Is traditional bureaucracy the same as bureaucracy?
The biggest difference between modern bureaucracy and traditional bureaucracy is that modern bureaucracy is a part of the general rational environment of social life, which complements rational social values, rational enterprise organizations and rational laws. Traditional China is a highly developed empire with a traditional bureaucratic system. At least after Qin unified the whole country, centralized feudal rule was established, and the administrative system (three public and nine products county system) had obvious bureaucratic characteristics. Although it changed and developed in later dynasties, this bureaucratic organization and management system was inherited, especially in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, when China's traditional bureaucratic system joined the imperial examination system, making it more complete. In traditional China, the feudal society lasted for more than two thousand years. During this period, there were many characteristics that we regarded as modernity, which reached a high level. The most obvious one is the traditional bureaucratic system, which decides to advance and retreat completely according to performance. Until19th century, this bureaucratic management system is still a model of efficiency and ability. However, in modern times, China gradually fell behind the West and experienced great changes for thousands of years. Faced with the invasion of the West, the spread of Western learning to the East, major technological innovation, the development of industrial economy, changes in social structure and fierce international competition, the disadvantages of the traditional bureaucracy are increasingly exposed, far from being able to adapt to the new situation and being eroded constantly. Finally, the complicated and harsh reality forced the modern China government to carry out drastic reforms on the traditional bureaucratic system. Generally speaking, bureaucracy includes three categories: first, the determination of official positions, official products and official positions; Second, the division of powers and responsibilities of officials; The third is the formal appointment procedure. The first point looks simple on the surface and can be classified according to the level regulations. In fact, in the traditional bureaucratic system, officials are paid in different positions. In addition to considering the actual situation and weighing the gains and losses, the creator put his or her subjective intentions into it. For example, many new official positions are set up to monopolize power. Another example is the difference in salary system. Aside from the basis, it has almost become a general rule to attach importance to the imperial clan and nobles, thin the generals, thin the important officials and thin the small officials, and thick the Beijing officials and thin the outside. The intention is obvious. Regarding the division of powers and responsibilities of officials, the Qin Dynasty set up three public offices. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty felt that the three powers were too great, which reduced his confidence in the ministers who lived together day and night. Extending to the world of Emperor Guangwu, he nominally worshipped the Prime Minister and entrusted the state affairs to the ministers. The so-called "things belong to the cabinet, and the three fairs talk about the road." During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Zhongshu, Menxia and Shangshu were in charge of each other. The Ming dynasty abolished the prime minister, divided into six departments, and the Qing dynasty set up the military department as the emperor's confidential team. Moreover, in the Qing dynasty, many times the official department not only appointed a competent minister, but also implemented the restoration system of Manchu and Han, which led to unclear official positions. In the cabinet, there are 4-6 cabinet university students and 4-8 military ministers, while each of the six ministries has 2 ministers and 4 assistants. These officials are all hall officials and have the power to write to the emperor. There is no strict relationship between them. Such a bullish situation will inevitably increase the difficulty of the work. When there is more than one competent official in each government office, no one is willing to take responsibility, and everyone tries to shift the responsibility to others. In the history of China, the government has always appointed more than two competent ministers in many official positions, which is undoubtedly to prevent ministers from monopolizing power and threatening imperial power. For the same purpose, the provincial governors, governors, political envoys and provincial judges in the Qing Dynasty also restrained each other in this way, so that they could restrain each other without concentrating local power in the hands of one official. As can be seen from the above, in the division of management responsibilities, the state administrative power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the emperor and his cronies. The division of powers and responsibilities of officials, carefully examined, is nothing more than the result of the struggle for power between autocratic monarchs and those who seek power. This is an important factor that restricts the efficiency of traditional bureaucracy. Thirdly, regarding the appointment of officials, the selection of officials occupies an extremely important position in the traditional bureaucratic system, which directly affects the rights and responsibilities of officials. The imperial examination system is the most important system for selecting officials from Sui and Tang Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties. After 1000 years of development, it has been continuously improved. This system of selecting officials by examination is helpful to select elite talents and conduct effective political management in the early stage, which is characterized by capable people and political harmony. Moreover, even civilians can gain fame, change their status and promote the bureaucratic class through the imperial examination, which creates conditions for the interaction between the state and social resources, provides the possibility of political and social mobility, and enables bureaucracy to be obtained. However, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the development of autocratic imperial power, the imperial examination system had many drawbacks. The content of the examination is mainly about the four books and five classics of Confucian ethics, using eight-part essay. Candidates only need to recite Confucian classics and official notes, but they are not free: they only examine the learning of reciting and writing skills. As a result, the elected officials are dull and rigid in most cases and have no creative thinking ability. To the disadvantage of bureaucracy, officials who passed the imperial examination lacked professional knowledge training, administrative ability and skills. Officials receive Confucian ethics education and Confucian education. Goals and social evaluation criteria are not professionals, but educated people. Educated people are branded with the ruling structure and educational ideals belonging to the ruling class. The qualification of the ruling class is more based on cultural character than professional knowledge. In addition to the imperial examination system as the main way of selecting officials, another important system of selecting officials in Qing Dynasty is the donation system. Donation refers to the sale of evening titles, which is usually set by the government, set the price, sold publicly and become a system. This is the donation system and degree. In the Qing dynasty, extensive donation cases began in three generations: Kang, Yong and Gan. Examining the whole process of the donation system and the donation on behalf of others in Qing Dynasty, we will find that its promotion to the politics, economy and new westernization policy in late Qing Dynasty is far less than its serious harm to China society. The system of donating officials has caused a surge of redundant staff and rampant corruption, which has greatly ruined the management of officials and betrayed the purely bureaucratic organization. In addition, senior civilian officials are not familiar with the daily work of the government, which is actually handled by personnel and small officials. The format of official documents has complicated regulations, and each government office has its own set of separate account books. For senior officials, it is impossible to master these rules and regulations, because they have not been in a position for more than three to five years. Therefore, they can only rely on small officials who work here year after year. These petty officials are in a low position and most of them can't get a fixed salary. When people have relations with these small officials in the process of litigation and tax payment, the latter will charge them fees to make a living. Because petty officials extort too much, this kind of fee becomes a bribe, and the people suffer from petty officials' extortion. As can be seen from the above, the disadvantages of petty officials system are also an important factor restricting the normal operation of traditional bureaucratic system. These are the conditions and disadvantages of the traditional bureaucratic system. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, as China became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, these disadvantages were further deepened, which seriously restricted the development of China's modernization, and also restricted its own effective operation and transformation into a modern bureaucratic system. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, with the unprecedented aggravation of the national crisis and social crisis, even the ruling group of the Qing Dynasty realized that the traditional bureaucratic system must be changed.