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County Magistrate
County magistrate ( or ) sometimes called local magistrate, in imperial China was the official in charge of the ''xian'', or county, the lowest level of central government. The magistrate was the official who had face-to-face relations with the people and administered all aspects of government on behalf of the emperor. Because he was expected to rule in a disciplined but caring way and because the people were expected to obey, the county magistrate was informally known as the Fumu Guan (), the "Father and Mother" or "parental" official. The emperor appointed magistrates from among those who passed the imperial examinations or had purchased equivalent degrees. Education in the Confucian Classics indoctrinated these officials with a shared ideology that helped to unify the empire, but not with practical training. A magistrate acquired specialized skills only after assuming office. Once in office, the magistrate was caught between the demands of his superiors and the needs and resi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapters, 11th century BC), the '' Bamboo Annals'' (c. 296 BC) and the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' (c. 91 BC) describe a Xia dynasty before the Shang, but no writing is known from the period, and Shang writings do not indicate the existence of the Xia. The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. However, Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. These Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is among the world's oldest civilizations and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization. The Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) supp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rule Of Avoidance
The rule of avoidance was a rule employed in the Sui Dynasty in China which prohibited local officials from serving in their places of origin, so that family and friends would not influence them. A system similar to this was adopted by Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire to prevent corruption and favoritism. It is also an entirely different principle in United States constitutional law, and a cultural norm in some cultures that promotes exogamy. Sui Dynasty The rule of avoidance employed during the Sui Dynasty, and continued by subsequent Confucian governments, prohibited local officials from serving in their places of origin, so that family and friends would not influence them. Terms of service were for only three or four years, and parents and sons over fifteen could not accompany officials. Each prefecture sent delegates to an annual court assembly. This practice would continue through to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Mughal Empire In the time of Emperor Akbar of the Mughal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yamen
A ''yamen'' (''ya-men''; ; Manchu: ''yamun'') was the administrative office or residence of a local bureaucrat or mandarin in imperial China. A ''yamen'' can also be any governmental office or body headed by a mandarin, at any level of government: the offices of one of the Six Ministries is a ''yamen'', but so is a prefectural magistracy. The term has been widely used in China for centuries, but appeared in English during the Qing dynasty. Overview Within a local ''yamen'', the bureaucrat administered the government business of the town or region. Typical responsibilities of the bureaucrat includes local finance, capital works, judging of civil and criminal cases, and issuing decrees and policies. Typically, the bureaucrat and his immediate family would live in a residence attached to the ''yamen''. This was especially so during the Qing dynasty, when imperial law forbade a person from taking government office in his native province. ''Yamen''s varied greatly in size dep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Likin (taxation)
The likin or lijin was a form of internal tariff in the Chinese Empire and Republic, which was first introduced as a means of financing the largely locally recruited armies to suppress the Taiping Rebellion. History The lijin tax was first introduced in 1853 by censor Lei Yixian in the area around Yangzhou as a way of raising funds in the campaigns against local rebels. As the central government was short of revenue, the imperial court sanctioned the tax and it quickly became an important source of funds for the campaign against the Taiping and Nian rebellions. The tax was levied on an ad valorem basis on goods in transit between provinces and on shops, with rates ranging from 2 to 10 per cent.Philip A. Kuhn. The creation of the treaty system in TWITCHETT / FAIRBANK The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10 , Cambridge, 1978. Cf. Pg 289 After the Taipings were suppressed in 1864, the likin became a permanent feature of the Chinese tax system and it became an important source of revenu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tian Gao, Huangdi Yuan
Heaven is high and the emperor is far away is a Chinese proverb thought to have originated from Zhejiang during the Yuan dynasty.My China ConnectionHeaven is high and the emperor is far away. The Chinese Central Government in Beijing exercises little direct oversight on the affairs of lower-level governments, allowing much regional autonomy in the country. The proverb has thus come to generally mean that central authorities have little influence over local affairs, and it is often used in reference to corruption. The saying, as it is considered in China, has multiple meanings. Often it involves something minor such as walking on the grass when no one is watching, ignoring a command because the father is far away, cutting timber when not permitted, or ignoring the one-child policy. It is also used to describe a lawless place far from the authorities. The original variation, "the ''mountains'' are high and the emperor is far away", is also still heard ().Dartmouth College.Chinese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tian
''Tiān'' () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, Chinese philosophy, philosophy, and Chinese folk religion, religion. During the Shang dynasty (17th―11th century BCE), the Chinese referred to their supreme god as ''Shangdi, Shàngdì'' (, "Lord on High") or ''Dì'' (,"Lord"). During the following Zhou dynasty, ''Tiān'' became synonymous with this figure. Before the 20th century Heaven worship was an orthodox state religion of China. In Taoism and Confucianism, ''Tiān'' (the celestial aspect of the cosmos, often translated as "Heaven") is mentioned in relationship to its complementary aspect of ''Dì'' (, often translated as "Earth"). They are thought to maintain the two poles of the Trailokya, Three Realms () of reality, with the middle realm occupied by Humanity (, ''Rén''), and the lower world occupied by demons (specifically sorcery); (, ''Guǐ'') and "ghosts," the damned, specifically (, ''Mó''). Characters The moder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scholar-gentry
The "gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle [simple and decent] families ''Gentry'', in its widest ...", or "landed gentry" in China was the elite who held privileged status through passing the Imperial exams, which made them eligible to hold office. These literati, or scholar-officials, (''shenshi'' 紳士 or ''jinshen'' 縉紳), also called 士紳 ''shishen'' "scholar gentry" or 鄉紳 ''xiangshen'' "local gentry", held a virtual monopoly on office holding, and overlapped with an unofficial elite of the wealthy. The Tang dynasty, Tang and Song Dynastys expanded the Imperial examination, civil service exam to replace the nine-rank system which favored hereditary and largely military Chinese nobility, aristocrats. As a social class they included retired mandarin (China), mandarins or their families and descendants. Owni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire from the Borjigin clan, and lasted from 1271 to 1368. In orthodox Chinese historiography, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty. Although Genghis Khan had been enthroned with the Han-style title of Emperor in 1206 and the Mongol Empire had ruled territories including modern-day northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Han style, and the conquest was not complete until 1279 when the Southern Song dynasty was defeated in the Battle of Yamen. His realm was, by this point, isolated from the other Mongol-led khanates and controlled most of modern-day China and its surrounding areas, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song often came into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties in northern China. After retreating to southern China, the Song was eventually conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The dynasty is divided into two periods: Northern Song and Southern Song. During the Northern Song (; 960–1127), the capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of what is now Eastern China. The Southern Song (; 1127–1279) refers to the period after the Song lost control of its northern half to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song Wars. At that time, the Song court retreated south of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wang Anshi
Wang Anshi ; ; December 8, 1021 – May 21, 1086), courtesy name Jiefu (), was a Chinese economist, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. He served as chancellor and attempted major and controversial socioeconomic reforms known as the New Policies. These reforms constituted the core concepts of the Song-Dynasty Reformists, in contrast to their rivals, the Conservatives, led by the Chancellor Sima Guang. Wang Anshi's ideas are usually analyzed in terms of the influence the '' Rites of Zhou'' or Legalism had on him. His economic reforms included increased currency circulation, breaking up of private monopolies, and early forms of government regulation and social welfare. His military reforms expanded the use of local militias, and his government reforms expanded the civil service examination system and attempted to suppress nepotism in government. Although successful for a while, he eventually fell out of favor with the emperor. Early career Wang Anshi was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
