(A), the group is huge and the cost is amazing.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties in China, there have been too many and too many officials, and the vicious expansion of institutions is hard to contain, which is especially criticized by historians of past dynasties. According to the records of the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi implemented the political reform and cut down 190,000 redundant staff at one time. Based on this, it is roughly estimated that the total number of officials in the Northern Song Dynasty should at least be equivalent to the total number of more than one million standing soldiers at that time. The territory of the Song Dynasty is not large, and the population of the whole country does not exceed 100 million at most; With such a high proportion of officials, it is conceivable that in a farming society with low productivity, the burden on the people is heavy. According to the historical records of the Han Dynasty, "Since Han Xuan, the people have given money, and the one-year-old is more than 400 million. Half of the official salary is used, and the remaining 200 million is hidden in the capital. " That is to say, the salaries of officials at that time accounted for more than half of the state's fiscal revenue.
The above two historical materials are only official statistics. In fact, local bureaucrats in various counties and counties have to hire a large number of supernumerary staff such as bookshops and handymen, or temporary workers. Their salaries and daily expenses have to be met by apportioning exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees to the people, so the burden on the people is beyond imagination.
(B), institutional overlap, many disadvantages.
China's bureaucratic system, from the date of construction, has established a four-level or five-level vertical counterpart management system from the central government to counties, counties, townships and kiosks. Although this system changed slightly later, the basic framework has been inherited. In a country with a vast territory and a large population, this pyramid-like power structure may be the only choice, because it does exist.
be beneficial to
The centralization of the monarch and the unification of the country.
However, due to the excessive overlapping of institutions and the poor information on distant roads, the implementation of central government decrees and the following information feedback will inevitably lead to difficulties. Because the mountain is high and the emperor is far away, local officials need to rely more on their own judgment to administer, and over time, they will evolve a set of hidden rules for selective implementation of central policies. The so-called "keeping secrets from the top" and "there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom" reflect this situation.
Therefore, in the process of local officials implementing the central government decrees, there will be an increasing or decreasing effect step by step. For government decrees that benefit officials but not benefit the people, such as increasing or urging taxes, officials often act swiftly and resolutely, and even fart above them and sing a drama below, which makes people panic. However, the official decrees that are unfavorable to the people, such as tax reduction and prohibition of harsh factions, will be passively dealt with by officials, delayed, or even disobeyed, and set up another set.
(C), complex relationships, cronyism
Because of the huge group, overlapping institutions, and no strict rules in the management of organization and personnel, there are many human interventions, which will inevitably lead to the intersection and connection of many interests within the bureaucratic group, thus forming a complex interpersonal network or interest chain; Some bureaucrats will also form a close interest group through the network of in-laws and cronies. Using this complex network of relationships, bureaucrats can help each other, exchange views, gain economic benefits, manipulate personnel arrangements, and even influence political affairs and make waves.
Although the interpersonal network of officialdom is extremely complicated, the most common ones are nothing more than the following three:
One is collusion. Local officials at all levels will try their best to find backers or backers in the central departments to insure their careers through the transfer of benefits. "Some people in the DPRK are good officials", even if they can't be promoted and reused, they can at least get asylum when they commit crimes. Therefore, even a county official like Ximen Qing in "Jin Ping Mei" has to rely on the Taishifu, which is related to the capital, to make a lot of money. In fact, the big officials in Beijing also need to look for piles, minions or agents in various places to extensively search for private assets for them. It is this bottom-up interest transfer and top-down power protection that constitutes the most important interest chain of officialdom in the past dynasties, which has been endless since ancient times and today.
The second is lateral connection. Bureaucrats with similar power and status often form a kind of interest group with the same gas through in-laws, old friends and clans. They protect each other and collude with each other, "one loss will be lost, and one will be honored." It is under such an unshakable power background that Xue Pan, the bully in A Dream of Red Mansions, dares to openly rob a good woman and does not care about brewing a murder case. Wang Xifeng also has the courage to lend usury and the ability to package lawsuits and charge a lot of silver. As for the Kuomintang's control of the four families of Chiang Kai-shek, Song, Kong and Chen, which were in the heyday of Chinese mainland, it is even more a modern and top-level version of this collusion of official interests. However, it was this kind of cronyism that eventually led to the collapse of the Kuomintang regime in the mainland.
The third is the entanglement of the bottom officials. State and county local officials sent by the imperial court are all floating officials with a tenure system, which is highly mobile. And their servants, such as touts, doors, prison heads and page servants, are mostly locals, who are generally employed by current officials according to their situation, and their status is equivalent to the so-called temporary workers today. But most of them are actually old campaigners who have been running their jobs for a long time. They are familiar with all the rules of light and shade in officialdom and have close ties with local gentry and local tyrants. Officials sent from outside, whether in administration, justice, or trying to enrich themselves, have to rely on this group of people, so they can dominate the countryside. They are dressed in public uniforms and backed by the government, but what they do is the business of robbers. They extort and extort, seize people's fields, dominate people's houses, create unjust prisons, and kill cheat people. This kind of people's oppression and harm to the people is the most direct and brutal. They are not only the foundation of bureaucratic privileged politics, but also the loyal grave diggers of previous regimes.
(D), franchise monopoly, self-enrichment.
A major feature of the bureaucratic privilege system is that bureaucrats enjoy many privileges according to law. Officials are above the people, always insist that the people are the masters, that is, the masters of the people, and enjoy many privileges in terms of residence, clothing and travel according to different levels. Economically, officials can not only enjoy the preferential treatment of exempting themselves or their whole families from tax corvee according to different grades, but also enjoy high salaries and generous salaries, and get a job field awarded by the emperor.
The above-mentioned special treatment enjoyed according to law often can't satisfy the appetite of bureaucrats, and they will also make use of the power in their hands to get as many benefits as possible. For example, the so-called state-owned industries, such as selling salt, smelting iron, casting money and grain transportation, which are monopolized by the state, are just nominal, and the actual power is in the hands of bureaucrats of those "relevant departments". The huge profits they made by relying on monopoly management, except part of which were turned over to the state treasury, went to the bureaucrats' private interests. Bureaucrats who eventually became rich by this have existed in all dynasties, and there is no lack of inheritance.
There are more officials, although they can't get involved in the monopoly industries of the above-mentioned countries to make huge profits, but with the power in their hands, they can also get involved in the illegal operation of the people and enrich themselves. Among them, the most common way to make them rich quickly is to collude with officials and businessmen to obtain illegal income. Because since the Han Dynasty, China has actually formed a vast national unified market, and the scale and activity of commercial capital have surpassed that of Europe in the thirteenth century; Making money by the market has become a major discovery of bureaucrats. Therefore, as early as two thousand years ago, China society had produced the first ancestors of privileged capitalism.
Originally, under the traditional autocratic system in China, businessmen have always been a discriminated social group, and doing business has always been regarded as a "last job" or even a "base job". The attitude of traditional mainstream society towards businessmen is just like that of contemporary Marxists towards the bourgeoisie, who think that they are born with original sin; People who are engaged in business are listed as "citizens" and belong to an alternative. Even their sons can't be officials. However, the attraction of money is too great after all. Officials who are prohibited from doing business according to law will collude with businessmen privately, act as umbrellas for businessmen, support them to manipulate the market, monopolize business, and even make usury as a "sub-moneymaker" to obtain huge profits, and then share the fat.
(E), corruption, intractable diseases.
Marx exposed the nature of capitalists, saying that under the temptation of 200% profit, they would risk decapitation to pursue profits. As it turns out, bureaucrats at all times and all over the world also have such greedy nature; When you can make a lot of money without blowing off dust, all moral preaching and legal warnings are pale and powerless. Therefore, official corruption can be said to be a universal chronic disease, and in those places where power is out of supervision, it will spread everywhere like a plague.
However, because westerners generally believe in Christianity or Catholicism and believe that after death, the soul will be tried by God, so the greed of officials is only to get some money to squander and enjoy life before the doomsday judgment comes. In China, however, it is an ancient creed to regard death as life. The so-called "children and grandchildren, eternal inheritance"; Emperors and bureaucrats, without exception, want to keep the incense for generations, so that they can eat blood for generations. Therefore, once in power, we should not only seek for ourselves, for this life, but also for our children and grandchildren after death. Therefore, in the officialdom of China, corrupt officials not only multiply rapidly, the output is extremely high, but also are generally greedy.
"Being an official for thousands of miles is only for money". "Three years of clear magistrate, 100,000 snowflakes and silver". These are all private words and truths that are popular in the officialdom. And there are many ways for bureaucrats to make money. The contribution of subordinates, the bribery of the original defendant in the trial of prison proceedings, the interception of relief funds, the concealment of tax income, the imaginary project funds, and so on, are really boring and pervasive. In the Han Dynasty, Danian Nongtian, a senior official, was equivalent to the Minister of Agriculture and Construction Engineering. When he was building a tomb for Emperor Han Zhaodi, he hired 30,000 folk ox carts to transport sand, and each hired 1,000 Wen. He falsely reported 2,000 Wen and embezzled 30 million yuan at a time. According to the price at that time, 100,000 yuan was equivalent to the property of a middle-class family; Tian Yannian got the wealth of 300 middle-class families with one corruption. How can he not be greedy?
Corrupt officials in China are not only insatiable, but also wave upon wave, which is close to madness. Therefore, in the past dynasties, the governance of official corruption is the most urgent and headache problem for the supreme ruler. Therefore, they have tried their best and exhausted their means. Sent to supervise the suggestion, sent eight government patrol press, and even the emperor incognito private visit, but most of them take temporary measures instead of permanent cure, and press the gourd and float the gourd. Zhu Yuanzhang, a poor peasant, hated corrupt officials to the extreme. He not only killed countless corrupt officials, but also used the most cruel means at all times and in all countries. He ordered the corrupt officials to be killed, and then "peeled the grass" and made the corrupt officials' specimens like animal specimens, which were placed in the lobby of the official office as an example. However, corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty were still born if the spring breeze did not blow. When Emperor Zhu died, he could only lament: "How can corrupt officials be killed!"
(six), the official-oriented, in order to maintain.
Since corrupt officials can't be killed, there is a saying that high salaries are used to maintain honesty. Then, what is the effect of high salary and honesty? In fact, this is just a thousand-year-old story that fools the people. Because the purpose of high salary is not to raise honesty, it is impossible to raise honesty, and whoever is greedy will be greedy. In the Qing Dynasty, He Shen was as greedy as an enemy, but still refused to stop. In the Song Dynasty, Yan Song and his son were greedy for gold and silver at home, but they were still greedy for dirt. They also made a special account book count. Every time they were greedy for 5 million yuan, they bought a wine party to celebrate, which was called "wasting money".
So the so-called high salary and honesty, but it is a political calculation of the supreme ruler, its purpose is nothing more than to use high salary and generous salary to connect officials into a huge body of interests, or, according to Lu Xun, let them join the feast of human flesh together, so that they can work together in Qi Xin to maintain this banquet that will last forever. From this point of view, the effect is obvious, especially in strengthening internal unity, * * * maintaining the privileged system and suppressing people's resistance, which has indeed achieved a high degree of consistency with the official heart.
This official-oriented national policy of high salary and generous remuneration has also produced another far-reaching result for China people, that is, a firm official-oriented thought has been established in the hearts of Chinese people. Being an official has become the goal and direction of China scholars' lifelong pursuit and struggle for more than 1000 years. Take an examination of scholar, juren, Jinshi, obsession and madness. "The book has its own Yan Ruyu, and the book has its own golden house". The purpose of reading is to be an official, and the purpose of being an official is to make a profit. If you break your head, you should squeeze into the circle of power just to get in and enjoy the feast of human flesh.
However, history has proved that this practice of buying off the official's heart is not completely safe. When the new master rises strongly or foreign countries invade on a large scale, it is often those former officials who enjoy high salaries and generous salaries who give the original regime a fatal blow. This kind of story, in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the Japanese invasion of China, produced the most. Is that weird? Not surprising. It is human nature that those who are loyal to profit will also betray because of profit.
(seven), inbreeding, degradation from generation to generation
The continuation and reproduction of China's privileged autocratic social rights, like other autocratic societies, is bound to adopt an inbreeding mode, so it is inevitable that it will degenerate from generation to generation. Generally speaking, it can be divided into the following three types of inbreeding:
One is biological inbreeding of the royal family. Due to the consideration of the right family and the need of political marriage under the hereditary system, the royal family generally has more cousins. On the one hand, it is conducive to the smooth transfer and transition of power, but it will inevitably lead to the degradation of the varieties of heirs to the throne from generation to generation. Most of them are weak and ignorant, or stubborn and surly, thus laying the foundation for the decline of the dynasty.
The second is organized inbreeding within bureaucratic groups. When looking for, recommending and selecting successors to power, bureaucrats are usually influenced by kinship, nepotism, teachers and students, and the same door, so they only consider personal relationship and neglect talent and virtue. This kind of organized inbreeding will inevitably lead to the degradation of the successor ability of bureaucratic groups from generation to generation. For example, the system of promoting filial piety and virtuous founder in Han dynasty completely changed its flavor in the later stage of evolution. As a result, the nursery rhyme at the end of the Han Dynasty sang like this: "A scholar does not know books; Cha Xiaolian, the father lives apart; Cold element is as pure as mud; Gao Diliang will be as timid as a chicken. " Such a historical fate is actually inevitable.
The third is ideological inbreeding. The imperial examination held every three years is a good talent selection system, which can attract some new people into the ruling group, just like importing some fresh blood. However, because the examiners' officials are all die-hards who have experienced decades of officialdom career and have been polished smoothly, at least they are people who can basically keep consistent with them ideologically. However, many examinees with sharp thinking and outstanding talents in the past dynasties were brushed by examiners because they revealed incorrect thoughts or politics in the examination papers, so that they failed in the examination repeatedly and regretted it for life. In this way, after several generations of adverse elimination, most of the people standing in the full court are mediocre people.
The above three kinds of inbreeding ultimately determine the "luck" of a generation of dynasties. Because once this degradation and decline are superimposed with the social unrest caused by the spread of corruption, the moment of changing the dynasty will come.
(8), dark autocracy, the people are miserable.
Bureaucratic privilege system must be an autocratic system. Since the granting and supervision of power is from top to bottom, and the nature of political power is cloned step by step from top to bottom, its operation is bound to be arbitrary, arbitrary and opaque. This system takes the will of the chief executive as the law and emphasizes the absolute obedience of subordinates to superiors.
The country's absolute obedience to the monarch places special emphasis on consistency. Therefore, although officials have their own ulterior motives in their stomachs, they seem to have a high degree of consistency in thinking, and the same mandarin, lies and cliches prevail in the circle. More ironically, such an overbearing privilege system insists on whitewashing itself with the powder of Confucian benevolence and morality, but it can never fool the people. There used to be a popular saying among the people to describe those officials in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Said they were "full of benevolence and morality, full of thieves and prostitutes." It can be said that it is very vivid.
It is precisely because of the oppression and inequality of the feudal monarchies and bureaucrats in ancient China that the current socialist construction in China must be based on legal system construction. The legal society is the guarantee of socialist social construction.
This kind of privileged autocratic system, which is brutal and tyrannical in nature, but ostensibly under the banner of Confucian benevolence, righteousness and morality, is particularly explicit and incisive in its abuse of power when dealing with prison proceedings and extorting money from the people. When dealing with the powerless civilians, officials can make charges and arrest them for no reason because they are slightly dissatisfied. Once they are put into prison and have no money to manage, prisoners will face death at any time.
Look at "The Water Margin", Wu Song's methods of managing prisoners that he heard and heard in prison. Are they classics? In particular, after the prisoner has had enough to eat and drink, he can be swept into a barrel with grass and erected in the corner head-down, so that no scars can be seen on his body after death. If outsiders want to ask, the camp manager and the dispatcher will say that he died of drinking boiled water, eating and entertaining.
As for officials who go to the countryside to urge taxes and demand property, it is even more domineering than tigers. Liu Zongyuan wrote in "Snake Catcher": "When fierce officials come to my hometown, they clamor for things, and they are stunned by the north and south. Although chickens and dogs can't be peaceful." Du Xunhe, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, wrote in "The Village where the topic lives": "If the house is empty with the soldiers, the tax will be reduced by one point? The food, clothing, and camp are still moderate, and the long-term loss is unbearable. " Bai Juyi's Du Lingcuo tells an eternal sad story. In the spring and autumn, Duling, which suffered successive disasters and failed to harvest crops, was faced with the fact that "the long officials knew that they would not apply for a break, and they were eager to collect and levy taxes to take the exam." What will happen to food and clothing next year? Strip me of silk and take food from my mouth. If you abuse people and harm things, you are a wolf. Why do you have to claw your teeth and eat human flesh! "
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. This situation has not changed until the modern Republic of China government ruled. In the 1940s, he taught in The National SouthWest Associated University.