The Work And Family Life Of A Local Official In Middle-low Class In The Late Qing Dynasty

Ye Er'an(1834-1877), borned in Hangzhou of Zhejiang province, served in sequence as a magistrate of Mengxian, Shangshui, Huaxian and so on in Henan province with the title of Fu Gong-sheng, a supplementary government school student who purchased the title of tribute student. Ye Er'an went to Henan and worked for the governor as a private secretary for about two years, when it is the period that he was in mourning for his mother's death who passed away in 1873. And then, he was appointed as an acting magistrate of independent department of Xuzhou unexpectedly in 1875. Eight months later, Ye Er'an retired and returned home, terminating his career as an advisor of local officials and the life of being an official thoroughly. Ye Er'an's Admonition was a collection of family letters, which were written by him from 1873 to 1876 when he worked in Henan. This paper, a rearsech on this family letters, will try to make clear the life and psychological state of Ye Er'an, a mid- low class local official in the Qing Dynasty, by the study of his family relationships and family economy, it reflect a corner of social life history in late Qing Dynasty from another aspect. Except the introduction and conclusion, this article consists of 4 parts:In part 1, I make clear Ye Er'an's life experience and family letters, which include his family and education background, his experience from being an assistant to an official, the writing background of his family letters, its main content and historical value.In part 2, I focus on Ye Er'an's private secretary experience and official life. Firstly, according to county annual, I try to restore some facts, from which I reveal Ye's positive influence to Shangshui county during his tenure. Secondly, by revealing some his life details and work contents based on his family letters, I try to unveil his embarrassment and reluctancy when he was appointed as an acting prefect and characterize Ye's image and sentiment authenticly and vividly. Ye Er'an was eager for getting some customary fees and refunding his debt in his tenure, but his desire didn't come true because of his shorter tenure and extra spending for reception.Part 3 indicates the economic life of Ye's extended family. Ye Er'an and his brothers'family lived under one roof. Ye Er'an was very concerned about his wife, sons, daughters, nephews and brother, when he worked in Henan province. The revenue source of the whole family's mainly stemed from Ye Er'an's income. Money from land, house rents and saving interests was scanty and unstable. Although it seemed that the whole family led a better-off life, in fact, it was not that case. Because they had no enough saving and spent too much on ordinary expenditures, such as buying and decorating houses and courtyard, expenses for weddings and education. The extended family's financial embarrassment was closely related to some of their irrational practices which was out of their vanity.Part 4 manifests how Ye educated his sons and nephews. Being an offical by taking the imperial examination had been regarded as the best way to maintain a family's prosperity, so Ye Er'an attached great importance to the education of his sons and nephews, and hoped them could pass imperial examinations as early as possible. Take his eldest son Ye Ji as an example, Ye Er'an employed outstanding scholars as Ye Ji's private tutor and invited some other master-hand helping Ye Ji revise eight-part essays, besides that Ye Er'an taught Ye Ji by himself how to complete excellent articles. Under the influence of Ye family's tradition, the next generation achieved remarkable success with great efforts. At the end of 19th century, the young family members of Ye accepted modern education positively in the tide of social reform, learning western science and technology, and eventually fulfill their transition.In summary, the family letters of Ye Er'an are a very precious history materials for us to research his life and psychological state. Ye Er'an deserved to be called a good official and a responsible genearch. The education on imperial examination for his sons and nephews is a microcosm of the education of general gentary and scholary families for their sons. The successful transition of Ye family young generation had some relations with their famliy's tradition, was also a positive result affected by modern Chinese society reform.