The dimensions of the traditional Chinese civil official system of civil officials

1. Recruitment system of civil officials.

The recruitment system of ancient Chinese civil officials mainly includes: the hereditary system in the pre-Qin period, the recommendation system from the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Wei, Jin and North and South Dynasties, and the imperial examination system in the Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

(1) hereditary system. The hereditary system, also known as the Shiqing Shilu system, was prevalent in the Xia, Shang and Zhou periods, and its basic feature is the unity of the king's power and the right of the clan. Its basic feature was the unity of royal power and clan power, i.e., the appointment of officials at all levels of government, as well as their titles and ranks, were determined on the basis of family blood relations. The most representative form is the feudal system and patriarchal system practiced during the Western Zhou period - the royal family and the nobility inherited high-ranking positions and unity of kinship by virtue of patriarchal law and lineage.

(2) The nomination system. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, the royal family was in decline and the vassals were divided. In order to win the fierce war of annexation, countries attach great importance to the selection of the virtuous and capable, so the selection of officials began to diversify. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the selection system of civil officials was mainly the recommendation system. Among them, the inspection and enlistment are the main ways. Chaju is a bottom-up method of selecting officials, that is, the court according to different needs to set up a variety of subjects, designate the relevant officials to act as a lift master, in accordance with the provisions of the tribute on the corresponding talent, by the court to be employed after the examination or promotion. Therefore, the examination is an important part of the examination system. The content of the examination covers various aspects such as moral character, cultural cultivation and clerical ability. Recruitment is a top-down method of selecting officials, i.e., the emperor characterized and recruited all the best scholars to serve as senior officials, and public offices and counties could open up puisne officials. In addition, there are other ways of selecting officials, such as senior officials to keep their sons and daughters for the official appointment system, as well as the Lang election, the official study of the people, the corn to buy the title and many other forms. During the Wei, Jin, and North and South Dynasties period, the system of selecting officials was the nine-pin system. Nine products leaf 1 system, also known as the nine officials, that is, in the state and county set up large and small in the official, according to the family lineage and moral ability to investigate and recommend talent, talent is divided into on the upper, on the middle, up and down, in the upper, in the middle, in the lower, under the upper, in the lower, under the next nine grades. As the nine grades system emphasized the importance of birth, there was a situation where there was "no poor family in the upper grades and no scholarly family in the lower grades", and it became a tool for the aristocracy to monopolize the power.

(3) The imperial examination system. The imperial examination system was created in the Sui Dynasty, the development of the Tang Dynasty has been very complete. There are mainly two kinds of subjects: the regular subjects and the preparatory subjects. Regular subjects are showman, scholar, Mingjing, Ming law, Ming word, Ming calculation, a history, three history, etc., which is the most important to the Mingjing and scholar two subjects. In general, the Mingjing exams include the Tsejing, Moyi, and Shiwu, with Confucian classics such as the Rites of Passage, the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Left Sector, the Poetry, the Rites of Zhou, the Rites of Passage, the Analects of Confucius, and the Book of Filial Piety as the content of the exams. The first examination for the advanced students was the Thessalonian Scriptures, the second was the Poetry and Fugue, and the last was the Time and Strategy. The examination was hosted by the Ministry of Rites, and those who were qualified then attended an interview hosted by the Ministry of Justice, which consisted of four aspects: body, speech, book, and judgment. In order to ensure the fairness and objectivity of the examination, but also on the test paper to take the mass seal, transcription, paste the name and other measures. The Song Dynasty adopted the basic state policy of emphasizing literature and emphasizing martial arts, and therefore attached great importance to the imperial examination system, expanding the admission quota, and established the temple examination system. The imperial examination system of the Ming and Qing dynasties was further developed. Its examination is subdivided into three levels, namely, the township examination, the meeting examination and the palace examination, which is held once every three years. Relative to the hereditary system and recommendation system, the imperial examination system has extremely important progressive significance. Firstly, it initially realized equal competition in the form, and provided a way for a large number of people from the lower class of the society to become an official by virtue of their personal efforts; secondly, it improved the quality of government officials and strengthened the centralized rule of the central government. However, since the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the rigidity and dogmatism of its examination content, the rigidity of the essay format does not meet the needs of society, was abolished in the late Qing Dynasty.

2. The rank and salary system of civil officials.

The official positions of ancient Chinese officials represented the authority of their duties, and their rank indicated their level of hierarchy. The rank system of the Zhou Dynasty was the "nine orders system", that is, nine grades to determine the rank status of the vassals and officials. The Qin and Han dynasties practiced the corn and stone rank system. The Wei and Jin Dynasties adopted the method of dividing officials into grades such as character, stone, class and order, and gradually formed the nine grades and eighteen grades of the official system. The Sui dynasty officials are divided into nine grades, each grade is divided into positive, from two levels, **** there are eighteen grades. In addition, there is also a feudal system, such as the "Zhou Li - King's system" records "the king's system of titles and ranks, the public, marquis, uncle, son, male, where five levels", after the Qin state Shang Yang formulated the twenty military titles system. The Qin and Han Dynasties inherited the twenty military titles, but with some changes. In the Tang Dynasty, a five-level, nine-grade system of titles was implemented. In the Ming Dynasty, the royal family conferred the titles of Prince and County King, and the titles of meritorious ministers were divided into three types: Gong, Hou, and Men. The Qing dynasty meritorious ministers knighthood, divided into twenty-seven and so on.

Salary is the economic remuneration of officials, according to their rank. The Zhou Rites - The King's System says: "Appointment of an official, and then the title; the position is fixed, and then the salary". From the Western Zhou to Sui are the implementation of the salary system in kind. Before the Qin Dynasty, the official's salary was mainly in the form of fiefs and fields. During the two Han dynasties, food was the mainstay, and salaries were paid in ducats, which were distributed on a monthly basis. In the Tang Dynasty, officials' salaries consisted of annual salaries, monthly salaries, and fields of office, and the system of salaries in kind, money and land was practiced in parallel. Song Dynasty officials were well-treated, and their salaries were mainly monetary. In addition to monthly salaries, officials also had in-kind and land rewards, such as salary corn and field of duty, as well as "clothing and food money", "meal money", "coupons for ", "meal money", "tea money" and other allowances. Ming Dynasty officials salaries are in the form of rice, folded into banknotes, money, cloth, silver and other forms to the hundred officials. Qing Dynasty officials' salaries are mainly silver, silver and rice both support.

3, civil officials assessment and reward and punishment system.

The assessment, reward and punishment system has a long history. Legend has it that in the era of Yao and Shun has been implemented "three performance appraisals, three exams deposed". In the Western Zhou period, the assessment of officials mainly take "hunting" and "duty" two methods. Warring States to Sui, the main form of reward and punishment of officials is "on the plan", that is, at the end of the year end of the lower level officials to the higher level officials to report on the work of the year. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Ministry of Justice set up a special division responsible for the examination of officials. In the Tang Dynasty, the criteria for the assessment of officials were "four good" and "twenty-seven most". "Four good" for: "one said that virtue and righteousness is heard, two said that the prudent and clear, three said that fairness can be called, four said that scrupulous diligence and unremitting". The "twenty-seven most" provides for different administrative responsibilities of the work guidelines. Ming dynasty civil officials assessment and examination of two forms. Examination of the full is a comprehensive examination of the situation since the official, the results of the examination of competent, ordinary and incompetent. Examination is also known as the "big plan", the project has greed, cool, impetuous, less than, old, sick, strike, not careful. Qing Dynasty assessment of Beijing officials for the "Beijing inspection", the assessment of foreign officials for the "big plan". The assessment of the correction to six laws, namely, not careful, weak dismissal; impetuous, not talented people demoted; old, sick people rest to. Qing Dynasty officials are also rewarded and punished in a clear hierarchy. Such as the promotion of reward that is to rise, promote, discuss the classification, plus salary, plus the top band, shade children and nephews, into the flag, graphic Ziguangge, etc.; punishment has been punished with a fine, demoted to stay in office, demoted to call, dismissal to stay in office, dismissal, withdrawal of ancestral hall, give bad name, give death, and so on.

4, civilian officials to monitor and avoidance system.

According to the oracle bone divination records, the Shang Dynasty, there is a post of imperial historian. During the Warring States period, the imperial historian had a supervisory function. Qin and Han dynasties, the imperial historian's duties as "can be correct law, with the job of the reference, the general leader of the hundred officials, the upper and lower phase supervision", mainly responsible for monitoring. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty divided the country into thirteen inspection areas, each with an assassin, with six articles to ask questions and monitor local officials. In the Tang Dynasty, the central government set up the Imperial House of History, which was subordinate to the Taiyuan, the Temple House and the Chanyuan, and specialized in supervision. The Song Dynasty, in addition to setting up the Royal Historical Observatory to "correct the officials, purify the discipline", there is also a remonstrance, remonstrance and the Royal Historian can "hear the rumors and play". The Ming Dynasty changed the Imperial House of Justice for the Palace of Justice, set up thirteen ways to monitor the Imperial Household, regularly to the local inspection tours, known as the "inspection of the Imperial Household", and set up a new six departments in the six central ministries of the supervision of the counterparts. The Qing dynasty will be the six departments of the Ministry of Justice in the merger of the Academy, and the Royal Historian called "Section Road", specializing in the supervision.

The avoidance system mainly consists of avoiding relatives and avoiding registration. In the Han Dynasty, the "Three Mutual Laws" stipulated that "marriage families and people from the two states should not be allowed to serve as officials". Tang Dynasty officials shall not serve in the home and neighboring states and counties, where the duties associated with or supervise the Prosecutor, relatives are required to avoid. Song Dynasty, there are avoidance of family law, avoidance of suspicion law and avoidance of the law, the scope of avoidance, types are clearly defined. In the Qing Dynasty, there were area avoidance, kinship avoidance, teacher and student avoidance, and selection avoidance, etc., that is, the officials shall not serve in the place within 500 miles of their origin, and those who are directly related by blood or marriage shall not serve in the same Yamen, Yamen with direct affiliation, or in the department of mutual supervision.

5. The system of leave of absence and salutation for civil officials.

The two Han officials can be "five days to get a break"; Sui and Tang officials have regular leave, holiday leave, accident leave, marriage and funeral leave, sick leave, etc.; Ming Dynasty officials sick leave shall not exceed three months, family leave for two months, and regular leave of absence.

The meaning of the term "to serve" is "to return to the king", i.e., the official resigned from his official position due to age, health and other reasons. "Seventy and Zhishi", the retirement age of the ancient officials is generally 70 years old, after the retirement according to their official position can enjoy a number of treatments. But there are also greedy for power and those who do not want to retire. Bai Juyi's "Qin Zhongyin - not to serve" poem satirizes this phenomenon.