Study On The Official Selection System Of Beijing Government Of The Republic Of China

Official selection system as an important aspect of personnel administration is of great significance of maintaining the stable operation of a regime.Beijing Government of the Republic of China’ official selecting system was gradually established in the base of the revolution of official-selecting system in Qing Dynasty and learned certain elements from Western Civil Service System. The official-selecting system of Beijing Government of the Republic of China was the middle stage of transition from traditional civil service system to modern civil service system in China, not only bearing the reform thoughts of official-selecting system of the end of the Qing Dynasty, but also bridging to the official-selecting system of the Nanjing National Government, reflected the particularity of institutional change under the great change of modern society and refracted out the impact on institutional transformation because of the transfer of the Eastward Dissemination of Western Learning concept and the interactive relationship of related system and warlords and gentry political power.The urgent change of political situation of modern China was an important impetus for the changing of official-selecting system. Facing the chaos of social structure, government of late Qing performed a constant adjustment on the existing official-selecting system. Strict limits on the way of election to restrict recommendation, to stop contributing for a title, awarding a title and giving a title to student studying abroad after testing. Government tried very hard to limit the employment power of local governors and abolished the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel. Yet it was unsuccessful. The complexity of official-selecting system of the end of Qing Dynasty along with the popularity of hidden rules in the system, resulting in abnormal expansion of the candidates, d diversified selection criteria, disorganized official circles and fighting for power and benefit. Although innovations of late Qing’s official-selecting system had come to an end with the total collapse of Qing Dynasty, it had influenced the structure of establishing official-selecting system of Beijing Government of the Republic of China to a certain extent.In the early years of the Republic of China, the internal and external problems that Beijing Government had faced was as much as it was at the end of the Qing Dynasty. The construction and implementation of official-selecting system was largely the active or passive response and feedback according to the situations. The international environment was full of spying from foreign enemies and constant warning from borders, the revealing of Japanese imperialism’s attempting of invasion.Judging from the domestic political environment, the unpredictable political situation,the sharp change of the Cabinet, Yuan Shikai had proclaimed himself the emperor,and Zhang Xun’s restoration, coming up with the Second Revolution, the National Protection War and the Movement to Defend the Constitution. The powerful local authorities were good at social skills, fighting with one another for power and benefit and even influence the Central Government. Complex situations at home and aboard was the background of formulation and implementation of the official-selecting system for Beijing Government of the Republic of China and to a large extent,restricting the final result of official-selecting system.Official selection system, political environment, as well as bureaucracy reformation interact with one another. Nanjing Provisional Government of the Republic of China had a large number of draft laws on official selection which was merely transplanted from Western model without taking the national conditions into consideration, let alone had adequate time to adoption and implementation. Because of the converging of North-South officers and Old-New problems, made the process of establishing the Central Government seemed rather chaotic. Nanjing Provisional Government tried to restrict the power of local authority and remodel the central authority by developing provinces and provincial civil service system, but the effect was not obvious.After the formal establishment of Beijing Government of the Republic of China,in order to clarify the system and ensure the smooth development of government’s personnel administration, trying to establish a complete official elected system.Beijing Government promulgated a series of laws, presented 4 session of the prefectural exams, 2 session(4 times) of civil officer exams, and in the meantime gave much emphasis on selecting civil officers by examination andrecommendation and established clear regulations on military officer selection.In the process of construction and implementation official-selecting system, to the large extend Beijing Government of Republic of China inherited the new thought from the end of Qing Dynasty, but the conflict between old and new was highlighted.The power game between central and local government was a main sticking point in process of constructing official-selecting system of Beijing Government of the Republic of China. Although during this period Beijing Government had developed a relatively complete official acts and regulations, there was a big gap between laws and practices, mainly because gradually weakened power the Central Government, rising power of warlords and fragmented regulatory system. In addition,the bill could not go well with the current situation and was great influenced by the traditional feudalism. The result of the trying was not satisfying, but it had provided an important foundation and a rich practical experience to the Nanjing National Government which made it an important part of political reform that could not be ignored.