Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/60

latest and best commentators, "is the true official unit of Chinese corporate life," every Chinaman being described, before all other attributes, as coming from such a hien, and the hien magistrate (Chih-hien), being in practice the real administrator of all local affairs as well as the judge and tax-collector in his district. The chief official of the fu (Chih-fu) stands next to the Chi-hien, and immediately above both is the chief official of the tao, the Tao-tai, a term familiar to all foreign readers of Chinese annals. Still higher in the scale stands the governor or prefect (Fu-tai or Fu-yuen), and highest of all is the governor-general (Tung-tub), commonly called "viceroy" by foreigners. The office of governor-general is of comparatively modern creation. Its origin dates from the closing years of the Ming dynasty (third decade of the seventeenth century), when, for the purpose of dealing with some questions of special importance which involved more than one province, a kind of high commissioner was temporarily appointed. To the Manchu rulers who succeeded the Ming, this post of high commissioner, or governor-general, presented itself as a useful instrument for establishing and consolidating their sway, and thus the office assumed its permanent character. Stated in the order of supposed importance the viceroyalties, or governor-generalships are:———

1. The Viceroyalty of the Two Kiang (the provinces of Kiangsi and the original Kiangnan, the latter of which is now replaced by Kiangsu