"During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the province emerged as an important element in the management of the expanding Chinese empire, with governors--those in charge of these increasingly influential administrative units--playing key roles. R. Kent Guy's comprehensive study of this shift concentrates on the governorship system during the reigns of the Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors, who ruled China from 1644 to 1796. In the preceding Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the responsibilities of provincial officials were ill-defined and often shifting; Qing governors, in contrast, were influential members of a formal administrative hierarchy and enjoyed the support of the central government. Both masters of the routine processes of administration and troubleshooters for the central government, Qing governors played crucial roles in the economic and political management of a larger and more complex empire than the Chinese had ever known. These increasingly powerful officials extended the court's influence into even the most distant territories of the Qing empire. Qing Governors and Their Provinces uses the records of governors' appointments and the laws and practices that shaped them to reconstruct the development of the office of provincial governor and to examine the histories of governors' appointments in each province. Interwoven throughout are colorful details drawn from the governors' biographies."--Page 4 of cover.