The Late Qing Dynasty Shogunate Study

Late Qing Mu fu appeared when Qing Dynasty was declining. From the period of Emperor Jia qing and Dao guang to the end of the dynasty, it not only produced a great impact to the changing of modern Chinese society, but also was an important turning point in the development of Mu fu System of China. Although it was so important, it wasn't studied hardly for a long -term. In this paper, I use modernization theory and another knowledge such as history, politics, talent science, secretary science and military science etc., and adopt the means of microcosmic and macroscopic with the clue of the developing and changing of Late Qing Mu fu. The paper tries to make an analyses to the individual case of Late Qing Mu fu in difference times, then induces the evolution of Late Qing Mu fu and shows its influence to the contemporary political situation and Chinese early, modernization in late Qing Dynasty. The paper includes introduction, four chapters and conclusion.The position of Late Qing Mu fu in the history of China Mu fu System and general research situation of it are expounded in the part of "introduction". I divided the history of China Mu fu System into 3 period which is before Song and Yuan Dynasty, Ming and Qing Dynasty, and the Republic of China and 4 kinds of patterns which were Traditional Mu fu, Ming Qing Mu fu, Late Qing Mu fu and Min Guo Mu fu. Late Qing Mu fu inherited Traditional Mu fu and enlightened Min Guo Mu fu, which acted as a very important role in the history of China Mu fu System. Especially, because it emerged when Qing Dynasty fell into both domestic trouble and foreign invasion, from the beginning, it boar the responsibility of rooting out political evils, overcoming difficulties, reforming to make the country strong. So, to research it can help us recognize the Late Qing's political situation and the changing of modern Chinese society. This problem had been studied earlier and gained some achievements. Making an analyses to the mu fu of Tao Shu, Zeng Guo-fan, Li Hong-zhang, Yuan Shi-kai. I want to know the course of Late Qing Mu fu's developing, and which influenced the process of metabolism about China modern society.The first chapter is about Yao Shu mu fu. When Yao Shu was a Governor in Jiang nan, Qing Dynasty was declining, there were many political evils such as Yan fa, He gong, Cao Tun which centered in Jiang nan. Tao Shu was a person with lofty ideals when he was young. Having been the Governor of Jiang nan 17 years, Tao Shu recruited some talents in his mu fu, most of them was good at economic affairs. With their help, Tao Shu reformed 3 political affairs about Yan fa, He gong, Cao Tun successfully. Though Tao Shu mu fu just like Ming Qing Mu fu, for example, his mu fu was small, and the talents in his mu fu were still called mu you, whose salary were paid by Tao Shu. His mu fu was eager to reform, promoted what was beneficial and abolished what was harmful, which was quite different with mu fu in Ming and Qing Dynasty whose job had been only to deal with some executive affairs. So Tao Shu mu fu represented the birth of Late Qing Mufu. Tao Shu mu fu was the beginning of Late Qing mu fu. Something about Zeng Guo-fan mu fu is included in the second chapter. Late Qing Mu fu was forming during Taiping Rebellion. At that time Qing government was too poor to put down Taiping Rebellion, and it had had to rely on Governors all over the country. So the Governors set up mu fu and recruited talents to conduct military affairs. Then the mu fu was built everywhere. As the most typical one, Zeng Guo-fan's mu fu lasted from 1853 to 1872 about 20years. Because Zeng Guo-fan was good at employing talents, there were many talents in his mu fu, and his mu fu was called a den of talents. His mu fu established many organizations just like a small government because he had to enlist soldiers, raise money and transact logistics himself to suppress the rebellion. Zeng Guo-fan's mu fu was very large which had 500 mu liao all the time. The function of it included handling affairs, planning strategy and training talents. Zeng Guo-fan's mu fu influenced the contemporary political situation very deeply: the first, put down the rebellion, and remain the domination of Qing Dynasty; the second, for Zeng's recommending, many his mu liao became the governors, which led to the Han's power rising abruptly and arrogated all local powers to the Governors; the third advance the start of modernization of China; the fourth bring up many kinds of talents to serve for Qing Dynasty. Having researched Zeng Guo-fan mu fu, I could conclude that Late Qing Mu fu was different from Ming Qing Mu fu, and had formed its own characteristics initially.The third chapter is about Li Hong-zhang mu fu. Li was trained in Zeng Guo-fan mu fu, who was familiar with the system of Late Qing Mu fu. According to Li's practice of building his mu fu, we could determine that Late Qing Mu fu was mature than before. As a typical mu fu during the developing period of Late Qing Mu fu, Li Hong-zhang's mu fu last 40 years. If we bounded his being the Governor of Zhi li in 1870, his mu fu could be divided two periods. Before that time, Li's mu fu helped him put down Taiping Rebellion and Nian jun Rebellion, we called it Rong mu; after that time, Li's mu fu helped him deal with Yang wu and foreign affairs. In the period of Rong mu, Li's mu fu just like Zeng's, which dealt with military affairs. There were many organizations in Li's mu fu, which function was handling affairs and planning strategy. In the period of Yang mu, Li Hong-zhang employed many native and foreign talents to enlarge his mu fu and satisfy his need to do all kinds of Yang wu. With the help of his mu fu, Li Hong-zhang was becoming head of Qing government in fact. who was in charge of both Yang wu and foreign affairs. Li Hong-zhang's mu fu just also like a small government, its function was more than Zeng Guo-fan's, and handled many affairs never existed before. But compare Li Hong-zhang with Zeng Guo-fan in scholarship, morality, character and style of work the former couldn't match with the later, so Li's mu fu was inferior Zeng's not only mu liao's quality, but also its scale and influence. Even though, it still had its own characteristic, such as change consciousness and reform spirit, besides its achievement was outstanding.The last chapter is focus on Yuan Shi-kai mu fu. Yuan's rising abruptly was contact with Late Qing Mu fu. When he was amu liao, he was outstanding and quickly built up his own mu fu. He recruited mu liao, cultivated his own person continuously from 1885 in Korea, and when he was a Governor in Zhi li, his mu fu was very large and famous. In the end of 19 th century and the beginning of 2oth century, the county was in disorder, and Qing Dynasty was declining quickly. At this time, Yuan relied on his mu fu to set up new-style army, conduct Yang wu, establish west-style education system and advocate constitutional government etc. Basing on his mu fu's help, he played a decisive role in Late Qing's politic situation. During Xinhai Revolution, his mu fu supported him deceiving both Qing's royal family and revolutionary party, and became the President of the Republic of China. At the same time, his mu fu was factly the center of the new country with a title of democracy and republic. With his mu fu's help, Yuan Shi-kai plotted to stage a comeback of Monarchy, but failed because of its going against the historical trend. Although Yuan Shi-kai's mu fu had contributed to Yuan's gang wu cause, it became Yuan's tool to realize his political ambition, which had departed from Late Qing Mu fu's initial purpose to root out misgovernment from Tao Shu mu fu. Since Yuan Shi-kai's mu fu had changed completely, I think Yuan Shi-kai is the ender of Late Qing Mu fu.In all, through the analysis of 4 individual Late Qing Mu fu cases, I can make some conclusions about the development of Late Qing Mu fu, and its influence in modernization history of China. I think Late Qing Mu fu changed along with the development of modem China society, it processed 4 courses: beginning, forming, expanding and transforming. For one side, Late Qing Mu fu had accelerated the development of early modernization of China, and it provided so many kinds of talents that were called a den of talents. For another side, Late Qing Mu fu led to the local power's expanding and the central power's wakening, in the end, it made the extinction of Qing Dynasty. Late Qing Mu fu had both positive and negative influences in modem Chinese history, we should give it a objective evaluation.