Chincha ministers were mainly informal, unconventional appointments that were personally selected by the emperor to participate in supervision and management. In ancient times, the chincha minister had very great power in the local area, "chin" means "emperor", chincha means "emperor dispatch".
Both the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty sent officials to inspect various places, which were temporary dispatches, but there was no specific official name at that time; until the Ming Dynasty, Qin Cha first appeared in the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, and ordered Prince Yiwen to patrol Shaanxi, which was also a temporary dispatch. In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, 26 people, including Jian Yi, toured the provinces, and since then, China has produced a "patrol system".
In the five years of Xuande, Yu Qian, Zhou Chen, and 6 other people were divided into places directly under the jurisdiction of the north and the south, and since then, the permanent inspectors of the provinces have gradually become a system. At the beginning, the inspector was only set up to supervise taxes and grain, the prime minister of the river, the care of the displaced people, the rectification of the border passes, and then the emphasis on the military. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, most of the inspectors were born into the jinshi, and gradually established the system and official title of the minister of Chincha, but the official use of the title of "Minister of Chincha" was something that happened after the Manchu Qing entered the customs.
After the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Qing Dynasty continued to follow the ming system and set up chincha ministers. However, the officials who can serve as chincha ministers are usually high officials, and it is a very honorable thing to be able to get this position. However, the minister of Chincha generally finished his work at the local level and returned to Beijing, and this official position was immediately abolished.
In fact, the precedent of appointing ministers to go out to run errands has always existed in ancient China, and gradually formed the exclusive title of Minister of Chincha. Among them, the status of the Qing Dynasty's Chincha ministers was also higher than that of other dynasties, which was inseparable from the Qing Dynasty's implementation of a highly centralized centralized system of centralization, so the Qing Dynasty appointed a large number of Chincha ministers.
The Qing Dynasty's Qin Cha was also known as the Qin Envoy, and the commander of the army was also called the Qin Shuai. At that time, Lin Zexu went to Guangzhou with a non-smoking task, and he was also Chincha. In general, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Chincha ministers were very "popular", which had a lot to do with the fact that there were no prime ministers in the two generations and the emperor's power was unprecedented.
So why was this official position created?
There are three main reasons:
First, the phenomenon of corruption among local officials has become increasingly prominent, and even hindered the centralization of power, so it is necessary to appoint Chincha to the localities to rectify the situation, so as to strengthen local management.
Second, if there is a sudden emergency or major situation in the locality, it is necessary to visit Chincha. For example, during the Kangxi Dynasty, the San Francisco Rebellion occurred, and Kangxi sent Chincha to the local area to deal with military affairs, and at the same time, he also asked Chincha to supervise the arrival of military supplies and supplies.
Third, when the local government encountered very complicated or did not know how to handle affairs, it was difficult for local officials to handle them independently, so they would request the imperial court to send a minister of Chincha to assist.
After the minister of Chincha arrived in the place, first of all, to prove his identity, in the case of underdeveloped information technology in ancient times, the emperor often had to issue relevant vouchers and documents to the minister of Chincha to support his identity.
However, the credentials obtained by different levels of Chincha ministers are different, for example, the minister in charge of military affairs will be guarded by the chincha minister in advance; the chincha minister who handles general affairs will only obtain the local official seal letter after settling the matter. In addition, since the Chincha Minister enjoyed a higher status and power than the local officials, the Chincha Minister was not an ordinary person.
The Qing court was very strict in the selection of this position, and it was necessary to have both moral integrity and ability to take office. Of course, the Minister of Chincha did not arrive at the place alone, but was accompanied by an entourage, usually an official of the main gate. However, the authority of the accompanying officials is very limited, and they mainly rely on the minister of Chincha, who assists Lord Chincha in handling the case, but during this period, they must not interfere too much.
Since the minister of Chincha usually went to a place far from the capital to run errands, it was necessary to use transportation. The Qing Dynasty stipulated that the ministers of Chincha needed to travel by stagecoach horses, which were provided by the caravanserai along the way. Many times, Lord Chincha also has to stop by to inspect the station, which is also one of their duties.
Of course, after Lord Chincha arrives in the locality, in addition to the above-mentioned general affairs and military affairs, it is also necessary to try more difficult cases, usually major cases with serious circumstances and spanning provinces.
Its main purpose is to put an end to favoritism and fraud by local officials and to put an end to the situation in which local officials and officials protect each other. In addition, after the "Beijing Control System" was banned during the Jiaqing period, the imperial court would often personally send chincha ministers to personally try cases of civil petitions and appeals to ensure that false cases and unjust cases were eliminated. Due to the special nature of the status of the Minister of Chincha, in order to improve local affairs as soon as possible, the Qing Dynasty would reward the Minister of Chincha and have corresponding measures.
For those who can complete the task and have outstanding achievements, they will receive verbal praise from the emperor, actual rewards, promotions and salary increases, etc. Of course, if he received the emperor's personal commendation, it would be a supreme honor; but if the Chincha minister did not do a good job, or even if there was a dereliction of duty or dereliction of duty, the emperor would punish the Chincha minister according to the severity of the situation, usually reprimanded, demoted, dismissed, put on a shackle, and even executed.
It can be seen from this that the provisions of this system have greatly enhanced the ability of the Minister of Chincha to do things. Results-oriented, with the goal of improving efficiency, at the same time, it has also played a good role in supervising the rectification of corruption in local officials.
But where there are advantages, there are drawbacks.
The Minister of Chincha exercised the power of supervision on behalf of the emperor and had a strong sense of independence. Under normal circumstances, Chincha ministers were able to hear cases quickly because they had the privileges temporarily granted by the emperor. When the Chincha minister arrived at the place, the local officials were sincerely afraid, so they tried to meet the chincha minister, which led to the chincha minister and their neighbors to engage in illegal acts such as abusing power for personal gain and favoritism.
Once such a situation occurred, it not only had a very bad impact on the qing dynasty's officials, but also destroyed the atmosphere of the Qing dynasty's officialdom. Although the Chincha ministers were complementary to the official functions of the Qing Dynasty when they first appeared, in the later period, they had a greater adverse impact. In general, the power of the Chincha minister was not only affected by the authority prescribed by the imperial court, but also by his own character and ability.
For example, when Hu Ruilan was the minister of Chincha, he knew nothing about the criminal name, was mediocre in talent, and refused to do anything. The magistrate was superficially obedient, but in fact he was at the mercy of him and reduced him to a puppet-like chincha minister. Until 1911, Yuan Shikai was appointed as the minister of Chincha to suppress the revolutionary army, and in 1912, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty abdicated and the Qing Dynasty collapsed, making the Chincha minister system completely disappear on the stage of history.
Resources:
[Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "Minister of Chincha", "Chayu Keshu Qincha Official Envoy"]