同光年间州县官选任制度的嬗变

Evolution of the system of selecting county officials during the Reigns of Tong Zhi and Guang Xu

同治光绪年间,由于捐纳、保举的扩张,州县候选人员激增,流品混杂。与此同时,各省督抚选用州县官常常不拘文法,突破成例。在上述背景下,清廷力图从多方面进行整顿,但多不能行。这一时期州县官选任制度的变化虽然只是在旧制基础上的渐变,然而这些问题却成为清末新政时期铨选制度改革的内在动因。

During the Reigns of Tong Zhi and Guang Xu,it gradually became a eommonplaee to donating money or to being reeommended with personal guarantee for official position. As a result, the number of candidates for the eourlty offieials soared up, whereas they varied widely in ranks and abilities. Meanwhile, the ehief governors of provinces frequently bended written regulations and broke obsolete conventions, in order to appoint the candidates they favored. The central government of the Qing Dynasty tried to regulate it from various perspectives but in vain. As far as the selection system was concerned, it was no more than a gradual evolution deriving from old praetices. However, it actually existed as an internal motive for the reform of selecting officials in the late Qing Dynasty.