Stretching the Qing Bureaucracy in the 1826 Sea-Transport Experiment

Download or read book Stretching the Qing Bureaucracy in the 1826 Sea-Transport Experiment written by Jane Kate Leonard and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-12-10 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a new study of the Qing government’s 1826 experiment in sea transport of government grain in response to the collapse of the Grand Canal (1825), Jane Kate Leonard highlights how the Daoguang Emperor, together with Yinghe, his chief fiscal adviser, and Qishan, Governor-General of Liangjiang, devised and implemented this innovative plan by temporarily stretching the Qing bureaucracy to include local “assistant” officials and ad hoc bureaus (ju) and by recruiting (zhaoshang) private organizations, such as merchant shippers, dockside porters, and lighterage fleets. This is significant because it explains how the Qing leadership was able to respond successfully to crises and change without permanently expanding the reach and expense of the permanent bureaucracy.