Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/71
ADMINISTRATION
hien, and that the links in ascending order run thus:———
(1) Hien magistrate (chih-bien).
(2) Chief officer of the fu (chib-fu).
(3) Chief officer of the tao (tao-tai).
(4) Provincial judge.
(5) Provincial treasurer.
(6) Provincial governor (fu-tai).
(7) Viceroy (tsung-tub).
To reach the working parts of the executive machine, the Throne gives its orders to a board in Peking; the board instructs the viceroy and governor; the viceroy and governor convey the
instruction to a treasurer and judge; the two latter pass it on to the tao-tai; the tao-tai transmits it to the head of the fu, and the fu makes it known to the hien magistrate. There are officials of similar status to the above and corresponding functions though having different titles; namely, the Chih-chou, who is practically a variety of Chih-fu, and the Fu-yin, or governor of a metropolitan fu (namely, Peking, Nanking, or Mukden). But these do not disturb the general sequence given above.
A strict rule of the civil service in China is that men must not serve in the province of their nativity; an absolutely necessary rule, since it would be almost impossible that any official should
perform his duties quite independently of clan or family influence, under the circumstances existing in China, were his own home within the range
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