Characteristics of the Ancient Chinese Bureaucracy and the Cultural Roots--From the Perspective of My Country and My People

Abstract

This essay mainly focuses on the study of the old-fashioned Chinese bureaucracy that has been expounded in My Country and My People. As Lin Yutang commented that the Chinese concept of government is known as a “parental government” or “government by gentlemen” (Lin Yutang, 2009.1), the Chinese-style bureaucracy is men-ruled rather than law-ruled. First, through digging out the dominating defections that inherently exist in the Chinese bureaucracy for thousands of years, our understanding of this kind of political mode can be expected to scratch much deeper. Second, with some research analyzing the deep-rooted cultural and religion elements that have brought about these problems with the combination of Lin Yutang’s remarks in his articles and some professional books concerning this topic and personal experiences, we can reflect upon the current phenomena that occur in the present Chinese officialdom. Still as a society of official standard thought, the Chinese political ecosystem is still encountering many challenges and chronic malady that come from traditional ideas and thoughts. If I have any conclusion in this essay, I am pessimistic about the future of the modern Chinese bureaucracy, because it is Chinese people who make up of the bureaucratic society of China and the deep-rooted Chinese behaving styles are impossible to be removed or wiped out. With the improvements of interrelationships of different communications between the leaders and the masses, however, the bureaucracy with some Chinese characteristics is not necessarily supposed to be negative, but it can thrive and get towards a right direction with appropriate reflections and alertness.