There was a landlord in Shanxi in the Qing Dynasty, who trained cadres to start from dolls and even donated an official for his 6-year-old son. To be precise, the "official" donated is only a reserve cadre. This child waited, waited, waited until he was 80 years old, and finally became the executive vice mayor of a certain place - Wupin Tongzhi. This black political humor vividly portrays the suffering of alternate officials waiting for their posts.
Huang Lanjie, a Fujian candidate from Zhi County, who was born into a jinshi, was unwilling to wait so stupidly. In 1881, when the leaves were drifting, he rushed to Beijing and begged his father's Fa Xiao and zuo Zongtang, the current minister of military aviation, to write a note. When he knew Huang Lanjie's intentions, the upright and selfless Zuo Zongtang pulled down his face:
"If you really have the ability, sooner or later the above will use you, and it will be wrong for you to engage in crooked doors and evil ways."
This was the only chance to change his destiny, and Huang Lanjie opened up:
"You are a famous minister of ZTE, your skills are big enough, but if there is no Zeng Wenzheng Gong's strong recommendation, you must still be planting rice in your hometown in Hunan!" In the past, I also believed that gold would always shine, but now that I see that the donor officials who can't write their names are arranging work, can you not be in a hurry? If even you don't understand or care, the readers will have no hope, and then the Third Opium War, our country will lose! ”
Zuo Zongtang was angry: "I see that you are suitable for returning to your hometown to grow rice, look at your father's points, I will send you dozens of acres of paddy fields!"
Huang Lanjie's mood was extremely low, and he wandered the street like a headless fly. When he turned to the glass factory, his eyes suddenly lit up.
Huang Lanjie found that there were many shops in Liulichang selling counterfeit celebrity calligraphy, including Zuo Zongtang's calligraphy. Huang Lanjie hesitated for half a moment, and fearfully bought a "Zuo Zongtang" fan.
Soon, He Zhang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, summoned reserve cadres to talk to each other and educated everyone to strengthen their convictions, improve their quality, and be ready to accept the state's selection at any time. When it was Huang Lanjie's turn, the governor found that this guy always fanned hard and made a loud noise. He Zhang's heart was tired, and he loudly reprimanded: "Do you still want to make progress in this style?" It's almost winter now, as for being so hot! ”
Huang Lanjie began to recite his lines: "I'm sorry, the fan was sent by a big leader in Beijing, I don't dare to leave my body." ”
He Zhang took a look at the fan, and it turned out to be Zuo Zongtang's own inscription, and he was surprised: "Do you know Lord Zuo?"
Huang Lanjie calmly replied: "Uncle Zuo is an old friend of my father and has been friends for decades." ”
When He Zhang heard this, his face turned pale. After work, he complained to the secretary: "I always thought he was a turtle, let the family sit on the cold bench for many years, and this is over!"
The secretary was very calm, and softly offered four words of truth: "Special Affairs Special Office."
Ten days later, Huang Lanjie carried the appointment notice and became a county commander in a large county with smooth wind and rain every year.
Soon, He Zhang took an opportunity to meet Zuo Zongtang specifically and sincerely criticize himself: "Our work has not been done well, and a good cadre like Huang Lanjie, who has both moral integrity and ability, we didn't find out until recently, and almost delayed people. ”
Zuo Zongtang smiled: "Xiao Huang has become an official?" This kid came to me last year to write a letter of recommendation and asked me to scold back. I'll just say, where are the leaders who don't love talent. ”
He Zhang secretly rejoiced: it seemed that the use of the Huanglan Order was right, and it must be further cultivated.
After returning to Fujian, He Zhang continued to report to the central authorities, repeatedly publicizing how prominent Huang Lanjie's political achievements were. Kung Fu did not pay off, and soon, Huang Lanjie was promoted to Tingzhang Daoist and led the second capital of Tingzhou and Zhangzhou, with four official ranks, which was about equal to today's sub-provincial level. At this time, it had only been two years since he was fanning and fanning at the Governor's Mansion in Fujian and Zhejiang.
A fan has such a big magic power, which has aroused great interest from people: He Zhang's sudden appointment, the promotion of Huang Lanjie, Zuo Zongtang has a number in mind, is it with tacit understanding to perform double reeds, or is he in the dark?
Zuo Zongtang had a miraculous merit in recovering Xinjiang and maintaining national unity, and his education was very low (he had not been admitted to the jinshi) but he was made a marquis, and such a perfect and legendary high-ranking cadre was too few in the late Qing Dynasty, so many people preferred to believe that he was fooled and deceived, and the yin and yang helped. Some people also believe that Zuo Zongtang was kind and clever, and used He Zhang's psychology of leadership to help his friend's children find a job, confiscating half a copper plate from the Huang family and not repaying He Zhang, which was really harmless.
These speculations all have some truth, but they are not critical. The crux of the matter is, why did Huang Lanjie run for office, ask for official positions, and cheat on officials? If he couldn't fight zuo Zongtang's eight rods, or after he touched the nail in zuo's house, he didn't go to the glass factory and didn't buy the "magic fan", what would be the end?
In the history of feudal China, the political corruption of the Qing Dynasty can be described as the pinnacle, and the corruption of officials is the most core part of it. Among them, the donation system that began in the Kangxi Dynasty was initially limited in quotas and harsh conditions, but in the late Qing Dynasty, it was rampant, which played a role in fueling and adding fuel to the fire of corruption among officials.
Beginning in Xianfeng, internal strife and external troubles continued, and the imperial court tried to make up for the serious financial deficit by massively increasing the number of officials donated to the government; in addition, like Huang Lanjie, there was an endless stream of soldiers sent by officials to various ministries and localities, and the contingent of reserve cadres was getting longer and longer. During the Guangxu period, there were more than 1,400 reserve cadres at all levels in Hubei Province alone. Due to the limitations of the establishment, the number of turnips and pits is not proportional at all, and it is not surprising to wait 10 or 20 years to take up work; there are also many people who have not passed a day of official addiction until they die, and the 80-year-old cadre in Shanxi is lucky. Therefore, at that time, the society simply called them "disaster officials", which meant that they were alternate officials, which was simply a living sin.
Although so many cadres are not easy to digest, if the system of selection and appointment is designed in a scientific and standardized manner and the order of use is determined according to objective standards, then even if it is solved late or even not solved, they do not have to think of crooked ideas and continue to improve themselves. At the beginning, the reserve cadres were subject to dual management, the selection and appointment work was mainly responsible for the officials, the local governors and inspectors also had the right to investigate and use suggestions, the power was both decentralized and a customized agreement, and the two circles were counted. It is indeed difficult to open the two joints of the official and the supervisor at the same time. This kind of institutional arrangement has played a certain role in preventing corruption in the employment of personnel.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the central government's power declined, local forces grew larger, and the management and use rights of reserve cadres were gradually embezzled by local governments. Without the restraint of the officials, the supervision is like a fish in the water, whether the cadre is gold or not, whether he shines or not, all depends on his mouth. Whoever sends more money will use whomever gives it, appoint many people to one post, appoint them today, remove them tomorrow, and then appoint others; these various methods of accumulating wealth are actually a hat that has been sold repeatedly, and the system of electing officials that has been so hard to form for two hundred years has been completely destroyed. This made a poor scholar like Huang Lanjie feel like ashes, if he always insisted on not being "bad", he would confess for a lifetime.
Reserve cadres are already poor, and if there is no one on them, there is only one way to borrow and pay tribute. Since the official hat was bought with blood, once he seized the opportunity, how could he be honest and self-disciplined? How is it possible not to fish hard? How is it possible to spend your mind on work? Creditors are lining up at the door!
In this way, those who buy and those who sell officials form a biological chain, interlocking with each other, and each gets what they deserve, and the result is that the bureaucracy has swelled sharply, corruption and open fire have been waged, the people's burdens have been further increased, and social contradictions have been constantly intensifying. Daqing, who had long been trapped in the mud pond, could no longer support it, and finally fell down violently. To say that the corruption of officials is the greatest corruption lies in the fact that it can completely destroy the cornerstone of political rule and uproot the legitimacy of the regime!
Unchecked power is the first domino to fall in the corrupt ecosystem, and after this card is down, disasters will erupt and intensify, and it will be costly, inefficient, and passive to prevent. Therefore, while maintaining the deterrent of punishment, freeing up a hand to prevent the first card from falling is a long-term and most economical strategy. Different means of prevention have their own value, but it is the system that is instrumental. The reason why Comrade Wang Qishan emphasized "strengthening system construction and implementing system innovation" is here.
Strengthening system construction and implementing system innovation means not only increasing the "quantity" of the system, but also improving the "quality" of the system. Only by embodying the law and function of power checks and balances can the system be worthy of its name; the full degree of power checks and balances is directly proportional to the scientific nature and effectiveness of the system -- Huang Lanjie's life ups and downs provides evidence for this.
Unchecked power is the first domino to fall in the corrupt ecosystem, and after this card is down, disasters will erupt and intensify, and it will be costly, inefficient, and passive to prevent. Therefore, while maintaining the deterrent of punishment, freeing up a hand to prevent the first card from falling is a long-term and most economical strategy.
Source | China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily
Author 丨 Xi Hua
Edit | Shi Ji Shuai
Proofreading | Lee March
『Daily Learning』
Article 81 of the Regulations on Disciplinary Punishment of the Communist Party of China
Whoever, in violation of relevant provisions, acquires foreign nationality or obtains a permanent residence qualification or a long-term residence permit outside the country (territory) shall be given the punishment of removal from party posts, probation in the party, or expulsion from the party.
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