| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 歷史學系 === 104 === L. K. Little was the first American Inspector General (I. G.) of Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and the last foreigner I. G. of the service. In addition to Wang Jingwei government-appointed Japanese I. G. Kishimoto Hirokichi, this post was served by the British for the longtime and most of the foreign officers within Customs were also British. I. G.’s nationality changed representing British retreat from China in WWII, and turned on American and Japanese competition in East Asia.
Although Japan suffered a devastating defeat in WWII and the United States obtained the full influence in China; but in support of the Soviet Union, the China Communist Party (CCP) will be driven to the Republic of China government to Taiwan, making the United States full advantage in mainland China maintained only for four years, and with the pace of the ROC government to Taiwan; its influence remains to this day. I. G. Little was the best witness of this period and these history were all can browse through his private diaries and letters.
The Chinese Maritime Customs in post-war period also facing the biggest change since its founded; though the reconstruction of customs at the post-war and the material support from the United States, which reached its peak in its history; but the old treaty system ceased to exist, the Boxer indemnity paid off and the promotion of Chinese staffs, the synarchy tradition of the service suffered a great challenge. Even foreign staffs professional are no longer indispensable, also I. G. is no longer has full authority in the service, but the presence of foreign staffs still generally considered to be the cornerstone of traditional Chinese customs integrity and high efficiency, even some people still think that keep customs away from China's internal political strife and interference. In other words, the post-war Chinese customs still exist due to foreign staffs, to become one of the symbols of the Chinese government credit by foreign trust.
However, when CCP launched the civil war, the war makes China economies collapsed, and stroke the treatment of custom staffs. So that the traditional customs incorruptible proud began cracking, and the treatment of foreign staff also due to the weak economy and the delay in return to pre-war levels. After Little affirmed the government were unable to maintain the treatment of Foreigner staff, He begun to develop the layoff plan for remaining foreign staffs, then followed the government’s footsteps and moved the service to Taiwan. Finally Little retired from the service with foreign staffs, and the synarchy of Chinese maritime customs service also ended.
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