The Qing army entered the customs, and the Manchu Qing established a regime of ethnic minorities. In dealing with a large number of Han Chinese, the Manchus still wanted to retain their own characteristics, so they chose not to intermarry with the Han, and the Flag people did not have to be busy with farmland farming, but only needed to garrison the territory. However, in 1900, led by British Vice Admiral Seymour, from the Tianjin Concession, he attacked Beijing.
In the end, China fell into an unprecedented disaster, and it was obviously difficult for these flag bearers to defend their territory, and the country was in danger of being divided. The system that did not adapt to the times would eventually be eliminated, and in 1902, the supreme ruler of the Qing government overthrew the ban on the Manchu Han not being able to marry, and at the same time, no longer issued the flag people's Feng Lu, and directly gave them land to make them self-sufficient. In fact, this is also good for the flag people, after all, the monthly salary is too small, and they are not allowed to engage in other labor to obtain additional income, and the flag people's life is also very poor.
The Qing Dynasty followed the political system of the Ming Dynasty, using the political system of the cabinet plus six ministries. Later, the Yongzheng Emperor introduced the Military Aircraft Department, which replaced the power of the cabinet, so the later political system was the Military Aircraft Department plus six departments. In the modern era, in response to the needs of the new situation, the imperial court added a new department dedicated to dealing with foreigners, namely: the Prime Minister Yamen. Perhaps it was the increasingly heavy task of dealing with foreigners, and the importance of the prime minister Yamen became greater and greater, and later, it was directly listed as the head of the six ministries.
After the Signing of the Treaty of Xinugu, at the request of foreigners, Prime Minister Yamen officially changed his name to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also has its own innovation points: the original six Ministries were all Manchus and Han Dynasties each set up a Shangshu and a Waiter, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only set up one Shangshu and two Shilang, and there was no Distinction between Manchu and Han. This newly established department took the lead in breaking the pattern of the Manchu and Han Dynasties and was at the forefront of reform. In September 1903, the imperial court set up a new department dedicated to the revitalization of commerce and the development of industry, namely: the Ministry of Commerce.
Later, the Ministry of Commerce was combined with the original Ministry of Industry and merged into a single "Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce", which was responsible for the regulation and control of the national economy. At the same time, in response to the requirements of the central authorities, local "agricultural, industrial and commercial bureaus" were set up to manage the local economy. Since ancient times, China has been heavy on agriculture and suppressed business, and even if the business of merchants is large, they will be disdained by readers. So, in such an environment, does the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, which was established, have its influence? The answer is yes.
In the new era, the Qing government still paid more attention to the development of industry, so the status of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce was second only to that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and government officials finally began to discuss the development route of the national industry. Moreover, in order to improve the army, the Qing Dynasty set up a department to specially organize the new army, which was called the "Training Department". After the Ministry of War was renamed the Ministry of War, the Training Department was subordinated to it, and in order to manage the state finances, the Imperial Court established the Finance Department, which was later merged with the Ministry of Households to form the "Degree Branch".
In October 1905, the government established the "Patrol Police Department" to replace the original armor protection system; in December of the same year, the Qing court established the "Academy", which took over the country's education and merged with the original Guozijian. At this point, the original six departments basically no longer exist, and the new departments all implement a single leadership system, and the "Manchu and Han Shuangshangshu" responsibility system no longer appears. It can be said that the Qing government at this time has begun to enter modern society.
In addition, the rectification of the local yamen was imminent, and the scribes and servants of the yamen often deceived the officials who were born in the imperial court and did things without authorization, so as to seek their own interests and make up for the pitiful fenglu. Therefore, in order to improve the efficiency of the yamen, the imperial court stipulated that the affairs of the yamen must be handled by the officials themselves, and the scriveners and errands should be abolished, simplifying the establishment of officials. At the same time, it was imperative to enact the court's own laws.
Foreigners in China's territory, because there is no proper restraint and anger the people. In order to change this situation, in May 1902, the government hired Shen Jiaben and Wu Tingfang to specifically revise the law, requiring them to refer to the laws of other countries and formulate laws suitable for the qing dynasty and use them to restrain the behavior of foreigners in China. The two lived up to their promise and revised the Law Museum within two years. Even if it took two years, shen Jiaben and Wu Tingfang did not go well in the process of revising the law.
They need to break down the tradition of "criminal law as the mainstay and integration of laws" and distinguish between substantive law and procedural law. Substantive law can be re-subdivided and divided into: criminal law, civil law, commercial law and so on. Such reforms have split the traditional "integration of various laws" and transformed it into a system of "separation of laws", laying a good foundation for the establishment of subsequent laws. But innovation is always opposed by die-hard forces, who, by virtue of their power, always intentionally or unconsciously obstruct the reform of the law.
China has always had no separation of the executive and the judiciary, while the Western legal system promotes judicial independence; this reform has made many officials feel that their rights have been weakened, so they are very resistant to the reform. Resistance to reform does not deter reformers. In this reform, the Punishment Department was officially renamed the "Ministry of Law", and the marble was renamed "Dali Yuan", which is equivalent to the Supreme Court, and the two institutions have their own duties and do not interfere with each other.
In addition, local reforms are also being carried out simultaneously, with the establishment of high-level, local and primary courtrooms to enforce the right to trials, while the original division was changed to the "Tifa Division" to play a supervisory role. In this way, from the central to the local level, the judiciary and the judiciary are independent of each other and supervise each other.
After the reform, some bad habits of the society at that time gradually decreased with this reform, the most obvious of which should be: foot binding and opium smoking.
With the propaganda of foreign missionaries and the Chinese to learn from the West, we see the liberation of human nature and the importance of protecting women's rights and interests. In 1902, Empress Dowager Cixi issued an edict formally abolishing the bad practice of foot binding. The opium that had harmed the country for many years was gradually reduced by the British under the pressure of international public opinion, and by 1917, opium was completely banned.
Resources:
["Gengzi Incident", "The Road of China's Reform after 1900"]