Los conceptos y técnicas de auditoría

Han Chen referred to them as the "invisible government inside the capital" just because they had the knowledge of the .laws and this made them indispensable in the central government•

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in the "invisible government outside the capital", they

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still held considerable power in local government. In chou and hsien yamen, the hsu-1i were organized into six fang(^roffice): civil affairs, revenue, rites, military

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affairs, punishment, and works. ‘ The number of hsu-li

differed from yamen to yamen. The official figure was

that every hsien yamen had 11 hsu—l i , but the actual figure was much higher, from about three or four hundred to two

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or three thousand.

The hsu-li at this time received practically no salary at a l l , ^ so they had to resort to such practices as embez­ zlement, extortion etc. to make a living.

Lu Lung-chi ( ^ d. 1692) once made the following comment,

"The defects of the present dynasty can be summed up into three -words: precedents) , li($ hsu- li) and li profit) .

The comment had further been stated that,

"Li ( hsu-li) use liC^1) precedents) to get l i ( &1 profit)•

Almost all the local officials knew that they could not trust the hsu-li, b u t as they themselves did not know much about the intricacies of the laws, they still had to make use of them in the yamen in large numbers. So in order

to check on the hsu-li from usurping the power, the magis­ trate used nu-fu. Many of these mu-fu were people who had studied for the civil service examinations, but had failed, and then turned to a study of laws in order to gain posi-

tions as mu-fu« ^ Similarly, both hsii-li and mn-fu were experts in laws, so that the magistrates could also rely on mu-fu to deal with legal matters, and also use them to check the hsu-li. . The matter of supervision of hsü-li was emphasized by Wang Hui-tsu in the following statement

"There are hsu-li serving in the six offices in a yanen. Legal matters are in the charge of the hsu~li of law, and taxation is in the charge of the hsu-li of taxation. There is no lack of ex­ perienced persons around them. Yet the reason an official relies upon his mu-fu is that the duties of a mu-fu consist of assisting the offi­ cial and supervising the hsu-li« A proverb says,

'an incorrupt official cannot escape a wicked hsu-li1. While an official has hsu-li under his command, all the hsu-li use their energy in

looking for an opportunity when the official is not on the alert. As an official attends to numerous matters of business, it is impossible for him to supervise every one of them. Every mu-fu, on the other hand, has his special duty and is able to check the corruption of the hsu-li.""

Perhaps the following quotation could explain the relationship between the laws and the mu-fu best,

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laws and the burden of paper-work; as precedents increase day by day; it is no wonder then that

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their power falls into the hands of the mu—fu,n 5• Shortcomings of the Officials

In comparison wi th previous dynasties, it has been stated that the officials of the Ch'ing Dynasty were the most unqualified administrators# This can be seen

from the following:

A# Lack of Administrative Training

During the Han Dynasty, the qualifications of a scholar needed for appointment to an official post were

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based on his administrative training and experience# But since the introduction of the civil service examina­ tions system in the Sui and T'ang period, the sole knowled­ ge required of a prospective official was a knowledge of the classics and an ability to write elegant essays and poetry# However, these were the only subjects that were

given any real attention# But, this was no real prepara­ tion for the problems and vicissitudes of an administrative career, as newly appointed officials soon discovered# This system was criticized by statesmen such as V7ang An-shih

( “5 - 5 ^ 1021-1086) in the Sung Dynasty and politicial philosophers such as Ku Yen-vru(|'|*K'^ l6l3*“l682) in the

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Ming Dynasty#

The narrow emphasis placed on the pa-ku( fly eight- 1egged essay) in the examinations during the C h ’ing Dynasty

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C h ’ing period, there was a regulation which provided for a period of one year’s administrative training for chou and hsien magistrates before they were actually assigned to their posts, this regulation was never strictly adhered to, with the result that the vast majority of new magis­ trates went to their first post with virtually no practical

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