Tang Dynasty (ad 618 -713), The Orient House Official

Eastern palace officials , namely, were the officials of the crown prince who was the heir to the emperor—the greatest ruler in Chinese feudal society .The eastern palace officials who were the Organic part of the bureaucratic system of the Central Committee in Chinese ancient times ,were in charge of some important duty such as teaching , leading ,and protecting the crown prince .Their job was related to the transmission of the imperial crown , so it was very important . The researching of Chinese ancient bureaucratic system has to reach the important field—The researching of The eastern palace officials.The paper takes the designation of and the close relationship between the crown prince and the changes of the politics in the early Tang Dynasty as breaking points, discussing the frame , the development , the standard of electing and the source of the eastern palace officials in the early Tang Dynasty when it is attentive to the period during AD618 to AD713. The writer analyzes the persons who were the officials in the eastern palace in the early Tang Dynasty and summarize the standard of electing the eastern palace officials.Firstly,The author think,bureaucratic system of the eastern palace was established around the crown prince as a core, with the great frame and compact specialization during the Pre-Qin ,the Former and the Later Han ,the Wei , the Jin , the South and the North, the Sui and the Tang Dynasty.Secondly,The author find ,The uniform bureaucratic system of the eastern palace in the Tang Dynasty was the perfect period in the Mediaeval times , according with the metaphor—A small royal as one .From the changes of the designation of the eastern palace officials ,we can notice that the number of the officials ---increase or reduce--related to the power of the crown prince and the development of the politics .In Wude dynasty ,Tang-Gaozu set up the primary bureaucratic system of the eastern palace on base of the officials in the former dynasty ,relatives by marriage ,and the scholars .Tang -Taizong elected the officials when he was Qin-wang and the crown prince as the senior officials in the royal in the Zhenguan dynasty. In order to cultivate the haeres, Tang -Taizong promoted the officials to hold business in the eastern palace and the courtier. Gaozong inherited the way of Taizong , elected a great number of tutors to cultivate the policy power of the crown prince . In Wuhou dynasty, the status of the crown prince and the eastern palace officials declined .Tang Zhongzong paid little attention to the crown prince, leading the status of the crown prince and the eastern palace officials declined faint very much , and Tang Ruizong started to be attentive to safekeeping the power of them.Thirdly,the author feel that The number of the eastern palace officials in the early Tang Dynasty fallowed the changes of the crown prince and the politics. Between the eastern palace officials and the Crown princes, there was a trend that leading them more and more alienated besides their relationship accordant whenever they were honor or disgrace. In the other words, from the view of consolidating the power of the emperors, the eastern palace officials developed from taking charge to give some advices to the two palaces to abiding by the power of the emperors.