Studies On The Board Of Civil Office After The Yuan-feng Reform Of Song Dynasty

After the Yuan-Feng (元丰) Reform, the Board of Civil office of Song Dynasty had a fundamental change. The early Northern Song Dynasty inherited disorderly official system in the late Tang and Five Dynasties. The Board of Civil Office’s functions had been deprived. The administration of officials was decentralized through the operation of Zhong Shu(中书), Shu Mi Yuan (枢密院),Li Bu Liu Nei Quan(吏部流内铨)and San Ban Yuan (三班院). After the Yuan-Feng (元丰) Reform, the Six-Ministriy System became the highest executive body of the country. The Board of Civil Office was the state administrative department. Its function, mechanism and personnel had been restored, enriched and developed. The research object of this dissertation is the Board of Civil office after the Yuan-Feng (元丰) Reform.In the Board of Civil Office were seven departments, including Libusixian(吏部四选),Kaogong (考功),Sixun (司勋), Sifeng (司封) and so on. They were responsible for the management of the lower-level officials. The number of the Officials of the Board of Civil Office amounted to more than20, including Shang Shu (尚书),Shi Lang (侍郎), Lang Guan (郎官). They were the bureaucracy of high grade. Shang Shu and Shi Lang were in charge of the seven departments; the heads of the departments were responsible for the administration of their respective department. The officials of the Board of Civil Office did not have the power to evaluate, measure and select talents according to their subjective standards. Their function was to deal with internal affairs according to the law. The officials in the departments were large in number, clear about their division of labor and subject to the heavy and trivial affairs. At the same time, they are also believed to be the main source of the malpractice of the departments.The Song Dynasty marked the peak of the ancient Chinese legal system. More and more importance was attached to the role of the law in the administration of a country. For the Board of Civil Office, the taw was the main basis for its operation. Its laws were various in forms, comprehensive in categories and meticulous in legislation. In addition to the formal legal provisions, the various forms of "cases" occupied an important position in the the Board of Civil Office affairs. In order to standardize the management of the officials, make it more convenient and adapt to the forever changing situations, the emperor frequently revised official statutes. Song Dynasties witnessed the appearance of many a masterpiece of legal writings. The remains of The Constitution and Regulations of the Board of Civil Office from Yongledadian(《永乐大典》) reflect the content and scale of the legal writings. In the process of application, the administration according to the law ensured that most officials were promoted according to their qualifications. At the same time, the excessive dependence on law resulted in some malpractice such as the postponed promotion and the abuse of power.The official documents were a basic way of dealing with administrative affairs of government agencies. The official documents which the Board of Civil Office received and dealt with included the imperial edicts, Shengzha (省礼), Die(�'), Guan (关)and all kinds of Shen zhuang (申状) Those which the Board of Civil Office drafted and distributed included Zouzhuang, Shenzhuang, Juzhang, Zouchao and so on. In order to ensure the efficiency, convenience and exactitude of the public documents, and to guarantee the strict class divisions of the feudal society, the official documents of the ministries were consistent in content and format. So far as the official document’s transmission, receiving, signing, reading, handling and storage were concerned, there was a perfect system of laws and regulations about the respective responsibility.When dealing with its affairs, the basic operation of the board of civil office was based on reviewing the documents submitted by the lower level officials and complying with the laws. Those affairs which did not violate the law would be submitted to the higher-level or lower-level officials according the existent procedures. Those which could not follow or even violated any law would be submitted to the emperor; later on, the relevant results would be sent to the relevant officials in the form of official documents. That is to say, the affairs of the Board of Civil Office were an administrative process which was based on laws and principles, and which centered on sending and receiving official documents.