Abstract:

“Politics-administration dichotomy” is the ideological basis of administration science. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China，this thought has been analyzed and explored in China. Reformist courtiers，bourgeois reformists，bourgeoisie revolutionaries，journalists and scholars in the period of preparatory constitution, based on their own standpoints，all explored the core issues of politics-administration dichotomy，central-local dichotomy in administration，local autonomy and party politics to varying degrees. The inertia of the traditional administrative system，the reform that did not follow the superstructure to adapt to the law of economic basis, the time lag in the change of ideas，the immaturity of party politics and other factors prevented the people from exploring the level of this theory in the late Qing and early Republic of China. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China，the exploration of “politics-administration dichotomy” has important academic value in the history of administrative thought.

Key words: politics-administration dichotomy, central-local dichotomy in administration, late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China