Duyou And The Local Management Of Officials In Han Dynasty

This article is focused on the Duyou—a prefectural supervisor in Han dynasty, discussing its various titles and functions, with a view to obtain a comprehensive understanding of this office through comparative research. Duyou appears in the midterm of Western Han Dynasty, which is development evolved by Duli that in the Qin and early days of Western Han Dynasty, Duyou is the abbreviation of Duyouyuan and Duyoushuyuan.The Duyou as a prefectural supervisor, which played an important role for the local management of officials, but with his self-interested ambition expansive and the local aristocratic infiltrated, Duyou produced a grate influence in the management of officials in Han Dynasty, he exited gradually from the historical context in the later stage of Eastern Han Dynasty were profound reasons. In its election, was chosen by the prefecture chief as his private assistant, being responsible only to the prefecture chief. This arrangement, in some degree, ensured the smooth operation of the local government, but confusion between the administration and supervision was liable to cause malfunction in the system. In way of specific executive functions, the management on the part of the prefecture chief and the personal quality of the Duyou were both crucial. In times when the political system was free from corruption these two factors could still played a positive role, whereas when corruption became rampant the powers of officials would definitely suffer distortion, and consequently brought a number of negative effects to the administrative body. In terms of its environment the Duyou performed his functions for a long term in the prefecture and county, whereas his superior would be transferred when his tenure of office was expired. Thus the Duyou of the prefecture or county could still retain the supervisory power in his hands, so with little reluctance he became the collaborator of the local aristocratic families especially after the Eastern Han Dynasty, and these aristocratic families, taking advantage of the circumstances, controlled and interfered the local government, on the whole they had a considerable influence over the political, economical and social life on the local level. Yet we cannot simply accuse the corrupted Duyou (the supervisory officer) of being responsible for the corruption of the local governance. In the context of a declining imperial sovereignty the Duyou and the other private clerks in the local government would definitely be corrupted, no matter when, the problem always existed, the only difference was its severity, and it was a major problem throughout the whole history of the Han Dynasty.