巡撫 and 總督

[Ian_Lee]

Speaking of Viceroy Lin, his official title before and during Opium War was 兩廣總督 (Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi).

But in the Qing administrative apparatus, there was another post called 巡撫 at the same provincial level.

So which official was higher in the hierarchy? 巡撫 or 總督? Which one was more powerful?

Such dual-post system sounds like the current dual governor/provincial party secretariat system within PRC.

[skylee]

This link gives an explanation.

Looks like 總督 was a title/rank of the Central Government which was head of sometimes more than one province (e.g. 兩廣總督), whereas 巡府 was a title/rank of the Local Government - head of a province. A 總督's rank was higher than a 巡府's.

This reminds me that until relatively recently, titles such as 布政司, 按察司 and 銓敘司 were used in HK Government.

[skylee]

This is from 中國人史綱 written by 柏楊 about the Qing Dynasty -

中國本土被劃分為十八個省，簡稱為「本部十八省」，以漢人為主，仍維持明王朝遺留下來的社會和政治結構。省長稱「巡撫」，兩省或三省(有時候也有一省)設立一個大軍區，大軍區的司令官稱「總督」─ 也可以稱為太上省長。