A Study Of The Guang Lu Si Of The Ming Dynasty

Guanglu Si was one of the governmental organizations serving for the preparation of the Royal court meals. The name of Guanglu originated from Han Dynasty, which was originally referred to the military officers in the Royal Court. With the successive dynasties, Guanglu Si had developed into the central organization of being responsible for Royal court meals.Guanglu Si in Ming Dynasty generally inherited its responsibilities from Song Dynasty, in charging of the undertaking of Royal Court meals, daily meals, fetes and the awarded food outside the Royal court. It had four subordinate departments, which were called the Daguan, Zhenxiu, Liangyun, and Zhanghai. These four departments performed respective duties and cooperated effectively to ensure the successful holding of the Royal court banquets. As one of the central governments, Guanglu Si had connections and subordinations with many departments, such as the Ministry of Rites (Libu,礼部), the Ministry of Revenue (Hubu,户部), and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices (Taichangsi太常寺). It was an indispensable component in governmental organization. Concerning about the status of officials, Guanglu Si was subordinated to Xiao Jiuqing, which was lowered down in comparison with Sui and Tang Dynasty. From the perspective of the officials of Guanglu Si, they had the traits of short tenure and high mobility.As one of the governmental organizations, Guanglu Si also had some non-eliminated problems, such as the decreasing quality of banquets, the oppression of local stores in purchase, and the overuse of labors and food, etc.. Delving into the causes, they were mainly due to the laxity of law and the corruption of officials. The laxity of law led to the propagation of many problems, and the corruption of officials placed restrictions on the thorough execution of renovation measures.