Mufu (), a secretariat,Spector, Stanley (1964). Li Hung-chang and the Huai Army. Seattle: University of Washington Press. LCCN 64-11052. p. 19 was a system for hiring able advisers, the muliao (), by the imperial Chinese provincial officials. It dates back to 229 BC, but was extensively used in

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

.Folsom, Kenneth E. Friends (1968). ''Friends, Guests, and Colleagues''. Los Angeles: University of California Press. LCCN 67-26479. p. 33 The system was also adopted in Japan by the ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

''. The

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

(

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

) for mufu (幕府) are pronounced in Japanese as ''

bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

''.

The term

The first Chinese character ''mu'' (Chinese: 幕) denotes curtain, and tent, and the second character ''fu'' (Chinese: 府) denotes home and government, hence mufu means a tent government. The ''liao'' (Chinese: 僚) in ''muliao'' denotes bureaucrat, official.

The system

The provincial officials were selected from the successful candidates of the literary

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

who had little to none practical skills to govern; and the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

central government had no provision to provide them with technical staff since there wasn't training or recruiting of such experts. To perform their job well, the appointed scholars were forced to hire able men, muliao, to staff the mufu, to deal with flood, rebellion, finance and foreign affair. The mufu system was the well-oil machine that produced next generation high officials. Mufu was staffed by private hires. It's headed by the official who was responsible of the salary. The official didn't have to report to the central government, unless he wanted to promote one of the members in his mufu for a regular position within the government bureaucracy.

Examples

Zeng Guofan Zeng Guofan, Marquis Yiyong (; 26 November 1811 – 12 March 1872), birth name Zeng Zicheng, courtesy name Bohan, was a Chinese statesman and military general of the late Qing dynasty. He is best known for raising and organizing the Xiang A ...

's mufu, his muliao included Li Hongzhang In

Li Hongzhang Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; 15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901) was a Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important ...

's mufu, his muliao included

Pan Dingxin Pan Dingxin (; 1828–1888) was a Qing dynasty governor and military commander of the Huai Army, best known for his role in the Sino-French War.Spector, Stanley (1964). ''Li Hung-chang and the Huai Army''. Seattle: University of Washington Press. L ...

Zhou Fu Zhou Fu (, also romanised as Chow Fuh; (道光十七年十一月二十三日 in Chinese calendar) December 20, 1837 – (九月二十一 in Chinese calendar) October 21, 1921) was a Han Chinese official of the Qing dynasty. He was Viceroy of L ...

and

Liu Bingzhang Liu Bingzhang (; May 20, 1826 – August 23, 1905) was a Qing dynasty Chinese scholar-official and general. He served as Governor of Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces and Viceroy of Sichuan. He was a commander in the civil war against the Taiping Re ...

References

{{reflist Government of Imperial China