrassing.And then,the Yellow River overflowed threetimes from 1841 to 1843, the situation of the disaster was very seriousand the finance of the Ch'ing government was not able to support thespending. So the Ch'ing government held the Yu-gong Juan-natwice.Afterward there were the drought of shan'xi and shanxi,and theflood of the six provinces of southeast China.The temporaryexpenditure of them depended on the income of the Juan-na.At the endof the Tao-kuang Dynasty,for relieving the disaster the Ch'inggovernment held the Chou-zhen Juan-na.From 1840 to 1850, thetotally income of the Juan-na about being a quarter of the nationaltreasury income, so it was important for the Juan-na system to assistthe finance.In order to raise the military expenditure for the suppression ofthe Taiping Rebellion,the Ch'ing government held the Chou-xiangJuan-na at the first year of the Hsien-feng Dynasty.Afterward,thesecond year of the Hsien-feng,the Ch'ing government put forward theextending Chou-xiang Juan-na rule. The third year,it drew up the sixpopularized rule of the Chou-xiang Juan-na. The fourth year theCh'ing government set up the Juan-Copper -bureau and the ninth yearit drew up the eight popularized rule again.For the army supply,theChou-xiang Juan-na held incessantly and unlimited,but the income ofit reduced again and again.As a result,the Juan-na system was downfalland the selection and appointion of the officials from the Juan-na wasdifficulty. The Taiping Rebellion is failure in 1864, but there werelarge difficulty in the finance of the Ch'ing Dynasty.The rehabilitationof the southeast region,the suppression of the Nien Rebellion and theNorthwestern Mosslom Rebellion still needed to raising money by theJuan-na system.The fifth year of the T'ung-chih Dynasty,the Ch'inggovernment drew up the Zeng-xiu Chou-xiang Juan-na rule.The Juan-na system manifested many characteristics in theHsien-feng and T'ung-chih period.The first,there were very long timeof the Juan-na.The Chou-xiang Juan-na was held at the fisrt year ofHsien-feng dynasty and lasted successively three dynasties from theHsien-feng to the Kuang-hsv, till the fifth year of the Kuang-hsv juststop. There were 28 years long totally.The second, in order to raise themilitary expenditure, the Chou-xiang Juan-na was modifiedfrequently,as a result the item and pattern of the system was disorderlyand numerous.The third,there were very many remediable opinionsconcerning the Juan-na system.The fourth,the income of the Juan-nareduced continuously and it was less important to make up thedeficiency of the finance than before.The fifth,in order to raise themilitary expenditure,the price of the rank and office was reduced againand again.The beginning of the Kuang-hsv Dynasty,the finance conditionhad renewed gradually and the Juan-na system were more harmful tothe society of the late Ch'ing,so the Ch'ing government abolished theJuan-na system at the fifth year of the Kuang-hsv.At the tenth year ofthe Kuang-hsv,there was a conflict between Ch'ina and France,and thecoast defence of China became critical.So Li Hong-chang ask forholding the Beiyang-Weapon Juan-na.At the same time there was acrisis of the military expenditure in the Taiwan of China,therefore theCh'ing government held the Taifang-Outlay Juan-na,that allowed thesale of the office.Afterward,it was urgent to prepare to the outlay ofthe coast defence,so the Ch'ing government had to hold the CoastDefence Juan-na.At the 13th year of the Kuang-hsv, the Yellow Riveroverflowed in Zheng-zhou,in order to raise the outlay of theRiver-project and the disaster-relieving,hence the Ch'ing governmentstopped the Coast Defence Juan-na and held the Zheng-gongJuan-na.Soon,at the 15th year of the Kuang-hsv the Ch'inggovernment held the New Coast Defence Juan-na again.TheSino-Japanese War broke out in 1894,Liu K'un-i asked for helding theChiang-Nan Defence Juan-na to raise the outlay to prepare todefence.In the Reformation of 1898,many reformers asked forabolishing the Juan-na system and reforming the bureaucracy,but itwas not successful eventually.The Ch'ing government declared warwith those western powers in 1900,the governors of southeastprovinces took〝mutual protection in the southeast China〞.Since theJiang-ning Outlay Juan-na was helded, afterward the other provincesimitated to hold the Juan-na of the sale office in succession.At thesame year the disaster of shan'xi and shanxi was very serious,theCh'ing government held the Qin-Jin Office Juan-na to relieve thedisaster.There was serious disaster again in 1901 for the war of1900.In order to rehabilitate the economy the Ch'ing government heldShun-zhi Office Juan-na.In July of the same year,the Ch'inggovernment abolished the Juan-na system again because of the harm ofthe Juan-na system to the society of the late Ch'ing.But thegovernment needed a lot of fund for the Reformation and thedisaster,the finance was exceptionally difficulty.The office Juan-nawas helded again in the 30th year of the Kuang-hsv,to the 32th year ofthe Kuang-hsv the Ch'ing government abolished the office Juan-nasystem finally.The first year of the Xuan-tung,the Juan-na became thenecessary income of the nation.China occurred the most violent variation in the period ofKuang-hsv and Xuan-tung of the modern China,and in this period theJuan-na system manifest as follows characteristics:The first,the officeJuan-na was held unusually continuous.The second,the relievingdisaster Juan-na was held high frequency and widely.The third,theoffice Juan-na stopped and openned again and again.The fourth,thebusinessman became the primary consumer of the Juan-na in the lateCh'ing Dynasty.The fifth,it appeared a little of suggestion to replacethe Juan-na system by the modern financial means,such as nationaldebt and the bank system.It was well known that the Juan-na system was very harmful.Butwhy the Juan-na system was held broadly and frequently?There werethese reasons as follows:First, the Juan-na system was directly related the finance systemof the Ch'ing Dynasty.There were several items of the Ch'ing financeannual income:for instance those were the land tax,the gabelle and thetariff.The land tax was the mostly important natianal income amongthem,but the Ch'ing law prescribe that the land tax did not add for theincrease of the population.So the land tax gradually turned fixed,andthe finance income of the Ch'ing government became fixed too.But ifthe Ch'ing government had the big payout temporarily ,it only had twoways which these were remaining the annual accumulation andhelding the Juan-na.So the Juan-na system was the most impartantmethod to make up the financial shortage of the Ch'ing Dynasty.The second,the finance of the Ch'ing government was worsen...