A Study On The Magistrates Of Shanghai International Settlement In Late Qing Dynasty

The topic of this dissertation is the magistrate of Shanghai international Settlement in late Qing dynasty. After a brief introduction of the basic information of those ever served magistrates, it focuses on the magistrates’ qualification and background, their term of office, their demission and some other characteristics in common, including their routine work such as the judicial trial. Besides, this dissertation will review the magistrates in the context of the complicated political situation in Shanghai during late Qing dynasty, anticipating reveal the awkward in-between status of those humble magistrates in the conflicts between Chinese and foreigners.The first chapter explains the appearance of the magistrates in Shanghai international settlement. It describes the basic states of the 18 magistrates in the Mixed Court, and tries to illustrate the individual cases, as well as to explore their common characteristics, when talking about their qualifications, tenures and dimission.The second part gives a brief looking at the magistrates’ routine work. Their work centers on the trials and releasing proclamations. As the officer who is in charge of the seal in the Mixed Court, the magistrates have numerous duty-bound cases to handle with, including trivial daily cases and regular joint hearing cases. Besides the judicial work, they undertake important administrative responsibilities as well. Their most frequent administrative work is to release proclamations in order to reinforce the control and maintain the order in international settlement. Nevertheless, because of the peculiar situation of the international settlement, they always confront conflicts with other authorities in their working process.After the general description of their basic state and the content of their work, the third chapter contributes to the individual cases. With taking the first magistrate--Chen Fuxun, and the most famous one—Guan Jiongzhi as representatives, a detailed description about their careers will be given. Studying the magistrates in different periods helps a lot to reveal the change of their situations in different time.The fourth chapter gives light to the status of magistrates in the complex network composed of officers and gentry merchants. It looks into the power relation between magistrates and the Chinese authorities, and between magistrates and the authorities in international settlement. Furthermore, with the rise of gentry merchant class in Shanghai, the power of magistrates suffers additionally the division and limitation of the chamber of commerce.On the basis of the four chapters above, the conclusion gives both discussion and evaluation of magistrates’ situation and status, which aimed at illustrating the unavoidable dilemma of the magistrates, when the humble magistrates fall into the complex political network of Shanghai in late Qing dynasty.