27. Not all central-government officials attributed deficits to mere greed on the part of their colleagues. For example, Li Fu and Ch'ien I-k'ai suggested that the sale of government positions ( chüan-na ) was the main cause of peculation in office. Officials accrued large debts in order to buy their posts, leaving them with no choice but to steal from their yamen treasuries to pay them off. KCT 20981, Board of War Vice-president Li Fu, no date (Li held this post only during YC 1); KCT 5806, Commissioner of the Transmission Office Ch'ien I-k'ai, YC 1,8,10. This explanation cannot account for all the deficits uncovered in the early YC reign, the sale of office having been relatively infrequent during that period. break
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The system is riddled with corruption, a sure sign of poor
governance, with officials abusing official position for personal gain and with the
sale of government positions undermining the notion of promotion based on
meritocratic principles.
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