Initial Research On Institutions Of Banxu In The Early Period Of Northern Song Dynasty

In ancient china, according to their status, bureaucrats were arranged to some queues in yard of palaces by some special ways when they had audiences with emperor. These arrays of bureaucrats were called Banxu. Because positions of bureaucrats in the space of palace reflected abstract status of bureaucrats, so Banxu could be actually understood as a precise staff gauge which could measure and mark the status of officials, reflecting the collocation of political power, duty, qualification, salary and other elements. In Han dynasty, the number of ranks of bureaucrats was few, Banxu was adopted to determine the status of many officials; In Sui and Tang dynasty, the system of nine ranks of hierarchy could accurately measure status of bureaucrats, so their positions in the space of palace decided by the their ranks. Since the late Tang dynasty, official title names indicating bureaucrats’ functions had been transforming to refer to bureaucrats’ ranks. Furthermore, many new official title names that could not be included in the nine ranks had been emerging, as the result, the system of nine ranks lost its potency. So in the early Song dynasty, the significance of marking bureaucrats’ status was more obvious.Bureaucratic reform in1080is a watershed in the history of the bureaucratic system in the Song dynasty, so in the perspective of history of bureaucratic system, the Song dynasty can be divided into two stages by the reformation. After the reformation, the system of bureaucrats’ posts and ranks was restructured and the effects of the system of nine ranks was restored, so in the early Northern Song dynasty Banxu was more important.In the early Northern Song dynasty, institutions including Hemensi, Yushitai, Taichangliyuan and Xueshiyuan administered making rules and arranging bureaucrats’ positions. Many regulations including texts and charts were formulated to direct the arrangement of Banxu in different periods. And many instance formed to be followed to determine positions of bureaucrats in the space of palace. The ways of arraying positions of bureaucrats differed as the change of kinds of Audiences:In Dachaohui and Ruhe, bureaucrats were divided into different queues that be composed by officials who were in the same rank or worked in the same institution; In Qiju in the inside palaces, bureaucrats’ positions were arranged in the way of Heban, the ordinary boundaries of queues were broken and bureaucrats composed few big arrays by their status.Relating to reputation, status and profits, Banxu is especially important for bureaucrats in the Song dynasty in the context of the prevalence of New-Confucianism. When bureaucrats’ positions were arranged, various bureaucratic elements concerning rank had to be taken into account in order to make Banxu accurately reflecting bureaucrats’ status. In the Song dynasty, Banxu played an important role in making balance between rank and post, between civil and military and between salaries and honors, reflecting the efforts of monarch to balance the relations within the ruling class and the regime’s ultimate concern on maintaining maximum stability of supporting groups.