变局中的乱象——晚清上层官员托病现象探析

Chaos in the Change: An Analysis of Off icials’ Malingering Phenomenon in Late Qing Dynasty

晚清政治局势波诡云谲、朝夕瞬变,官场乱象丛生,官员群体特别是上层官员面对各种变局会以“托病”的特殊方式来谋求破局、规避风险。然而这些官员托病的情形却各有隐衷,规避繁难者有之、借病谋进者有之、避罪避祸者亦有之,但无论何种情形,托病之举在当时的政治环境下已成为彼时一些官员规避政治风险或谋求良好政治职位的一种方式。虽然清政府对此明令禁止,但此种现象的发生仍然不可避免。由此亦可见晚清政治局势和官场秩序的混乱,可知原有政治制度遭到破坏,清政府统治权威日益衰微。

With the rapid changes of political situation and chaotic officialdom in the late Qing dynasty, official groups, especially senior officials, would seek to break the situation and avoid risks by the special way of "sickness" in the face of various changes. Officials had their own hidden purposes, some to avoid difficult tasks, some to seek advancement, and some to avoid punishment and disaster, but whatever the case, the act of malingering was a way to avoid political risks or seek good political positions at the time. Although malingering was strictly prohibited by the Qing court,this phenomenon still occurred, which shows the chaos of the political situation and official order in the late Qing dynasty, the destruction of the original political system, and the declining authority of the Qing court.