In the Han Dynasty, with the development of social economy, a number of local clans appeared. They have a solid economic foundation and generally have Confucian cultural literacy, and it is easy for them to enter the official career and obtain official positions. In the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, local clans have basically monopolized local political power institutions, and there are also many aristocratic families who have been officials for generations. Their families are huge and numerous, and they are called aristocratic families. During the period of political disputes and social unrest at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, aristocratic families were extremely active. The establishment of Wei, Shu and Wu regimes in the Three Kingdoms period was more or less related to the political activities of aristocratic families. With the peaceful transfer of power in Wei and Jin Dynasties, the families of high-ranking officials and dignitaries in Wei and Jin Dynasties gained the privilege of being high-ranking officials from generation to generation and being free from corvee economically, and grew into famous families. The regime of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was established with the support of exiled gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, and the gentry manipulated the regime, which became the political feature of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The xenophobic political status of gentry makes them vulnerable to the impact of other social classes. The common way for the latter to improve their social status was to squeeze into the gentry class through various means, which led to the expansion of the gentry class in the Southern Dynasties and inevitably had a negative effect on the privileges of the gentry. The gentry obtained senior officials by virtue of their family background, which effectively interfered with the traditional autocratic centralization. During the Southern Song Dynasty and the Qi and Liang Dynasties, emperors often used people from non-aristocratic families, the so-called poor scholars, to take charge of military and political power. With the continuous strengthening of imperial power, the political status of aristocratic families gradually declined. The gentry lost their actual political ability in the superior environment, which is also an important reason for their decline. During the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern Dynasties and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the gentry appeared, and because of their social influence and cultural knowledge, they became the targets of various ethnic regimes. Some ethnic regimes, such as Zhao and the Northern Wei Dynasty after the Sixteen Kingdoms, continued to use or implement the gentry system, which played a positive role in promoting the sinicization of ethnic minorities, especially the sinicization of the upper class of ethnic minorities. However, the development of history always denies the privileges of some people, and the actual political status always replaces the influence of family status. In the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, no matter in the south or the north, the gentry basically withdrew from the political arena, and the swallows in the homes of the Eastern Jin King and Xie Gaomen finally flew into the homes of ordinary people in Sui and Tang Dynasties.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, all political powers, whether they ruled a vast area or a corner, whether they were the Han regime or the minority regime, all adopted autocratic centralization since the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Due to social changes, the imperial power was weakened in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The imperial power in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was weaker, and the imperial power in the Southern Dynasties rose. But for a long time, it is necessary to spoil the people to weaken the interference of aristocratic families in the political power. In the Sixteen Countries and the Northern Dynasties, some ethnic minority regimes adopted autocratic centralization, but they also ruled ethnic minorities in the form of tribal organizations. The rise of imperial power and the strengthening of autocratic centralization have become the symbol of the in-depth localization of minority political power.
Various specific political systems in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties inherited Qin and Han Dynasties, and changed and developed, which became the origin of Sui and Tang Dynasties.
From the perspective of the central administrative system, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties followed the development trend since the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the book platform (province) was respected.
The power is getting heavier and heavier, and the province of Chinese book planning and the province of examining letters have also been established one after another.
The western Jin dynasty basically established the system of separation of the three provinces, which replaced the decision-making power of the three officials and nine ministers in the Han dynasty. Minister Shangshu became the actual prime minister, and his subordinate ministers were in charge of government decrees, while the governors of Zhongshu, Zhongshujing and the provinces under the door participated in the affairs of state affairs, which restrained the excessive concentration of ministers' orders and servants' shooting rights. Most of the Eastern Jin, Southern Dynasties and Northern Dynasties in the sixteen countries adopted this system. Although there were some changes due to the differences of imperial power and political situation, such as the history of ministers in Shangshu Province in the Southern Dynasties and the officials in Zhongshu Province actually operated the two highest organs of power by virtue of imperial power, and the ministerial power in the Northern Dynasties was particularly heavy, but the separation system of the three provinces has been used to this day. At the end of the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, six officials were set up in imitation of Zhou Li, and a central administrative system was established. After the Sui Dynasty replaced the Northern Zhou Dynasty, it still adopted the three-province system.
From the perspective of local administrative system, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties inherited the system of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, with state, county and county administration as the core, and there were many new changes. One of the changes is that the imperial power and the central government often add another layer of authority to the state in order to strengthen local control. The Three Kingdoms Wei Dynasty set governors in important states and strategic locations to control the army on behalf of the central government, appease local governments and divide local military and political affairs. However, if governors keep this festival, they have the right to kill state governors and county heads. In the Western Jin Dynasty, the governor system was further developed, and most of them were held by the children of the royal family, and gradually became a local administrative agency at or above the national level. The Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties continued to implement this system. Although the Northern Zhou Dynasty changed the governor to the general manager, the essence remained unchanged. Governors of all previous dynasties were appointed by the official department of the Central Shangshutai (province), while governors of states, counties and counties were mostly selected from the local people, so the governor system was an effective means for the central government to control local areas. However, because the viceroy often has military power in several States or even more than a dozen States, and he is also the minister of the main state, this has become a favorable condition for them to interfere in central politics. Conflicts between local and central authorities in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties were all related to this system. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, in addition to the governor system, the governor system that had appeared since the Wei and Jin Dynasties was widely implemented. The governor is also under the command of the central government, which appoints officials to the governor (provincial) officials or directly goes to local governments to exercise their functions and powers on behalf of the central government, and has full authority to handle local military and political affairs.