Abstract:

Qing Kuan was a “legendary figure” in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. He became a bannerman of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from a civilian. With his expertise in painting and the opportunity to carry on imperial missions, he was promoted step by step to the candidate of a third rank minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the crowded officialdom in the late Qing Dynasty. He also accumulated a large amount of wealth. As a result, he caused jealousy of other officials and was punished by Emperor Guangxi’s order of the confiscation of his house. After the Reform Movement of 1898, Qing Kuan used his old social relations to become the special envoy to Japan. Because of the “achievements” of the Boxer Protocol, he got recommendation and his original Bannerman status and rank were restored. In the last ten years of the late Qing Dynasty, Qing Kuan made a last-ditch effort in his official career, but ended up as a governor of the fourth rank. So, he decided to leave officialdom. In the early ten years of the Republic of China, Qing Kuan observed the political situation from a civilian perspective. Sometimes he, as a bannerman, paid attention to bannermen’s livelihood, and sometimes he, as an ordinary citizen, focused on urban autonomy. He gradually faded away from the stage of his times.

Key words: Qing Kuan, bannerman of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, confiscation of one’s house, society in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China