A Study On Libu Of Jin Dynasty

Libu(the Ministry of Rites) played an essential role in the history of Chinese political system and its setting mainly referred to the equivalents in Liao and Song Dynasty. Since the official reform of Jinxizong and Hailingwang,Jin Dynasty adopted the central official system at both provincial and ministerial levels. The central body was divided into six ministries, among which,Libu, in charge of national rituals, was an important component of central bureaucracy of the Jin Dynasty.The introductory part of this dissertation discusses the significance of the theme, and summarizes research results from previous academic scholars. The remaining parts elaborate upon the research approach of this paper and the structure, innovation, and so on.Body part is divided into five chapters, namely Libu’s origins, institutions, responsibility, officials and other aspects.Chapter one discusses the origin of Libu of Jin Dynasty. This chapter elaborates on the source of Libu of Jin Dynasty from institutional history. The name of Libu has its origin from Zhou official doctor, Director of staff sergeant in the rites. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, three departments and six ministries were officially established, and hence establishment of Libu. When it cames to Song Dynasty, with the decline of Chancery, the responsibility of Minister were confined, remaining nominally ministerial. After the reform of Yuanfeng, its responsibility had been recovered before it was soon weakened again. The Southern Song Dynasty suffered from many wars and to simplify administrative processes, the government “integrated the three into one”. Therefore there occurred a further limitation of responsibility. In the Liao Dynasty, the arrangement of Shangshu Department resembled Tang’s but it was just a nominal institution. Their rank titles, which were honorary chairs, served the purpose of promotion and dismissal. At the end of Taizong Tianhui, after the establishment of Central Chancery of Jin Dynasty and the six departments, Libu started to really play its role.Chapter two discusses institutions of Libu and composition of officials of Jin Dynasty. This chapter has combed the process of transmission from a local agency to national agency, and discusses the institutions, officials of Libu. After the occupation of the Central Plains by Jin Dynasty, on the one hand, to maintain the ‘Han’ rule, and to satisfy the need to strengthen centralized political system, and,on the other hand, under the influence of Central Plain cultures, Jin Dynasty started to set Libu. After the reform of the bureaucracy by Jin Xizong, Libu became an important sector of the central organ of Jin Dynasty. The structure of Libu resembled the equivalents of the Dynasties of Central Plain,divided into the temple four-Division, catering department, subject-object, waste management Division, as their affiliates.Chapter three focuses on the responsibility of Libu of Jin Dynasty. The responsibility of Libu could be divided into six functions. The first responsibility is to manage national etiquette and to develop and implement national ceremonies; the second function is to manage diplomatic affairs, mainly responsible for design of etiquette and selection of diplomats; the third function is to manage religious affairs, mainly divided into two aspects: one is management of monks and Taos, another is temple management. The fourth is related to school management and Imperial Exams by designing the procedures of Imperial exams and presiding over the exam; the fifth is for temporary errands. Officials were made envoys to Southern Song Dynasty, and Xixia, and Korea; sixth function is in charge of seals, mainly responsible for the design and cast of seals. After the beginning of the Zhenglong, the minister of Libu is only responsible for the design of seals, and cast was taken over by Shaozi Jian.Chapter four discusses the selection and transfer of officials of Libu. Before Hailing Dynasty, secondary ministers of Libu were dominated by the capitulated Liao and Song officials and supplemented by officials with granting origin, with the Jinshi origin constituting a minor proportion. However from Zhangzong to Shuaizong, the officials with Jinshi origin represented a vast majority of ministers in Libu. The reason for this lies in the fact that Jin Dynasty adopted the policy of“Borrowing Talents from Other Nations ” and nominated many capitulated officials from Liao and Song dynasties to develop political system and manage imperial etiquette. Since this required a higher cultural quality on the part of the officials, the rulers had to select high-ranking officials from Liao and Song dynasties. Since the beginning of Xizong, the imperial examination system was on track. Though Jin had developed out of the situation of “borrowing talents from other nations”, and started to foster talents of Jin Dynasty. When it came to the transfer of officials, the selection of ministers had a loose standard in earlier Dynasty while the ministers were responsible for Libu and related work in mid-later Dynasty. In a word, the nomination of officials has been institutionalized. With regard to the promotion of Libu officials, ministers of Libu were normally transferred to local positions in the early Dynasty but to central positions in the mid-later Dynasty, which implied that Libu officials began to win increasing attention from Jin rulers.Chapter five discusses the characteristics of Libu officials. The focus of this chapter is origin place of secondary minister and features of nationality distribution in Jin Dynasty. The first feature is the origin place of officials mainly lied in Yanyun area, which constituted the outstanding feature of distribution of origin place of secondary ministers. Secondly, secondary ministers were dominated by Hans in terms of nationality. In the early Dynasty, positions were taken by Liao and Song literati while in mid-latter Dynasty, self-cultivated talents took the positions, especially with the increase of Nuzhen.The conclusion, through the foregoing analysis, makes an overall analysis and understanding of Libu of Jin Dynasty. First of all, the establishment of Libu in Jin Dynasty does not happen overnight, but has undergone changes from local authorities to central authorities, which is a unique feature compared with those equivalents from Central Plains. Secondly, the Libu of Jin Dynasty was established based on those of Liao, Song Dynasties, which assumed similar functions as the latter. Libu is a significant mark of sinicization of Jin Dynasty. Finally, the official groups of Libu displayed certain features including modes of entry into government,official career,origin place and nationality distribution.