The lecture program "Lecture Room" has a professor Yu Dahua who lectures on Qing Dynasty history.

He says that in the Qing Dynasty, trading power for money was rampant, and corruption was severe.
The Qing Dynasty was different from today; nowadays our country does not allow civil servants to be corrupt, and once they are corrupt, they will be dealt with.
But the Qing Dynasty's principle was to turn a blind eye to the corruption of officials, as long as you didn't incite mass incidents, they wouldn't interfere.
Yu Dahua said: "China's system is like this; I'm talking about the past, it's this kind of system."
What kind of system? For officials, whether you can get promoted depends on whether you can gain the favor of your superiors.
If you gain the favor of your superiors, you can be promoted. How do you gain the favor of your superiors?
Don't forget, China is a society of personal connections; without money, how can you gain the favor of your superiors?
So this inevitably leads to the problem of bureaucratic corruption, and every dynasty is like this.
Yu Dahua has many famous scenes; all are non-stick, talking about ancient matters.
Once during a lecture, a young girl in the audience asked him, what does a treacherous minister look like?
Yu Dahua replied: "From the historical situation, treacherous ministers generally have such characteristics: first, outstanding appearance and dignified bearing."
Most of them have an honest face, giving a sense of security and trust; this is the basic condition for being a treacherous minister, without which you can't become one.
Second, outstanding talent; no treacherous minister is a fool; they are all extremely capable and can accomplish many things that others cannot.
Third, versatile; for example, in Chinese history, like Zhao Gao at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the one who pointed at a deer and called it a horse, he was a legal expert; Cai Jing of the Northern Song Dynasty was a famous painter.
Qin Hui of the Southern Song Dynasty, it is said that the Song font was created by him. As for the treacherous minister Yan Song of the Ming Dynasty, he was also a poet and calligrapher.
Treacherous ministers are generally versatile and good at acting; they can cry on cue and laugh on cue.
Yu Dahua said: "I tell everyone, the best actors in China are all in the political circle; of course, I'm talking about ancient times."
If they were born today, many of them might have become big stars in the film and television industry.
Before stabbing someone in the back, they can pull him aside, hold hands, give him advice, and tell him how to guard against it.
The last characteristic: the most treacherous appear the most loyal.
What does that mean? It means they look very much like loyal ministers.
That's precisely why they can do bad things.
And in their lives, they indeed have many achievements in loyalty and trustworthiness, either showing virtue to colleagues or rendering meritorious service to the state, thereby gaining widespread favor from top to bottom; only then can they hold high positions and harm the country and the people.
If many people died halfway through their actions, they would never rise to high positions.
Therefore, many treacherous ministers leave behind an image of being genuine meritorious officials and loyal ministers in history.
Yu Dahua said: "So what are the characteristics of treacherous ministers? I asked that young girl, do you know what a bad person looks like?
The girl said she didn't know. I said bad people are the same as good people; they must look like good people."