A Study Of Subordinate Officials And Private Secretary In Ming Local Governments

In Ming local government, subordinate officials were the most important officials except the magistrate. Subordinate officials included deputy officials and leading official, they were living and working in the yamen and participating on the daily affairs. According to the formal regulation, they should be the assistants of the magistrate, and help manage functionary affairs.There were no functionary departments in Ming local government, so these became subordinate officials’duty. Functionary affairs included levying tax, levying horses, chasing the deserters, managing water conservation, inspecting and so on. Every subordinate official were in charge of one or several affairs, which depended on local situations. On last period of Ming Dynasty, subordinate officials were cut down in great extent, the left turn from functionary affairs to quartering affairs.The subordinate officials withdraw from the trunk administrate system, thus the magistrate had to take all the duty on himself. The burden was too heavy that they began to employed private secretaries to help them. Private secretaries were experts on administration, employed in plebeians. Private secretaries in Ming Dynasty mainly came from clerks in the yamen, and didn’t recognized by the dynasty. Private secretary as an institution was formed in latter Qing Dynasty, and got its position in the political system. After that, the member from gentlemen class began to learn the vocational knowledge that needed for a private secretary, and finally they took place of the clerks, being the main ingredient of private secretaries.Subordinate official institution in Ming Dynasty had many problems, the magistrates could not get their helps and the administrate efficiency was affected. Employing private secretaries solve the problems partly, but because of their plebeians status, the function was limited. The reason of institutional dilemma was Ming Dynasty’s election institution of officials. The central government control all the power of "chushen", which mean conferring the privilege as an official to a plebeian. The privilege as an official was lifelong, so the control of "chushen" was paramount in dynasty’s political life. The centralization of "chushen" influenced the structure of Ming local government. When the subordinate officials were selected and appointed by the central government, they could not gain the trust of the magistrate, the local government could not build functionary deportment, and subordinate officials were despised by their low chushen and so on, all these caused their functionary transition.