Kangxi's Style Of Government In Ancient China
Since Qin dynasty, China had been controlled by the centralized power harshly. This kind of centralized rule and political integration made China to be a flourishing country in the world, especially in the Qing Dynasty, the last feudal society. Kangxi’s style of government can be summarized in to two words: diligent and prudence.
From 1644 to 1722, the country was dominated by Kangxi and moved toward greater political integration and centralization.
Just like Kangxi said in his self-portrait at first: “giving life to people and killing people—those are the powers that the emperor has”. As the emperor, there is no doubt that Kangxi was the only person who could determine the people’s life and the fate of the country. Kangxi has tried his best to be a prominent emperor who keeps the …show more content…
society well ordered and stable, however, there were still some limitations and faultiness on his power.
First of all, form the death of Hu Chien-ching we know that it was Kangxi’s own personal feelings such as mercy and prejudice affected making decisions on whether some criminal should be executed or exiled.
Because Kangxi always reminded himself to “leave room for the hope that men will get better if they are given the time”, if Kangxi decided to, some of the criminals who should be severely punished could be avoided.
Secondly, another limitation was it is impossible for Kangxi to know every official and control every part in the country because there were numerous and uncountable officials in China. Despite the fact that Kangxi sincerely listen to the officials’ evaluation, cliques made this method even hard since these officials rely on themselves instead of the central power and the real problems were being beclouded. Thus, corruption negated the local economy and stability.
As the emperor of China, Kangxi’s attitude toward his officials and the common peoples was unlike other emperor and he managed his country to avoid the abuse of central power in a sense. He used three ways to get extra information to ensure the peace and keep the well development of the
country.
The first way was audiences. Kangxi learned the lessons from the rebellion of Wu San-Kuei, Keng Ching-chung and Shang Chih-hsin. He believed that soldiers on the front would treat their direct officers more as the ruler and as a result, his power was weakened. So he needed regular audience to avoid military upheaval.
The second one was in place memorials, which is a kind of letter communication between the emperor and the officials. In the memorials, the officers could write their attitudes and perception about the issues for every aspect of China. Kangxi is the only person who could read the place memorials and he wrote rescripts on them himself. By doing this way, he could gain relatively objective and impersonal truth and could stay at the helm of the country.
The third method was obtained the information from tours. During tours, Kangxi could directly have the communication with the common people and accept their petitions. This method offered a chance for the commoners, especially the peasant to make their voice heard by their emperor.
The Kangxi’s posture toward the commoner was respectful and amiable. He paid reasonable attention on commoners, concerning their livelihood and sufferings, as well as accepting their petitions and asking for their officials. For example, he heard pleas from a woman whose husband had been wrongfully enslaved, from a traveling trader complaining about high customs dues. Kangxi totally understood totally they are the foundation of a country.
Kangxi’s opinion in education can be described as he was greatly inclined toward understanding the words and practice more rather than memorizing the old fashioned books: “In 1694 I noted that we were losing talent because of the way the exams were being conducted … The successful ones has often done no more than memorize old examination books”. Furthermore, disqualification of ju (pure scholars) was also one of the limitations of the education that Kangxi recognized. Because the method of select the officer, ju, the scholars who would become officials would only pay more attention on theory rather than practice and they would focus more on learning everything from the books rather than learning from actual experiences. Moreover, the examination requires more memorizing than understanding. Therefore, in some cases, the most qualified scholars did not have a chance to be a great officer.
Last but not the least, divines of Kangxi was sometimes tempted by Bureau to exaggerate or distort the truth. For example, he corrected Bureau’s mistake about forecasting the wind direction, which was related to agriculture. In addition, Kangxi also use the Book of Changes as a source of moral principles.
In conclusion, according to Kangxi’s self-portrait, I think that Kangxi was not only enhanced the central power effectively and properly, but also used his power to benefit the whole country.
From 1644 to 1722, the country was dominated by Kangxi and moved toward greater political integration and centralization.
Just like Kangxi said in his self-portrait at first: “giving life to people and killing people—those are the powers that the emperor has”. As the emperor, there is no doubt that Kangxi was the only person who could determine the people’s life and the fate of the country. Kangxi has tried his best to be a prominent emperor who keeps the …show more content…
society well ordered and stable, however, there were still some limitations and faultiness on his power.
First of all, form the death of Hu Chien-ching we know that it was Kangxi’s own personal feelings such as mercy and prejudice affected making decisions on whether some criminal should be executed or exiled.
Because Kangxi always reminded himself to “leave room for the hope that men will get better if they are given the time”, if Kangxi decided to, some of the criminals who should be severely punished could be avoided.
Secondly, another limitation was it is impossible for Kangxi to know every official and control every part in the country because there were numerous and uncountable officials in China. Despite the fact that Kangxi sincerely listen to the officials’ evaluation, cliques made this method even hard since these officials rely on themselves instead of the central power and the real problems were being beclouded. Thus, corruption negated the local economy and stability.
As the emperor of China, Kangxi’s attitude toward his officials and the common peoples was unlike other emperor and he managed his country to avoid the abuse of central power in a sense. He used three ways to get extra information to ensure the peace and keep the well development of the
country.
The first way was audiences. Kangxi learned the lessons from the rebellion of Wu San-Kuei, Keng Ching-chung and Shang Chih-hsin. He believed that soldiers on the front would treat their direct officers more as the ruler and as a result, his power was weakened. So he needed regular audience to avoid military upheaval.
The second one was in place memorials, which is a kind of letter communication between the emperor and the officials. In the memorials, the officers could write their attitudes and perception about the issues for every aspect of China. Kangxi is the only person who could read the place memorials and he wrote rescripts on them himself. By doing this way, he could gain relatively objective and impersonal truth and could stay at the helm of the country.
The third method was obtained the information from tours. During tours, Kangxi could directly have the communication with the common people and accept their petitions. This method offered a chance for the commoners, especially the peasant to make their voice heard by their emperor.
The Kangxi’s posture toward the commoner was respectful and amiable. He paid reasonable attention on commoners, concerning their livelihood and sufferings, as well as accepting their petitions and asking for their officials. For example, he heard pleas from a woman whose husband had been wrongfully enslaved, from a traveling trader complaining about high customs dues. Kangxi totally understood totally they are the foundation of a country.
Kangxi’s opinion in education can be described as he was greatly inclined toward understanding the words and practice more rather than memorizing the old fashioned books: “In 1694 I noted that we were losing talent because of the way the exams were being conducted … The successful ones has often done no more than memorize old examination books”. Furthermore, disqualification of ju (pure scholars) was also one of the limitations of the education that Kangxi recognized. Because the method of select the officer, ju, the scholars who would become officials would only pay more attention on theory rather than practice and they would focus more on learning everything from the books rather than learning from actual experiences. Moreover, the examination requires more memorizing than understanding. Therefore, in some cases, the most qualified scholars did not have a chance to be a great officer.
Last but not the least, divines of Kangxi was sometimes tempted by Bureau to exaggerate or distort the truth. For example, he corrected Bureau’s mistake about forecasting the wind direction, which was related to agriculture. In addition, Kangxi also use the Book of Changes as a source of moral principles.
In conclusion, according to Kangxi’s self-portrait, I think that Kangxi was not only enhanced the central power effectively and properly, but also used his power to benefit the whole country.