Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. IV.pdf/9



THE Government of China may be divided into central, provincial, and extra-provincial. The first division comprises the holders of high office in Peking; the second the governors of the eighteen provinces in which China proper is comprehended, and of the three provinces of the district loosely termed Manchuria, which stretches north-eastward of Peking. In the third class we may place the officials resident in those vast regions known as Inner and Outer Mongolia, in the country between Mongolia and Thibet, and lastly In Thibet itself. Every Manchu mandarin of high standing has military as well as civil rank. The Manchu army, which conquered China in 1644, was divided originally into four corps, distinguished by the white, red, blue, and yellow banners under which they respectively fought. Four bordered banners of the same colours were subsequently added, and, in course of time, eight similar corps of Mongols, and eight of Chinese who had sided with the invader were established.

The chief commands of these (which it must be observed are of a mixed civil and military organization, where all are liable to bear arms, but by no means all are paid as soldiers) are shared among high officers of the three nationalities, the Manchu on the whole being the predominating class. Prince Kung is general of one banner, Wen-siang of another, Paou-keun and Cheng-lin of the third and fourth. Each of these officials, however, is also the head of some principal department in the central administration. As for the Great Council, it is an excrescence on the original establishment, but still it is the chief among the courts, for it confers upon its members the highest rank attainable in the civil service. The Grand Secretariat is made up of four chief and two assistant chancellors or secretaries, these posts being shared in equal proportion between the Chinese, the Mongols, and the Manchus. Wen-siang is an assistant Grand Secretary, but it is only lately that he has been appointed to that post. Membership of the Secretariat, as will be seen elsewhere, does not render residence at the capital obligatory, indeed distinguished provincial governors are often raised to that dignity, only so, however, when vacancies occur. Next in degree to this office, and of far more practical importance, are six boards representing as many departments in the administration. These are the Board of Civil Service; the Board of Finance; the Board of Rites, Obligations, and Observances (including public institutions and state worship); the Board of War, having charge both of the military and naval services; the Board of Criminal Jurisdiction; and, lastly, the Board of Public Works. Each of these six boards has two chief officers, or, as we should style them, Presidents, at its head, one of them is always a Manchu, and the other a Chinese. The ministers of the Tsungle Yamen possess a fair proportion of these appointments. Thus Paou-keun is the Manchu President, and Tung-sean the Chinese one over the Board of Finance. Shen-kwe-fen is the Chinese President over the Board of War. Maou-cheng-he (properly the Chinese President over the Board of Works) is acting for an absentee on the Board of Civil Office; while Chung-lun, now eighty years of age, is the Manchu President of the Board of Works, and at the same time President over a court by us termed the Colonial Office, though really having charge not of tributaries like Corea and Cochin China, but of dependencies such as Mongolia and Thibet. The ministers Wen-siang, Paou-keun, and Shen-kwe-fen enjoy, however, a position even higher than any of the above roll, for, like Prince Kung, they are all of them members of the Great Council. This Council, in which the real power of the central government may be said to reside, has been already described as an excrescence upon the regular establishment. In point of fact it was introduced shortly after the foundation of the dynasty, and is composed of Manchus selected not on the recommendation of the departments of state, but by the emperor's own choice. The number of its members has never been a fixed one. At this moment, Prince Kung included, it contains no more than five. The fifth is the emperor's private tutor, while the other four, as has already been stated, are all members of the Tsungle Yamen. It will thus be perceived that what is really the central government is thoroughly identified with the administration of Foreign Affairs.

In the provinces the civil and military establishments are more distinct than at first sight they might appear to be in the capital. A province usually has a governor at the head of its affairs; but there are some exceptions to this custom. Thus we find in two instances a Governor General, or Viceroy, but the title translated as governor is borne