Research On The Palace Official System In Tang And Five Dynasties

The palace female official system is an important part of the Tang Dynasty's court system.The idea of the palace female official system originated from the Zhou Li,and a few of the palace female officials figures appeared in the Han and Wei Dynasties.Up to the Jin Dynasty,the palace female official system with distinct ranks had been established.During the Northern and Southern Dynasties,Liu Song and the Northern Wei Dynasties established their own palace official systems and developed.By the Sui Dynasty,when the whole country was unified,the system of Six Shang and Twenty-four Si with distinct ranks and clear responsibilities was established by taking the old rituals of the pre-dynasty and referring to the establishment of man's officials,which became the direct source of the palace female official system in the Tang Dynasty.In the Tang Dynasty,the content of the palace official system was always the "Six Shang and Twenty-four Si" system,and the functions were generally recorded as Tang Shu and Tang Liu Dian.Only in Xuanzong's time,in order to completely eliminate the influence of Taiping Princess and Wu Zeitian and Queen Wei's politics,there were once reforms,The "Six Shang" was only left ShangGong,ShangYi,and ShangFu.However,with the stability of the regime and the expansion of the harem,it was restored to the previous Six Shang and Twenty-four Si in the late Kaiyuan period.The Six Shang and Twenty-four Si are in charge of all aspects of the harem,food and clothing,but they are not independent of the small court of the harem,but are inextricably linked with the institutions of the government official.In addition to the Six Shang and Twenty-four Si system,there are many other official titles and grades in the historical documents and epigraph that are not listed in the system,indicating that there are still a number of palace female official in the Tang Dynasty.Although the palace female official system in the late Tang Dynasty still follows the system of Six Shang and Twenty-four Si,some new changes have taken place compared with the early Tang Dynasty.Firstly,the phenomenon that the palace female officials of the“Six Shang" were conferred the rank of nobility of the noble officials'wives appeared.In the early Tang Dynasty,besides GaoShangshi,who was the mid-emperor's lactating mother,most of the palace female officials conferred the rank of nobility of the noble officials'wives were recruited into the palace during the period of Wu Zetian and Queen Wei's politics.The reason may be related to their current social status as wives of officials..This phenomenon may spread to other palace female officials,and gave birth to the conferment of palace female officials of Six Shang in the late Tang Dynasty.Second,there are special groups of "inner ladies" besides palace female officials and imperial concubine.They under the name of the rank of nobility of the noble officials'wives but gave birth to children for the emperor in the palace.At the end of the Tang Dynasty,because of the turbulent situation and the separation of the palace people,the inner lady,who was the emperor's spouse,had to show up and assume the duties of publicity and ambassadors,showing a clear trend to be the palace female officials.The officialization represented by inner lady became the prelude to the integration of the imperial concubine system and the palace female official system during the Five Dynasties.The integration of the imperial concubine system and the palace female official system in the Five Dynasties is a gradual development process.The system of Hou Liang Dynasty did not seen in historical records,but probably mostly followed the Tang Dynasty,only in terms of scale and organizational structure or incompleteness.In Hou Tang Dynasty,most of the palace female officials followed the name of "Six Shang Twenty-four Si".At the same time,new titles such as Shubi,Zhibi,Yifu,Zhike appeared.The boundary between the imperial concubine and the palace female officials began to blur.The mode of Hou Jin Dynasty internal service is very complex,and the degree of integration between the imperial concubine system and the palace female official system is far more than the previous Dynasties.The system of Hou Han is unclear due to the lack of historical data,or inherited the system of the previous Dynasty.As for Hou Zhou Dynasty,the name of the palace female officials seems to return to the old system of the Tang Dynasty,but in fact they still worked as imperial concubine and palace female officials.In the same period,the Southern Han regime,which was separated from the south,also witnessed the cases of palace female officials concurrently serving as palace female officials and imperial concubine,and even being promoted from palace female officials to imperial concubine.The new changes in the above-mentioned of the palace female official system further affected the Song Dynasty.In Song Dynasty,palace female officials could be transferred to imperial concubine,and the palace female official system was also included in the imperial concubine system.The palace female official system in Tang Dynasty also affected the East Asian countries in the same period.The Japanese female lawsuit official system was established under the influence of the Tang Dynasty's palace female official system,and made some adjustments because of the difference in the country's historical traditions and actual national conditions.The biggest difference between the two is that the Tang Dynasty's palace female official served for the emperor's family,and the Japanese female officials just served under the emperor,they were a part of the national administrative system.For this reason,Japanese female officials and Tang Dynasty palace female officials have great differences in terms of source composition,salaries,and vacation benefits.The idea of "adapting to local conditions" that Japan runs through in the process of studying the official system and even the entire Tang system deserves our attention in research.