Transfer and Selection for Central Service (*Xingqu*)

Selection procedure

Xingqu was a procedure by which qualified officials serving in the provinces could be selected for transfer to the capital, where they might undergo examination, assessment, or presentation for appointment to central posts. During the early Qing, it was frequently associated with selecting county magistrates for positions in the censorial and remonstrance offices, including censors (yushi) and supervising secretaries (jishizhong). The institutional term kedao denoted these oversight bodies, not a provincial administrative circuit.

Changes in practice

The selection chapters of the Draft History of Qing mention officials such as Guo Xiu, Shao Siyao, Peng Peng, and Lu Longqi, chosen during the Kangxi reign on the basis of administrative performance and recommendations and subsequently appointed as censors. Later regulations changed: some selected officials were considered for departmental secretarial positions instead, and rules governed the intervals between selections, provincial quotas, and eligibility in light of outstanding fiscal or judicial matters.

Thus selection through xingqu did not always guarantee appointment as a censor, nor did every upright county magistrate necessarily pass through the procedure. During the Qianlong period, some selected officials were left in their existing posts to await use, and older arrangements were eventually discontinued. Biographical descriptions should distinguish nomination, travel to the capital, presentation to the court, and final appointment. These were successive possibilities, not a single automatic promotion.