Abstract: Personnel issues were one of the two main practical problems which confronted the Xinzheng reforms of the late Qing. In fact, the majority of new officials had not received the new training. Clerks in local administration who abused their power to seek remuneration were called“rascals”and the overstaffing of government administration continued. The article focuses on two key events that occurred in 1910. The first was a feud between the lower -level personnel of the new Board of Civil Affairs and the president of the Board. The second event was the internal examination undertaken by the same board in 1910. Both events illustrate the permanence of high levels of competition for official positions in the newly reformed central bureaucracy, and demonstrate the attractiveness of the bureaucratic career as a way to achieve prestige and influence remained unchanged by the reforms.