明代における考課政策の變化 : 考滿と考察の關係を中心に

Abstract

During the Ming dynasty there existed two contradictory systems to evaluate bureaucrats. These systems were known as Kao-Man and Kao-Cha. A key component of the Kao-Man system was the principle of 3-Kao-9-Nien 三考九年, which guaranteed at least a 3-year term to all bureaucrats in order to allow them to perform their official duties in more stable environment. This system also promoted continuity and efficiency in the implementation of their policy by making it possible to clearly establish the assignment of responsibilities. This system was widely acknowledged as the precondition for good government 善政 to be pursued by local officials. The Kao-Cha system, under which censors were dispatched to local districts to carry out inspections and impeachments, has been criticized for the lack of impartiality and systematic ethics inherent in the system from its inception. Because the system itself was intended to forcibly remove incompetent officials, it necessarily contained innate factors that provoked resistance among the existing corps of of officials. In this respect, it can be asserted that the prevalent tendency to view the Kao-Man system as the ideal evaluation system evolved as a reaction to the systematic implementation of the Kao-Cha system as a practical evaluation policy. In fact, however, there evolved problems in relation to personnel management which could not be solved by the Kao-Man system. A reserve pool of candidates for the bureaucracy was increasing in number on a national scale, while the number of available posts within the bureaucracy was limited. Under the Ming, appointment to bureaucratic office was opened to all via the education system 學校制 and the national examinations to select officials 科舉制. The incorporation of this vast pool of candidates into the bureaucratic system was an essential requirement in order to maintain dynastic stability. The Kao-Cha system had advanced a solution to this problem by accelerating the internal metabolism of the bureaucracy via the expulsion of bureaucrats and implementation of personnel shifts among officials in office. The Kao-Man system, on the other hand, contained intrinsic mechanisms which served to reduce the turnover of bureaucrats--an effect far removed from its original purpose. In the end, in the attempt to manage the bureaucracy using the Kao-Cha system, the Ming dynasty was forced to abandon the principle of 3-Kao-9-Nien, and this in turn resulted in the consolidation of the Kao-Cha system. This was an inevitable occurrence caused by the adoption of an open bureaucratic structure which could be organically integrated with the whole society.