The Conceptualization And Practice Of Civil List In Late Qing

The conceptualization and practice of Civil List in late Qing is closely linked with the spread of western modern constitutionalism thoughts and financial theory.During the last years of Tongzhi emperors,it poses a conflict between the Board of Revenue(Hubu)and the Imperial Household Department(Neiwufu)because of the pay for the Emperor’s wedding.In the middle of 19th century,it provides the necessary base and preparation for ’being discovered’ the Civil List with the blending between the western modern regime and finance knowledges and the political ideals of Confucianism.Around the 20th century,the Qing Dynasty began the Reform Movement of 1898 and the New Deal in 1901 under internal and external pressure,but the effect has not been able to satisfy people’s expectations.During the war between Japan and Russia in 1904,a discussion about the political system broke out both inside and outside the Qing court which contributed to the political inspection in Europe,America and Japan conducted by five important officials and the imperial edict of preparation for constitutionalism.In order to protect the monarchical power and the royal’s status,the Qing court cent investigation group to explore the royal act twice during the discussion about constitutionalism.In the meanwhile,the Department of Treasury(Duzhibu)began the attempt to clean up public finances and national budget,which includes the statistics and survey on various of items about the royalty income and expenditure.In 1908,the Qing court announces the inclusion of the Civil List in the preparatory process for the constitutionalism and begins series of practices to check and cut.However,the issue of Civil List involves various interests and different attitude,the result was unsatisfying,placing the court itself in a dilemma.