Why did corruption lead to the decline of the Qing Dynasty?

Starting a business and reaching prosperity is like climbing a hill. Because of this, it took the Qing Dynasty more than 100 years of great efforts and several generations of continuous struggle to usher in the great cause of Kanggan prosperity. However, after entering the prosperous age, the Qing regime lost its direction and motivation, and the wind of extravagance and corruption rose and became more and more fierce, which led to its prosperity and decline, slipping further and further under the attack of internal and external forces, and finally dying. The historical track of prosperity and arrogance, wealth and luxury in the Qing Dynasty-arrogance and extravagance must be idle, luxury must be greedy-corruption must rot, and corruption must decline, which undoubtedly shows that after prosperity, not seeking progress, coveting luxury and pleasure, arrogance and extravagance will inevitably lead to corruption decline and extinction. Today, people should learn from the history of the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty.

In the Qing Dynasty, ethnic minorities rose from inside Shanhaiguan Pass and then entered the Central Plains. After several generations of hard work, they have accomplished the great cause of national reunification, reached a new peak in social economy, and created a spectacular prosperity in the history of China. However, at the peak of the country, the ruling class gave up its literary martial arts and enterprising spirit, but became extravagant because of its wealth and arrogant because of its wealth. Luxury will inevitably lead to greed, and pride will inevitably lead to laziness. In the end, it will be corroded by greed, and it will fall behind because of slackness, so that the prosperity will be like a passing cloud and quickly slide to decline. The growing wind of corruption has turned the heroic and invincible children of the Eight Banners into the black sheep who spent money like water and lost a mountain. It also makes the original simple and efficient officialdom useless for corrupt officials. As a result, the Qing dynasty declined, slackened, fell behind and was beaten because of corruption, and finally completely perished in the uninterrupted foreign invasion and civil strife. The history of the Qing dynasty from prosperity to decline reflects an unchangeable truth: corruption dispelled the will of national unity and the motive force of progress, leading to social disaster and the collapse of the dynasty.

The Rise of Qing Dynasty and the Prosperity of Kanggan Prosperity

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, after several generations' efforts, there appeared a prosperous period of Kanggan, which was enough to look down on the Han and Tang Dynasties in China's history. The rise of the Qing Dynasty and the emergence of the prosperous period of Kanggan mainly benefited from the implementation of appropriate political, economic and ethnic policies by the rulers from Shunzhi to the early Qianlong period, among which the political incorruptibility in the early Qing Dynasty was the key factor for the rise and prosperity of the Qing Dynasty.

The rise and prosperity of the Qing Dynasty between Baishan and Heishui outside Shanhaiguan is an earth-shattering entrepreneurial history. It took only one generation from Nurhachi (1583) to the establishment of the late Jin regime (16 16). It took only one generation (1645) to build the government, enter the customs and determine the Central Plains.

The reason why a minority with a population of just over 100,000 in the Qing Dynasty was able to rise and rule the Central Plains in two generations was due to its Eight Banners system, which was a combination of good troops and simple administration, and the Eight Banners soldiers who were brave and good at fighting, which was called "winning the world in one fell swoop". After the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, it was able to quickly achieve the state of governing the country and leveling the world. The country's prosperity, social and economic prosperity and sustained population growth mainly depended on a clean and efficient political system, an appropriate national unification policy and a rest and recuperation economic policy.

Because it was "a small soldier approaching a big country", the rulers in the early Qing Dynasty maintained diligence and prudence, and were full of the vitality of new forces. Politically, the rulers in the early Qing Dynasty paid great attention to winning the hearts of the people and the cooperation of most Han people. Compared with the decadent, corrupt and dark social politics of the late Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty represents hope and a new atmosphere. Not only did the Qing army not encounter much resistance, but it was also welcomed by the masses, especially the gentry. Although barbaric policies such as shaving hair, charging fees and enclosure were adopted, the Qing Dynasty quickly abolished the exorbitant taxes and levies of the Ming Dynasty, and implemented political and economic policies such as "Manchu-Chinese integration", "never increasing taxes" and "expanding land", which greatly won the hearts of the people and stabilized the rule.

In the early Qing dynasty, the state institutions were also related to the simple tradition of Manchu people outside China, and the military and political institutions were lean and efficient. In the early Qing Dynasty, the meetings between Wang and Nan's study room and the later military department were much more concise and effective than the six departments in the Ming Dynasty. Only110 of the court staff in the early Qing Dynasty? 1/20, the cost is only 1/8 of that of the Ming dynasty, and the scale of Yuan Ting is only 3/ 10 of that of the Ming dynasty (General Examination of Qing Literature, volume 39, year 29 of Kangxi, year 49 of Kangxi). The highest ruling class, less extravagant and ostentatious, has obvious work efficiency and exemplary role for the whole society. A lean ruling organization can greatly reduce government expenditure, the Qing court can implement a policy of light taxation and reduce the burden on the people. The rulers in the early Qing Dynasty witnessed the tragic scene of the war and the loss of life in the late Ming Dynasty, personally experienced the hardships of founding the country by starting a business, and knew the difficulties of starting a business to conquer the world, so they could be conscientious, honest and clean, and make great efforts to govern the country.

Facing the broken social economy, the long-term war severely damaged, the population dropped sharply, the land was barren, and people's livelihood was depressed. The Qing Dynasty adopted a series of measures, such as changing the land property rights (that is, changing the name of the land), attracting refugees to reward reclamation, the military and civilians vigorously reclaiming land, building water conservancy projects, and scrimping on food and taxes until "never increasing taxes" (17 12), ". Through continuous efforts, the cultivated land area and population of the Qing Dynasty continued to grow rapidly. In 1645, the registered arable land in China was only 403 million mu, which was restored to 608 million mu in 1688 and increased to 708 million mu in 1754. Together with the unregistered cultivated land, the actual cultivated land in the country during the Qianlong period was about 654.38+0 billion mu. The population OECD Qing Dynasty increased from 60 million to about 165 1, 1 76 1 reached 200 million, 1 reached 300 million (Sun Yutang, 080/. If we compare the data of 1790, the proportion in China is much higher. Under the conditions of productivity at that time, the increase of cultivated land area and population was the main symbol of social and economic development. On the basis of the development of agricultural production and the prosperity of industry and commerce, the social wealth and fiscal revenue of the Qing court increased year by year, and the national treasury was rich. 1777 (forty-two years of Qianlong), the national treasury was as high as 81820,000, which became a powerful witness to the social and economic development and national prosperity in the early Qing Dynasty.

After four generations of 65,438+000 years of hard work and rest, the social economy developed rapidly, and the cultivated land and population doubled. The history of China entered another peak since the Tang and Song Dynasties-the prosperous time of Kanggan. During the continuous rise and prosperity in the early Qing Dynasty 100, the Qing Dynasty overcame a series of difficulties and challenges at home and abroad, and its national strength and prestige reached its peak. An unprecedented broad, unified, prosperous and powerful Qing Empire stands in the east of the world.

One of the fundamental reasons for the decline from prosperity: corruption.

Under the unprecedented prosperity, the Qing empire lurked a huge crisis-luxury, arrogance, corruption and other malignant tumors grew wildly in prosperity, eroding and destroying the body of the country and society day by day. When the imperial court was complacent about Gan Long's literacy skills and indulged in the prosperous times, the Qing Dynasty quickly fell from the peak of the prosperous times, and soon fell from the prosperous times of Kanggan to the prosperous times of Jiadao. Decline followed the peak, and everything was ready during the Qianlong period, which was strikingly similar to the historical tragedy of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline during the Kaiyuan Tianbao period.

The literary martial arts and economic prosperity of the Qianlong dynasty were the result of the efforts of generations of Shunzhi, Kangxi and Yongzheng, and Qianlong basically enjoyed its own success. Just at this time, the whole court, from the emperor to officials at all levels, was overjoyed. The rulers relaxed their bureaucracy and abandoned the tradition of being honest and simple, and extravagance became increasingly popular. Because Qianlong was overjoyed and arrogant, the military affairs in the DPRK continued. The so-called perfection, protracted, wasting people and money. Although the fiscal revenue of the Qianlong dynasty increased compared with the previous generation, the expenditure increased faster and the growth rate of the national treasury reserve slowed down greatly. By the time Jiaqing changed the yuan, it was already a huge empty shelf, so Jiaqing had to take it and take a bite. Hook? Male m? Promise? Hey? 〕? Do you want to be clear? Owe Qin? Chang's sources of income (including donations, merchants' services, the price increase of salt and Tianjin, raising funds to protect honesty and even selling officials and titles) have been increasing and become the norm. Although these abnormal incomes can alleviate the temporary emergency, they are tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst for the government and the country and society. The national finance relies on a large amount of abnormal income, which has already seen the clue of corruption in the Qing Dynasty and will inevitably eventually decline.

The more basic and decisive reason for the rapid decline of the Qing Dynasty is the extravagance, arrogance and corruption of the whole bureaucratic system and even the whole society in a closed and arrogant environment. After being rich, the ruling and opposition parties are ignorant of the times, unable to see the changes in the overall situation of the world, losing the direction and motivation to move on, coveting the luxury enjoyment in front of them and pursuing the extravagant life of partying and getting drunk. The wind of greed, extravagance and greed spread all over the officialdom, which made the seemingly powerful Qing Dynasty lurk a huge crisis of social chaos and decline and collapse.

In his later years, the extravagance and corruption of Kangxi rose, and was later controlled by strict economy and hell to pay during the Yongzheng period. When Qianlong arrived, with the prosperity of economy and abundant financial resources, the wind of extravagance and corruption revived and intensified. Ganlong went to the south of the Yangtze River six times, traveled around the mountains and waters, picked up the car along the way to bid farewell, paid tribute to it, and built great buildings. Luxury and ostentation and extravagance are unprecedented and a waste of money.

What? Ganlong takes the lead and the demonstration effect is unparalleled. Officials, large and small, take advantage of opportunities such as driving to be extremely luxurious. In order to talk about ostentation and extravagance, they tried their best to share donations, bribe and blackmail. As a result, the bad style of corruption has intensified. However, the righteousness of obeying the law, being diligent and thrifty, being honest and honest is increasingly isolated. From the emperor down, no matter the princes and nobles, officials, big landlords and big businessmen, they all lead a life of feasting and drunkenness, especially the Manchu you cherish, which is most polluted by luxury and lewdness. Manchu Akdang Arenhuai has been the governor for more than ten years, and there are countless people who are fat and rich, so they are called "God of Wealth". The luxury of Han bureaucrats is similar. Most officials, big or small, go home empty-handed. When they go home, they pull carts and carry boats.

The extravagant life of the ruling class is accompanied by widespread corruption and corruption of power institutions. In the process of the superficial prosperity and decline of the Qing Dynasty, corruption spread like cancer cells in the body of the country and society, damaging the health of the country. During the Yongzheng period, he was determined to reform the long-standing abuses, practice "returning envy to the people", substantially increase the salary of officials ("fostering honesty"), rectify official management, and fight corruption with an iron fist to recover compensation, so that the wind of corruption was temporarily restrained. By the time of Qianlong, the bureaucracy was expanding and aging, and the efficiency of administrative operation was getting lower and lower. Because the emperor took the lead in extravagant corruption, the corrupt cells lurking in the bureaucracy lost their inhibitory power, and they obtained crazy environmental conditions. Bribery and corruption have become the norm in the ruling and opposition circles. In the middle and late Qianlong period, major corruption cases occurred one after another. 1757, the "Golden Furnace Case" occurred between Governor Heng Wen of Yunnan and Governor Guo of Yunnan. In the process of operating the tribute furnace, the two men bought low and sold high, adulterated and faked, and pocketed their own money. In the same year, another case of embezzlement of funds occurred when Jiang Zhou, governor of Shandong Province, was the governor of Shanxi Province. After the incident, Hengwen was ordered to commit suicide, Jiangzhou was punished and Guo was exiled. Subsequently, three salt cases occurred successively in Gaofeng, Pufu and Lu Jianzeng, and the amount of corruption reached100000 (equivalent to14 of the annual revenue of the Qing court). After the incident, all three were punished. However, since then, major corruption cases have not decreased, but have increased. 178 1 year, Zhejiang Governor Wang. ⑼? Do you want to go to Fu? Answer? Hey? More than 0 people, Wang? ⑼? Two people were executed, and Jin Erjin, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, committed suicide. Moreover, the case was established in the case. Chen Huizu, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, who investigated the case, exchanged gold for silver in the process of seizing property and took Wang's stolen goods for himself. After the incident, Chen Huizu was ordered to commit suicide. 1782 There was another case in which the Governor of Shandong, Guotai and Buzheng, embezzled the state treasury, and Cathay committed suicide after the case. 1786 Wu Lanna, Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Pulin, Governor of Fujian, were punished for demanding bribes. 1792, Song Fu, the governor of Zhejiang Province, committed suicide for asking for bribes and misappropriating public funds. Although a number of corrupt people have been slaughtered, and many of them are governors, governors and other senior officials, the wind of corruption in officialdom is getting worse and worse, because it is being done harmoniously. [The word is stuck? Hey? KINOMOTO SAKURA? Shallow swallowing? Guide bite? Do you rely on muscle insurance? Psst? Are you carried away by words? Hey? How dare you? Reply? This is the tip of the iceberg of corruption cases. The above-mentioned crimes were punished by the viceroy, all of which were revealed and could not be concealed, and the rest were not reported. He Kun was in power for more than 20 years under the protection of Qianlong, and the value of private property seized reached 654.38 billion taels, equivalent to the government's fiscal revenue for two years at that time. Even two of his servants were robbed of more than 7 million yuan. Therefore, there was a folk saying at that time: "He Kun fell, Jiaqing was full."

At that time, the officialdom was obviously corrupt, but Qianlong still pretended to be deaf and dumb, whitewashed peace and refused to listen to advice. 1790, Yin Zhuang, assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, wrote "A lazy admonition map", saying: "Governors and officials are notorious, and their bureaucracy is lax. I passed by and observed whether the officials were virtuous. Half of the businessmen and the people frowned and sighed. Generally speaking, the atmosphere in all provinces is the same "(Zhao Erxun: Draft of the History of Qing Dynasty 109). Qianlong was furious after seeing it. First, he was sentenced to "beheading" for the crime of "deceiving the public and falsely remonstrating", and then he was relegated to avoid the reputation of Cheng Yin Zhuang's loyal remonstrance.

In this atmosphere of only listening to good words, ignoring rules and advice, avoiding illness and avoiding medical treatment, protecting officials from each other, shielding them from top to bottom, collecting money and not accepting bribes, regardless of whether the people live or die, officials of all sizes are persisting, deceiving their superiors and deceiving their subordinates, and are ineffective and ineffective. Cao Zhenyong was a famous celebrity in Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang Dynasties, and he was a very important official. His way of being an official is "kowtow more and talk less". It was these people who governed the country in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, and the consequences could be imagined.

Corruption was also the direct cause of the disintegration of the Qing military and the decline of the army's combat effectiveness. The army is the pillar of the state machine and the guarantee of national prosperity and social stability. In the middle and late Qianlong period, with political corruption, there was a phenomenon of military slack and abandonment of military equipment. The Eight Banners soldiers in the early Qing Dynasty were brave and good at fighting. When entering the customs, he was invincible and made great contributions to defining the Central Plains and unifying the whole country. However, after only one generation, the Eight Banners and the Manchu Dynasty degenerated and decayed due to various privileges and lost the heroic spirit of their ancestors. In Kangxi's campaign to quell the "San Francisco rebellion", the Eight Banners' military discipline was lax and their military strength was not as good as before. Since then, the children of the Eight Banners and the Eight Banners soldiers have become more arrogant and lazy. With the power in their hands, they run amok and do all kinds of evil. Not only military discipline is corrupt, training is sparse, life is corrupt, drug abuse, gambling, whoring, and even extortion and trampling on the people. Originally, the Eight Banners soldiers, who were brave and good at fighting, turned into master soldiers who could not fight but would only disturb the people, and the children of the Eight Banners became idle dandies and black sheep living in the open land. Later, there was a war in the imperial court, mainly relying on green camp. However, in a corrupt social environment, people in green camp are also rapidly corrupt, embezzling military salaries, colluding with soldiers and bandits, and corruption has become a common practice, which can only scare ordinary people. When Emperor Jiaqing was the Crown Prince, he had a military parade with Qianlong, but what he saw was "archery, empty arrow; The farce of running a horse to the ground (Volume 7 of Jiaqing Chaodong Lu Hua, the first month of Jiaqing 4th year). Because both the Eight Banners and green camp were corrupted and lost their fighting capacity, the Qing Dynasty had to mainly use Xiang Yong and Ying Yong in the social uprising in An Baili. By the time of the Opium War, the Eight Banners, green camp, Xiang Yong and Yingyong were all useless, and hundreds of thousands of Qing troops were defeated by more than 10,000 British expeditionary forces. Since then, the Qing Dynasty has fallen into the abyss of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Due to the imperialist invasion and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising and other civil strife, the situation in the Qing Dynasty became increasingly out of control and corruption became more and more serious. The military, political and financial power gradually shifted outward, and the central authority gradually decreased. Under the impact of internal troubles and foreign invasion and the erosion of internal corruption, the Qing Dynasty gradually went to the point of no return.

The inevitable consequence of extravagant corruption in bureaucratic institutions is to intensify the oppression and exploitation of ordinary people, leading to the increasing poverty of the general public. Bureaucrats, nobles, landlords and wealthy businessmen have swallowed up a lot of land, and more and more farmers have lost their land. There are also a large number of farmers who abandoned their fields and fled, lost their livelihood and wandered around because they could not stand the exorbitant expropriation. The number of social refugees has increased dramatically, social instability factors have increased day by day, class contradictions have become increasingly acute, and a major social storm is brewing. 1796 In February, the Anbaili uprising broke out, which lasted for nine years and swept through five provinces including Hubei and Sichuan. The Qing dynasty mobilized troops from 16 province, and it took 22,000 yuan to put out the uprising. The An Baili Rebellion stripped the prosperous coat of the Qing Dynasty and exposed its decadent and weak nature, which became the turning point of the Qing Dynasty from prosperity to decline.