ABSTRACT
Contradictory bureaucratic and unbureaucratic features in Weber's term coexist in the Qing political system. The Qing political system largely resembles a modern bureaucracy in Weber's term with respect to having a clear hierarchy of powers based on a high degree of specialization, a detailed set of rules that regulate all bureaucrats, the Qing Code, and a series of formal procedures that specify the impersonal management of bureaucrats. However, at the same time, the influence of the emperor's unrestrained autocratic power reveals the complex dynamics of the Qing political system: mechanisms through which the emperor manipulates the government and personal connections flood the superficially bureaucratic system. Building upon existing literature and an analysis of the History of the Qing and adopting the theoretical perspectives of Fukuyama's study on political systems and Weber's theory of bureaucracy, this article aims to reveal the complex dynamics of the Qing political system and demonstrate the hidden logic that dominates the superficially bureaucratic Qing politics.
