The historical development of Shaoxing touts

Shaoxing touts are the product of the combination of feudal official system and Shaoxing humanistic background in Ming and Qing Dynasties. This regional and professional staff group began in Ming Dynasty, prevailed in Qing Dynasty, and declined before and after the Revolution of 1911. From beginning to end, he was active in the feudal ruling institutions in China for 300 to 400 years, and became famous at home and abroad, becoming an important part of the staff class of feudal officials in China. Together with local administrators, gentlemen, businessmen and other groups at all levels, they manipulated many aspects of feudal society, such as politics, economy, military and justice, and became an indispensable tool of feudal autocratic rule, which played an important role in the implementation of feudal bureaucracy.

Shaoxing has unique historical, geographical, economic and cultural conditions for training and bringing up teachers. Since then, the industry is generally a person who has fallen from the family and has no chance to take the official position. Generally, teachers should study "curtain learning" for at least three years, have the ability to study nuclear strategy, have the heart to provide strategy, and have the basic skills to write official documents. Although the master is not a shogunate official, military and political officials at all levels are often restricted by him and have the power to control the leader. ?

Master, it is a courtesy title for the screen friend of the old official department. Ancient generals led troops to fight against impermanence and took the curtain as the government, so they were called "shogunate". From then on, the shogunate became the representative of military and political officials at all levels, and even its military and political officials themselves were called shogunate. At the same time, the bachelor of arts recruited by military and political officials to help handle various affairs will also be called aides, screen guests, screen friends, etc. Folks, since the Qing Dynasty, have always called such aides "teachers". In the shogunate, the master made suggestions and participated in confidential work; Or draft a proclamation, suggesting sparse representatives; Or handle the case file and cut it for approval; Or ordered to contact officialdom. All these and so on, to name a few. Beloved has no official title, but is hired by the curtain owner, not an administrative appointment. The curtain master called touts "Old Master Q" and "Xibin", while touts called touts "Dong Weng" and "Dong Jia". Although they treat each other as guests and hosts, it is actually an employment relationship.

Shaoxing people have a long history of entering the screen. In the Ming Dynasty, many Vietnamese people took learning the law as the screen and became famous all over the world. At that time, professionals working in Beijing, "from Jiuqing to leisurely Cao Xiju, were nothing more than ordinary people" (Wang Shixing's Guang Zhi Yi). "Thirteen divisions of the household department are all from Shaoxing" (Gu Ri Zhi Lu). Xu Wei, known as "the first gifted scholar in Ming Dynasty" during Jiajing period, was a typical master of Shaoxing. "Ming History" contains: "Xu Wei, a long word, was born in Yinshan. It is famous for all the students. "Shogunate governor Hu Zongxian long yan, zhang. "Zong Xian got a White Deer Plain, which will be dedicated to all generations to make the grass grow like grass." "Table, sejong yue, easy to spoil different ZongXian. Zong Xian regarded the idea of "emphasizing benefits on Wei" as a way to suppress the enemy, and Xu Wei often made suggestions for Hu Zongxian. " Ming History says: "Wei Zhibing, curious. Zong Xian captured Xu Hai and lured Wang Zhi, all of which were premeditated. "It serves to show that he has been in office for five years, with outstanding achievements, and he is an early representative of Shaoxing touts.

Shaoxing touts really became a regional and professional staff group in the early years of Qing Dynasty, especially during Shunzhi and Kangxi periods. The so-called "no salt and no officials" is a true reflection of this situation. Shen was the representative of Shaoxing touts. Shen, Hui Jiren, went north to study alone at the age of 23. In the winter of the third year of Tiancong (1629), he was captured by the soldiers of Houjin Eight Banners in Zunhua City, and then moved to Shenyang, where he was elected to the Museum of Cultural Relics, and began to make suggestions for the Qing army to enter the customs, which gradually attracted the attention of Huang Taiji. In August of six years, Huang Taiji summoned Shen and others, gave them meat to eat and asked them face to face about the political affairs of their country. Shen put forward a series of targeted strategies, which were adopted and put into practice, resulting in Shaoxing touts.

The rise of Shaoxing touts, of course, did not depend on the achievements and fame of individual Shaoxing touts, but reflected the need of the feudal ruling class to recruit special talents for political purposes at that time and the overall quality of Shaoxing people who were engaged in the profession of touts. Shaoxing is a hometown of culture. Shaoxing people are smart, steady, calculating, good at words and have many abilities as a think tank. So in the Qing Dynasty, most of them were Shaoxing people, as Gong said in Xue Hongxuan's letter: "There are thousands of people working in my hometown."

Throughout the development track of Shaoxing touts in the political arena of the Qing Dynasty, there are roughly two climaxes:

The first climax occurred in Yongzheng and Qianlong periods: during this period, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, proceeding from the overall situation of consolidating feudal regime, pacifying frontier rebellion, developing production and stabilizing society, took measures to rule by using the intellectuals of the Han landlord class, which created conditions for the intellectuals of the Han landlord class to participate in and discuss politics and enter government organs at all levels. Shaoxing touts also took advantage of the urgent need for a large number of talents, relying on their own intelligence and wisdom, and joined the government in succession, which attracted the attention of administrative officials at all levels and became more and more important. Wu Sidao is a representative figure of touts in this period. With his rich political experience and officialdom experience, he not only won the favor of Tian Wenjing, the shogunate master, but also gained the esteem of Yong Zhengdi, and became a recognized granddaddy of Shao.

Unofficial history in Qing Dynasty, written by Wu Sidao, Wang Lu, was born in Shaoxing. He studied hard since he was a child, but failed in the imperial examination, so he "learned legalism and was called Mr. Wu." He lives in Kaifeng, Henan Province, for Tian Wenjing, the governor of Henan Province. One day, "Mr. Wu said to him,' Do you want to be a governor in the name of the public or just an ordinary governor?' Wen Jing said, "You must be a famous governor." Said,' But let me do it, and the public can't pull my elbow. What will Wen Jing ask? Yue:' I will play for the public grass, and I can't let the public see a word. If I do this, my business will be completed. Can you believe it? Wen Jing knew that he could rely on it and succeed. Then the draft was revised because the name of the mirror was on it. Building a dragon can win books. Longkedo is Uncle Yuan and a hero. He is an official of a college student. However, his "dependence on work is illegal and his arrogance is growing". Therefore, after Yong Zhengdi took office, he wanted to get rid of it quickly, suffering from the fact that "none of the Chinese and foreign ministers dared to say their sins." Mr. Wu knew the meaning early, so he dared to do it. As a result, Yong Zhengdi killed someone with this knife, and Roncodo was found guilty, but Wen Jing's pet became bigger and bigger. "Soon, Yong Zhengdi learned that during the curtain call in Tian Wenjing, Wu Sidao often folded Zhu Pi's words on Tian Wenjing:" I am safe, and so is Miss Wu ". This made Shaoxing touts, represented by the May 4th Movement, worth a hundred times, and attracted the attention of local governors. After Tian Wenjing's death, "Mr. Wu went to the beam, and his governor heard of Mr. Wu's name and wanted to hire him with a lot of money." As a result, governors from all over the country rushed to hire Shaoxing touts. They hope to make progress in their official career with the help of the talent and wit of Shaoxing touts, thus creating a good opportunity for Shaoxing touts to enter the screen extensively and bringing their development to the first climax.

The second climax appeared in the decades after China society entered modern times. With the emergence of Sino-foreign trade, the spread of western learning to the east and new things, administrative officials at all levels must make extensive use of aides to adapt to the new strain, which provides new opportunities for the further growth of Shaoxing touts. Especially during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's suppression of peasant uprisings, local power groups represented by Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo took the opportunity to recruit soldiers and attract advisers in order to expand their power, which created another opportunity for Shaoxing touts to invest in the accounts of court officials, thus making the development of Shaoxing touts appear the second climax.

At that time, Shaoxing touts were highly valued by local government officials because of their flexibility, sophistication and wit. For example, Yu of Huiji County (also known as "Autumn Sky") is the master of the governors of the three northeastern provinces, Zhang Shijie of Huiji County (word Guiyan) is the master, Ma Jiding of Huiji County (word Diao Sheng) is the master of Zhang Zhidong, and Cheng Yu of Shanyin County is left. What's more, Lou Chunfan (word Shusheng) in Shanyin County was successively the master of Li Hongzhang, Wang Wenshao, Rong Lu, Yuan Shikai, Duan Fang and Chen, and he was treated with courtesy all his life. When Li Hongzhang was in power, all important officials, such as playing music, punishing money, river engineering and salt affairs, were not Lou's, which shows his high power. Shaoxing master is good at foresight, and by virtue of his intelligence, he is loyal to the shogun, which not only consolidates and strengthens the position and power of the shogun, but also creates conditions for weakening the centralized rule and forming the local warlord regime. During this period, the influence of Shaoxing touts reached its peak, which attracted the attention and concern of the central government and administrative officials at all levels.

By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Shaoxing touts had gradually declined, even declined.

At that time, the Qing government headed by Cixi also sang "reform" and carried out the "New Deal", and successively promulgated and implemented some "reform" measures. From the 28th year to the 32nd year of Guangxu (1902 ~ 1906), the Qing government reorganized the bureaucratic system, and successively abolished the Governor Zhan Shifu of Hedong, the General Political Department, Taichang Temple, Taibu Temple, Guanglu Temple, Honglin Temple and the Governor's Office of Hubei, Yunnan and Guangdong, thus reducing some overlapping and fictional institutions. The reduction of officials at all levels has forced a large number of Shaoxing masters to leave the officialdom to find another way out, and their activities and influence have weakened.

At the same time, the Qing government abolished stereotyped writing, suspended the imperial examination, promoted schools and rewarded study tours, making running schools and studying abroad a common practice. Xuan Tong (19 1 1) has established more than 50,000 new schools all over the country, with more than 1 10,000 students. In the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), there were only more than 8,000 students studying in Japan. Students trained by new schools in China and international students from all over the world constitute a new knowledge group. They armed themselves with the knowledge they learned in foreign countries or new schools, and gradually gained advantages in the political arena, thus greatly impacting and weakening the position and role of Shaoxing touts in the political arena of the Qing Dynasty.

Under the atmosphere of reforming the bureaucratic political system and advocating a new culture, the Qing government called for judicial independence in all localities, setting up Dali Courtyard in Beijing, high-level halls in all provinces, and local halls in all governments and counties to hear litigation cases. At the same time, foreign students and graduates from various law schools, crash courses and training institutions are used to enrich government agencies at all levels, and the traditional trial methods of Shaoxing teachers are replaced by new judicial professionals. Moreover, because such law schools, crash courses and training institutions not only specialize in legal knowledge, but also take courses in economics, finance, accounting, statistics and other disciplines, such graduates have widely penetrated into administrative institutions at all levels with their knowledge, gradually eliminating the secret that Shaoxing mentoring taught Qian Gu. With the gradual loss of Shaoxing touts' criminal reputation and the advantage of money valley, their group collapsed and their role and influence turned from prosperity to decline.