A Study Of The JinYiwei Guard In Ming Dynasty

In the middle of 17^th century, ShengQitang once said that the Ming dynasty didn't died of a peasant uprising but Chang - Wei system. From his comment, we can learn of that, as production of special criminal law in Ming dynasty, it has tremendous political standing .the JinYiwei guard ,as an important part of the Chang-Wei system ,its conduct includes investigation, administering imperial prison, participating judicial trial and to maintain public order of Beijing .The objective of setting up the JinYiwei guard is to strengthen and enhance imperial power of Ming dynasty. As time passes and the situation has changed. The behavior of the JinYiwei guard has change too .the SiLijian and the Cabinet made a great influence on the JinYiwei guard's behavior. The JinYiwei guard not only serves for the emperor, but also has something to do with the SiLijian and the Cabinet. The behaviors of The JinYiwei guard have effect on political alignment of Ming dynasty. Especially at the end of the Ming dynasty, The JinYiwei guard became suppress instrument and hurt the politics of the Ming dynasty. At the same time, to inspect the changes of The JinYiwei guard's behaviors could help us to study trend of centralization of the Ming dynasty.