The Research On Gongbu Shangshu In The Tang Dynasty

As one of the six departments of Shangshu Sheng in the Tang dynasty, Gongbu is responsible for civil engineering construction of the central state decree department. Gongbu Shangshu and Shilang, the president and vice-president of Gongbu, administrated four sections:Gongbu, Tuntian, Yubu and Shuibu. Been established in the Sui dynasty, the Gongbu System had important historical significance, which not only to complete the Sansheng and Liubu System, but also to highlight the empire's social functions, and was inherited by the after feudal dynasties of China. The system of the Tang dynasty totally inherited it of the Sui dynasty, and has been further development and evolution as well. For the present, the academic research on Gongbu is very limited. Basing on documents of history and the methods of history, statistics, and administrative science, this paper takes Gongbu Shangshu as the research object and will inspect the administrative and personnel system of Gongbu Shangshu in Tang dynasty. The content of this paper includes the Gongbu's organizational structure, system origin, functions and the Gongbu Shangshu's background, official experience, status etc, distributing in the following six chapters.Chapter I elaborates on the organizational structure and administrative operation of Gongbu in the Tang dynasty. Gongbu Shangshu and Shilang were the president and vice-president of Gongbu, which lead the four sections of Gongbu, Tuntian, Yubu and Shuibu, each of which was formed by Langzhong, Yuanwai Lang and Zhushi. Langzhong and Yuanwai Lang were the leaders of each section. In addition, each section also set different number and range of specific staff, including Lingshi, Shu Lingshi, Zhanggu, etc. Further investigates the exercise of the functions of Gongbu Shangshu, by inspecting the relationship between the four sections and Shangshu Dusheng, the relationship between Gongbu Shangshu and the four sections, the relationship of the four sections, and the relationship between the four sections and function related Si.Chapter II elaborates on the system origin and formation before the Tang dynasty. The evolution of Gongbu system was divided into three stages before the Tang dynasty, which was the Xianqin and Qin-Han period, the Wei,-Jin and North and South period, and the Sui-Tang period. The Xianqin and Qin-Han period was the origin period of the functions of the four sections of Gongbu, during it, the Dong-Han dynasty was the bud period of the Gongbu system of the Tang dynasty; the Wei,-Jin and North and South period was the formation period, and the Sui-Tang period was the establishment period of the Gongbu system. On this basis, also discussed the reasons of the establishment of the Gongbu system, which were the unity of the nation, the development of economy, the strengthening of centralization, the flourish of construction activities in the Sui dynasty.Chapter III elaborates on the functions of Gongbu Shangshu and the four sections of Gongbu. Gongbu Shangshu was totally in charge of all the duties related to the four sections in the country, including the basic duty of civil engineering construction and assist duty of participating in financial and national affairs. To the higher level, executed the commands of the emperor and prime minister, to the lower level, led the four sections of Gongbu, and supervised all the related matters from the central and local. In addition, Gongbu Shangshu should undertake other duties according to personal abilities, for example, to serve as Hanlin Xueshi, to participate in the official's selection and assessment, to write the national history, to participate in military operations, to undertake kinds of Shizhi and temporary dispatch duties. The function of the section of Gongbu was in charge of large-scale engineering construction; the function of the section of Tuntian was in charge of the land owned by the state; the function of the section of Yubu was in charge of natural resource of nationwide forest and water; the function of the section of Shuibu was in charge of nationwide water conservation project.Chapterâ…£elaborates on Gongbu Shangshu's birthplace and family background. This chapter used a large number of epitaphs and other excavated literature to inspect the 113 Gongbu Shangshu's birthplace of the Tang dynasty, especially whose family had replaced since the South and North dynasty. By examining, it can be discovered that most of the Gongbu Shangshu of Tang dynasty came from Guannei Dao, Henan Dao, Hedong Dao, and Hebei Dao. Examining from the family background, in the 113 Gongbu Shangshu, there were 79 people came from the 40 famous surnames. The proportion is nearly 80%, which shows that most of Gongbu Shangshu came from Shizu class.Chapterâ…¤elaborates on the ways to secure political position and their official experiences, on this basis to discuss the factors influencing official promote to Gongbu Shangshu. The important feature of the early Tang about the ways to secure political position was those who participated in the revolution in the final of the Sui dynasty, and had relative relationship with the emperor family, had a higher proportion to promotion. Since the middle Tang, the imperial examination was the most important way to enter the official position. Through analyzing, the factors affecting the official to promote had totally eight kinds.Chapterâ…¥elaborates on the pluralism and the shift of occupation of Gongbu Shangshu, on this basis to inspect Gongbu Shangshu's authority and status'decline during the late Tang. It mainly includes three aspects:analysis on the main pluralism of prime minister, Dongdu Liushou and Jiedu Shi; analysis on the status in one's official career as a Gongbu Shangshu, including un-normal shift, term of office and the age during one's tenure of office; and analysis on the evaluation of the Gongbu officials by the people of the Tang dynasty, including evaluation of contemporary, the judge of the Gongbu officials, etc.In short, by researching the administrative system and personnel system of Gongbu Shangshu in the Tang dyanasty, we have a comprehensive understanding about the Gongbu Shangshu, one of the six Bu in the Shangshu Sheng of the Tang dynasty, and lay a foundation for the further study on the history of the Tang dynasty.