The appointment and management system of ancient officials in China. The selection of civil servants mainly solves the source of officials, and the management of official posts includes the appointment, performance appraisal, rewards and punishments, rank, salary, vacation and retirement of officials.
(1) Civil Service Selection System
There are many ways to choose civil service for officials in ancient China, including hereditary, universal, military service, recommendation, lang selection, grace and imperial examination system. There are mainly three stages and three systems, namely, the hereditary system in pre-Qin, the recommendation system from Qin and Han Dynasties to Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the imperial examination system from Sui and Tang Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties.
1. Hereditary system
Also known as Shiqing Shilu system, it prevailed in Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. At the end of primitive society, after the demise system of "the world is for the public" was destroyed, the hereditary system of "being an adult and taking it as a gift" appeared. Hereditary system is characterized by the unity of kingship and clan power. It determines the appointment of government officials at all levels through family blood relationship, and determines the rank of rank and rank according to blood relationship. All those who set titles and official positions have enjoyed fiefs and fiefs for generations.
2. The recommendation system
is an official selection system that recommends talents and confers official positions. The standard of recommendation is mainly virtue and ability, rather than relying entirely on family background, which broke through the barrier of the hereditary system of blood of aristocrats in pre-Qin Dynasty. The appearance of the inspection and requisition system in the Western Han Dynasty marked the maturity of the recommendation system, while the implementation of the "Nine-grade Zhengzhi System" in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties indicated that it was on the decline.
Chaju is an official selection system in which senior officials of the central or local government recommend scholars or junior officials to the central government through inspection according to the subjects stipulated in the imperial edict. It is also the essence of recommendation system. Chaju is divided into imperial edict and year-old edict. Imperial edict is the imperial edict to select special talents. The annual promotion is a regular appointment of local governors to recommend talents to the court. The subjects of Chaju mainly include virtuous founder, filial piety, doctoral students of Imperial College and special subjects. Sometimes the emperor used "countermeasures" and "shooting strategies" to assess the virtuous and upright. Expropriation is a system of selecting and appointing subordinates for emperors and county chiefs. The characteristics of the emperor and the recruitment of talents are "levy", and the appointment of aides and aides by the county chiefs is "monarch". In the selection of officials in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the trend of drilling for help, cronyism and fraud prevailed, and the system of inspection and expropriation gradually deteriorated.
during Cao Wei's reign, Wang Wei Cao Pi accepted the suggestion of Chen Qun, the senior official of the official department, and implemented the "Nine-grade Official Law", that is, the "Nine-grade Zhengzhi System". In the state and county, there are large and small officials, who are responsible for judging local scholars in nine grades from top to bottom according to their family background and moral ability, and collecting public opinion for the court to award officials according to their grades. The "Nine Grades System" is the development of the procuratorial system, which brings the power of selecting officials from the local to the central government. It is an innovation in the classification of talents, and the criteria for selecting talents tend to be thorough. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the rule of the gate valve was strengthened. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, this system had many disadvantages, such as the weight of Chiang Kai-shek and random evaluation. The gate valve of the clan controlled Chiang Kai-shek and controlled the election. In the later period, it caused that "the noble gate valve had the honor of the world, and the Han family had no way to advance." Nine-grade positive system has become a tool for the rule of the gate valve.
3. Imperial Examination System
After the reunification of the whole country in Sui Dynasty, in order to strengthen centralization, Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty abolished the nine-grade imperial examination system in 587, and set up a scholar department. When Emperor Yangdi was in the Sui Dynasty, he established the Imperial Examinations Department, which selected scholars by "testing first", and established the imperial examination system characterized by public examinations and selecting the best talents. The imperial examination system was founded in the Sui Dynasty, formed in the Tang Dynasty, developed completely in the Song Dynasty, strengthened in the Ming Dynasty and declined in the Qing Dynasty, and lasted for more than 1,3 years. It was the main official selection system in the middle and late feudal society of China. Its main features are: ① Open examination and fair competition to a certain extent. Except for those who advocate excellence in industry and commerce, regardless of family status or wealth, as long as they have certain cultural knowledge, they can apply for the exam openly in prefectures and counties. It broke through the gate rule since Wei and Jin Dynasties, and opened up a way for the scholars of the small and medium landlord class to become officials. ② The examination system is becoming more and more complete. The imperial examination is divided into imperial examiners, and according to the nature of the subject, there can be nothing to do or martial arts. There are two kinds of literary works: the system branch and the regular branch. The system is a subject that the emperor temporarily set up to enroll celebrities. Regular courses are a system of regularly taking students from different disciplines. There are many general subjects, such as scholar, Ming Jing, Jinshi, Ming Fa, Ming Shu, Boy, etc. The examination methods and contents of each subject are different. The source of candidates is also becoming more and more formal, and the students who belong to the capital or the state and county schools are called "students"; Those who pass the local examination are called "township tribute". Examination procedures, there were state examinations and provincial examinations in the Tang Dynasty, and palace examination was added in the Song Dynasty. After the Ming Dynasty, there were college examinations, township examinations, general examinations and palace examination. Palace examination took an exam every three years, and the emperor personally ruled the ranking, and decided to rank one, one, two and three, which was called the first place, the second place and the flower exploration. ③ Take cultural knowledge as the main admission criteria. The subjects of the imperial examination are different, and the contents are different, but the examination of poetry and fu, Confucian classics, policy questions, mathematics, law, etc. all focus on cultural knowledge. The imperial examination system has certain positive significance in the early stage. After the autocratic monarchy was strengthened in Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial examination system changed greatly from the examination content to the form. The main manifestations are as follows: ① The content of the exam is not practical. The examination questions must be based on Zhu Xi's four Confucian classics and five classics, and "speak on behalf of sages". Confucianism has become a compulsory course for entering the official position. (2) stereotyped writing is rigid in form and empty in content, which fetters people's thoughts. ③ The examination questions are fragmented, biased, difficult, strange and abstruse, and the examination field is fraudulent. Please ask for supervision, and corruption in the officialdom is growing. The imperial examination system gradually became an obstacle to social development and was finally abolished in the late Qing Dynasty (see the imperial examination system).
although the imperial examination system was the main way to select officials after the sui and Tang dynasties, hereditary system, recommendation system and other official selection systems such as military service, official promotion, official donation, and shadow seal still exist as supplementary forms of the imperial examination system.
(II) The official management system
includes the appointment of officials, performance appraisal, rewards and punishments, rank salary and vacation retirement.
in order to ensure the political standards of officials at all levels, all previous dynasties attached importance to the appointment of officials after selection. In order to ensure the quality of the recommended officials, the Qin Dynasty stipulated that "those who are incompetent should be punished for their crimes" (Biography of Historical Records and Fan Sui). After the Han Dynasty, there were many restrictions on the appointment of officials, and the court had certain requirements on the family background, occupation, property, qualifications, nationality, physique and appearance of the candidates. For example, since the Qin and Han dynasties, the policy of emphasizing agriculture and restraining business has been implemented, and all generations have restricted businessmen from being officials to varying degrees. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Han nationality was restricted to be senior officials, and there were certain ethnic restrictions on the appointment of officials in the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. In a hierarchical bureaucratic team, birth and qualifications are the first consideration when serving as an official. The more perfect the bureaucratic system, the stricter the restrictions on birth and qualifications.
In order to avoid favoritism in the officialdom, there are rules on the withdrawal of officials since the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "three mutual laws" were implemented. The basic spirit was that locals were not allowed to be local officials and marriage house were not allowed to supervise each other. The Han dynasty also stipulated that brothers, sons and nephews and those who are related by marriage should not be officials in a department or region. If they are elected as officials in a department or region, one of them should declare his withdrawal. In the Tang Dynasty, it was not only stipulated that officials could not hold office in their native place, but also were not allowed to hold office in the neighboring counties where their native place was located. The Tang Dynasty also stipulated that all the official positions with connected responsibilities or supervision and inspection should be avoided between relatives, such as the son of the prime minister cannot be an admonition officer and the brother cannot serve in the same province. In the Qing Dynasty, the regulations on the avoidance of being an official were stricter, for example, it was clearly stipulated that you could not be an official within 5 miles of your place of origin; The heads of departments in charge of provincial affairs in the central ministries shall not use people from the same province; Children of Beijing officials with three or more titles, governors and governors among local officials, etc., cannot serve as censors in Beijing.
Some dynasties had some special regulations on the appointment of officials. For example, the criteria for appointment as an official in the Tang Dynasty added conditions such as body, speech, calligraphy and judgment, requiring those who enter the official to be handsome in appearance, generous in rhetoric and reasoning, neat and beautiful in calligraphy, and excellent in judging arts and sciences.
after the appointment of officials, the court should issue them with credentials of status and rank. Since the Warring States period, there have been ribbons made of gold, silver and copper, and ribbons of different colors such as purple, cyan, black and yellow, which indicate the status level of officials.
Appointed officials have a one-year probation period since the Han Dynasty, and those who are incompetent are either transferred, moved to the left, or deposed. In the Ming dynasty, there was also an internship stage of "studying things" and "observing politics" before the official was actually awarded.
Second, the ancient central official system in China
The central institutions of the previous dynasties' political power in China's slave society and feudal society and their official system.
1. The central official system in the slave society
In the Xia Dynasty, there were six ministers who assisted Xia Wang. Sikong is the head of the Six Immortals, Hou Ji is in charge of agriculture, Stuart is the bishop, Dali is the chief criminal prison, * * * industrial management is the best in construction, and people in danger are in charge of animal husbandry in Shanze. In addition, the Xia dynasty has initially established organs in charge of military, agricultural and tax collection. The Shang Dynasty established a central organization centered on Shang Wang. The main minister who assisted Shang Wang was Yin. Under it are Stuart, who is in charge of forced labor, Sikong, who is in charge of engineering, and Scott, who is in charge of prison. In Shang Dynasty, "the great event of the country lies in worship and Rong", and the theocracy played an important role in political life, so the religious affairs officer in charge of sacrifice, divination and chronicle was the most prominent at that time. The central institutions in the Western Zhou Dynasty developed greatly. There are three kinds of people who assisted the king of Zhou: Taishi, Taifu and Taibao. There are "three doctors" under the three fairs: Chang Bo, also known as the shepherd, is in charge of local civil administration; The appointment of officials is permanent, also known as appointing people; The person in charge of government affairs is the prospective person, also known as the prospective husband. Government administrative officers are divided into two systems: Qingshiliang and Taishiliao. There are three officials under the Qing Shiliao: Situ, Sima and Sikong, who are in charge of farming, conscription and construction respectively. Taishiliao is the administrative department in charge of calendar, sacrifice, divination and cultural education. Compared with Shang Dynasty, the position of religious affairs officials in Western Zhou Dynasty declined.
2. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were periods of social change. With the advancement of feudalism, important changes have taken place in the government institutions of various vassal states. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the main consuls who assisted the monarch and handled government affairs appeared in succession in various countries. Qin is called Shangqing, Yaqing and Da Shu Chang, Chu is called Lingyin, and Qi, Jin, Lu and Zheng are called Xiang. Although countries have different names, their status and positions are equivalent to the later "phase". The central institutions are improving day by day. Countries such as Qi, Lu, Zheng and Chu inherited the official system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and Stuart, Sima, Sikong and Sikou were still the main chief executives of the government. Other important officials are: Si Tian, who is in charge of farmland tax, who is in charge of financial affairs, who is in charge of mountain ze and hunting, etc. With the increase of contacts between vassal States, countries set up pedestrians to take the lead in diplomacy. The position of the historian Taishi is important, and his duty is to "remember major events and write the league first". At the beginning of the Warring States, with the progress of the political reform movement in various countries, the establishment of a feudal autocratic centralized regime became an important feature of the central official system at this time. The prime minister and the prime minister of "the leader of a hundred officials" have become the official positions generally set up in various countries. Due to historical and traditional reasons, the official system of various countries is still not uniform. The state of Qi has changed greatly, and the following five senses are set up: Datian, Dahang, Dajian, Dali and Fu. Chu is a department of its own, with Ling Yin as the highest chief executive of the central government, while Shangzhuguo, Fu and General are senior military officers of the government. Along the Three Jin Dynasties, Qin took the advantages of other eastern countries, forming a unique official system, which was inherited by the Han Dynasty and became the basic framework of the central official system in the early feudal society.
3. The central official system in feudal society In 221 BC, Qin Shihuang unified China and established an autocratic centralized feudal empire. From then on to the Opium War in 184, in the feudal society of more than 2, years, the development and evolution of the central official system roughly went through three stages.
4. the central official system in Qin and Han dynasties
Qin and Han dynasties established the system of three fairs and nine ministers centered on the emperor. Sangong is the Prime Minister, the Imperial Adviser and Qiu, who are in charge of administration, supervision and military affairs. Jiuqing is the chief executive of all departments of the central government: Feng is often the head of Jiuqing, in charge of etiquette and cultural education of ancestral temples; The doctor in charge of the palace gate guards, who are the attendants of Suwei; Wei Wei is the official of the palace gate guard; The servant took charge of the emperor's chariots and horses, and also took charge of the national horse administration; Ting Wei is the highest judicial officer of the central government; Dianke is in charge of ethnic affairs and employment; Zong Zheng specializes in royal family affairs; The duty of treating millet internal history is to collect salt, iron, money, valley rent tax and national financial revenue and expenditure; The Shaofu took charge of the taxes of the mountains, seas and ponds and the handicraft manufacturing of the government to supply the royal family. Besides Jiuqing, there are also lieutenants in charge of public security in the capital, civil builders in charge of palaces, ancestral temples, tombs, etc., who will serve as Shaofu and Da Changqiu in charge of publicizing the will of the Queen and managing palace affairs. In Qin and Han Dynasties, except Wei Wei, Ting Wei and Shi Zhuqing, who were in charge of government administrative affairs, the functions of other ministers mainly served the emperor and the royal court. It is one of the characteristics of the central official system in Qin and Han dynasties that state affairs are indistinguishable from monarch's family affairs, and government affairs are mixed with court affairs.
in order to strengthen the imperial power and weaken the power of the prime minister, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the system of China-Korea, that is, a group of lower-ranking imperial court personnel were selected to participate in the political affairs. Among them, Shangshu, who used to belong to Shaofu and was in charge of documents for the emperor, and some imperial court personnel have greatly improved their status. The government affairs of the imperial court often consult with the officials of the imperial court, such as Shangshu, Shizhong and General, and then inform the officials of the "foreign dynasty" headed by the Prime Minister. The actual role of foreign officials has been stripped away, their status has declined, and Chinese officials have been reused. The establishment of China-Korea system is not only the product of the contradiction between imperial power and relative power, but also the result of the expansion of the power of imperial court officials. When the Han Dynasty became emperor, the powers of Fu (renamed by Tai Wei when Emperor Wu was emperor), Da Sikong (renamed by the Imperial Physician when he became emperor) and Prime Minister (renamed Da Situ when he mourned the emperor) were further weakened. The power of Shangshu was expanded, and Shangshu was appointed as the director, with five Cao's. The power of fashion books in the Eastern Han Dynasty was further expanded, and the Shangshu organization was called Taiwan, with one official and one servant, and six ministers, who were divided into three Cao Cao, three officials, the people, the guests, two thousand stones and all the officials, which divided or replaced some functions of Jiuqing. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the central government affairs were gradually transferred from the three fairs to the three provinces, and the administrative affairs were gradually transferred from Jiuqing to six ministries.
5.
Central official system in Tang and Song Dynasties
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the autocratic centralized central government became more and more complete, and a system of three provinces and six departments with the emperor as the center was established. "At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the three provinces were merged, and the master of the Chinese book gave orders, and the master of the door blocked it, and the master of the book followed it." The governors of the three provinces have the post of prime ministers, forming a mechanism of clear division of labor and mutual restraint among the three provinces. This is an important change in the administrative system. Shangshu province is the center of central administration, which has six departments and twenty-four departments. Shangshu adopts the joint office system. Dutang lives in the center of the province and is the center of government activities. The governor of Shangshu Province, left and right servants, left and right Cheng, all work here, and there are left and right divisions, which are divided into six departments. The six departments evolved from six Cao Cao, headed by the official department, which was in charge of the administration of selecting and awarding officials, honouring and taking exams, and had four departments under its jurisdiction: the official department, the secretary-general, the secretary-general and the secretary-general. The Ministry of Housing is in charge of population, land, money and taxes, and has four divisions under its jurisdiction: the Ministry of Housing, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Warehouse. The ritual department is in charge of etiquette, sacrifice and tribute, and has four divisions: ritual department, ancestral department, catering department and subject and object; The Ministry of War is in charge of military selection, maps, chariots, horses and armour, and has four divisions under its jurisdiction: the Ministry of War, the staff side, the driving department and the treasury department. The Ministry of Punishment is in charge of laws and regulations, criminal law, exile and the policy of reinstating the ban, and has four divisions under its jurisdiction: the Ministry of Punishment, the official department, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Industry is in charge of Yamazawa, wasteland reclamation, construction and craftsmen, and has four divisions under its jurisdiction: Ministry of Industry, wasteland reclamation, Ministry of Security and Ministry of Water Affairs. Compared with the Nine Qing Dynasties in Qin and Han Dynasties, the Six Shangshu Departments formed in Sui and Tang Dynasties are a great progress in terms of name, authority and organizational system. In addition to the six departments, there are nine temples and five prisons, which evolved from the Qin and Han dynasties and nine Qing dynasties. Since Liu Cao replaced part of Jiuqing's functions and powers in Wei and Jin Dynasties, Jiuqing's name has remained, but his responsibilities have changed greatly. The Southern and Northern Dynasties were renamed as temples, and the chief and deputy officers were called Qing and Shao Qing. The Taichang Temple in the Nine Temples is only in charge of sacrifice and etiquette, and the imperial examination belongs to the Ritual Department; The Guanglu Temple, which was originally guarded by the palace (evolved from a doctor), specializes in wine, ceremony and meals; Weiwei Temple specializes in weapons and ceremonial tents, not guards; Taibu temple is in charge of general horse administration, regardless of the emperor's chariots and horses; Tingwei was renamed Dali Temple, and was in charge of interrogating the prison, and the judicial administration was returned to the Ministry of Punishment; Crack hon temple palm sponsorship etiquette, foreign dynasty hired to does; Sinong Temple is in charge of warehousing, and the tax finance belongs to the Ministry of Housing; The responsibilities of Zongzheng Temple have not changed; Taifu