Chinese system in history

1. The basic system—the centralized system of feudal absolutism
(1) Germinated in the Warring States Period
Contents : ①In theory, during the Warring States Period, Han Feizi proposed the establishment of a feudal autocratic centralized absolute monarchy. ②In practice, during the Warring States Period, the Shang Yang reform of the Qin state stipulated the abolition of feudal feudalism, the implementation of the county system, and the implementation of a centralized system.
(2) Established in the Qin Dynasty
Contents : Established the emperor system, the system of three princes and nine ministers, the system of prefectures and counties, and promulgated the laws of Qin. Unify weights and measures, currency and writing. Burning books and pit Confucianism, strengthen ideological control. The law is the teaching, and the officials are the teachers.
Features: Organically combine the authoritarian decision-making method with the centralized political system.
(3) Consolidate in the Western Han Dynasty
Contents : Implement the system of governors, promulgate the "indulgence order" and "the law of benefit", and solve the problem of the kingdom. The implementation of "removing a hundred schools of thought and respecting only Confucianism".
Features: The direct rule of the central government over the localities has been re-strengthened; Confucianism has been transformed into a guiding ideology that meets the needs of feudal absolutism and centralization.
(4) Perfected in the Sui and Tang Dynasties
Content : The system of three provinces and six ministries was implemented, so that the feudal bureaucracy formed a complete and strict system, which weakened the power of the prime minister and strengthened the power of the emperor. The establishment and improvement of the imperial examination system expanded the source of officials. Adjusted and improved the government military system.
Features: ① Strengthen the monarchy by means of decentralization; ② Standardize and institutionalize the selection of officials.
(5) Strengthening in the Northern Song Dynasty
Contents : Concentrate military power—remove the military power of the generals in the DPRK and the local Jiedushi, set up three ya to command the forbidden army and check each other with the Privy Council. Centralized administrative power - set up the political, military, and financial powers of the prime minister to divide the prime minister's political, military, and financial powers; send civil officials to serve as governors, and check each other with the general judgment. Centralized financial power - set up transfer envoys in various roads to manage local finances. Centralized judicial power - the central government sent civilian officials to serve as local judicial personnel. Through the above measures, the emperor mastered the military, administrative, financial and judicial powers from the central to the local, eradicating the basis for the separation of feudal vassal towns.
Features: strong stems and weak branches; local decentralization on the basis of central decentralization.
(6) Developed in the Yuan Dynasty
Contents : In the central government, the central official system was improved, with the Central Book Province, the Privy Council, and the Censor's Office in charge of administrative, military and supervisory affairs; the Xuanzhengyuan was established to direct religious affairs and govern the Tibet region. At the local level, the provincial system is implemented.
Features: The local administrative system has undergone significant development; the direct management system of the central government over the frontier areas has been established.
(7) Strengthening in the Ming and Qing
Dynasties : In the early Ming Dynasty, the Prime Minister was abolished, power was divided into six departments, and the local government was divided into three divisions. Guardian agency. The implementation of eight shares to take people. The Qing Dynasty followed the system of the Ming Dynasty, adding a military aircraft office, Daxing the writing prison, and strengthening the absolutism and centralization.
Features: The development of authoritarian centralism to its peak.
(8) Ended in 1912 The Revolution of
1911 overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and ended China's more than two thousand years of feudal autocratic monarchy.
2. Central administrative system
(1) The system of three public servants and nine ministers: it is the central administrative system in the authoritarian centralized system founded by Qin Shihuang. In 2008, the imperial censor was also responsible for supervision affairs, and the Taiwei was responsible for managing the military.
(2) Three-province and six-ministerial system: The three-province and six-ministerial system is a new central administrative system created by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty by synthesizing the official system since the Han and Wei Dynasties. The three provinces are Shangshu Province, Zhongshu Province, and Menxia Province, which are the highest government agencies of the central government. The Zhongshu Province is responsible for drafting and issuing imperial edicts; the Menxia Province is responsible for reviewing the decrees; the Shangshu Province is responsible for implementing important national decrees, and the chiefs of the three provinces are all prime ministers. The six ministries are officials, households, rituals, soldiers, shape, and work, and are subordinate organizations of the Shangshu Province. The three provinces and six ministries have both division of labor and cooperation. They supervise and restrain each other, so that the feudal bureaucracy has formed a strict and complete system, which has effectively improved the administrative efficiency and strengthened the ruling power of the central government. The division of the prime minister into three weakened the prime minister's power and strengthened the imperial power. The official systems of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties all changed slightly on this basis, but the actual situation did not change much.
★The reform of the ancient prime minister (prime minister) system: Qin established a system of three public officials and nine ministers in the central government, with the prime minister as the head, assisting the emperor in handling political affairs; Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty reformed the official system, implemented the system of internal and external dynasties, and weakened the power of the prime minister; Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty expanded the power of Shangshutai; The Sui and Tang dynasties set up a system of three provinces and six ministries, which divided the prime minister into three parts and checked each other, which reflected the strengthening of imperial power; the Northern Song Dynasty added the deputy minister under the prime minister, divided the executive power of the prime minister, set up the secret envoy to divide the military power, and set up three ministerial envoys. Divide the financial power and divide the power of the prime minister into three, which is convenient for the emperor to take over the power; the Yuan Dynasty set up the central book province, set the right and left prime ministers, and performed the powers of the prime minister. , supervision and religious affairs; the Ming Dynasty abolished the prime minister, and the power was divided into six departments; the Yongle Dynasty set up a cabinet and implemented "vote drafting"; the Qing Dynasty set up a military machine office, and the remnants of the prime minister system disappeared, reflecting that the imperial power has reached its peak. It can be seen from the changes that the emperor divided and weakened the relative power, and gradually concentrated various powers into his own hands, thus effectively implementing the autocratic monarchy.
3. Local administrative system
(1) Enfeoffment system (purpose, object, content, function): In order to consolidate the slave-ownership regime, the rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty implemented the system of enfeoffing princes politically, which enabled the Zhou Dynasty to consolidate its rule and expand its territory. By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it gradually collapsed and was replaced by the county system, which was still retained in some later dynasties.
(2) The county system: Appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Qin Dynasty implemented it throughout the country, thus replacing the enfeoffment system nationwide, greatly weakening the independence of local political power, and strengthening the centralization of power. An epoch-making reform, the county system has been used for a long time in our country, and its influence is very far-reaching.
(3) Parallel system of county and state: In the early Western Han Dynasty, the system of county and county was implemented locally, and at the same time, there was a system of feudal state. The parallel state of the county is not conducive to the unified management of the country, and there is a danger of splitting.
(4) Partition system of Fan and Han: There are many ethnic groups living in the territory of Liao, Han and Khitan and other ethnic groups have great differences in the level of economic and cultural development and people's way of life. The political system, that is, "governing the Khitan with the state system, and treating the Han people with the Han system", is characterized by ethnic division, which is essentially class rule rather than ethnic oppression. Promote the development of multi-ethnic countries.
(5) Restraint of Menganmou: After the establishment of Jin, in order to strengthen the ruling power, Aguda implemented the restraint of Menganmou, which is a system that integrates soldiers and farmers. Menganmouke is both a military organization and a local administrative organization. The process of feudalization of the Jurchen.
(6) Provincial system: The Yuan Dynasty was a feudal country with an unprecedentedly vast territory at that time. In order to exercise effective jurisdiction and rule over various places, the Yuan government established a provincial system. Its establishment, consolidating the unity of the country and ensuring the centralization of power in the system, is a major change in the history of my country's political system after the Qin Dynasty's county system. The provincial system of the Yuan Dynasty had a far-reaching impact on the political system of later generations. Since then, the province has become the local administrative organization of our country.
(7) Monk-official system: The Ming Dynasty implemented the monk-official system in Tibet. Because the Tibetan people believed in Tibetan Buddhism, the Ming government used religion to rule the Tibetan people, but stipulated that the monks at all levels should be appointed by the imperial court, thus strengthening the control over Tibet. jurisdiction.
(8) Eight Banners System: The Eight Banners System is a system created by the Jurchen leader Nurhachi in the late Ming Dynasty. The Eight Banners system organizes the Jurchens in the form of military organizations and is controlled by the nobles. It has three functions of military conquest, administrative management, and organization of production. It is a social organization that integrates the army and the people. It is both a military organization and an administrative management system, which promotes the development of the Jurchen society. The Eight Banners Army played an important role in the unification of China in the Qing Dynasty. However, with the invasion of Western capitalism and the corruption of the Eight Banners Army itself, its combat effectiveness gradually declined. The Hunan Army and Huai Army that emerged in the process of suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a great impact on it, especially The large-scale compilation and training of the "new army" in the Qing Dynasty brought the Eight Banners to an end.
(9) Chieftain system: The Ming Dynasty followed the ruling method of the Yuan Dynasty in the minority areas of the southwest, where the chieftain system was implemented. These chieftains, who were served by local ethnic minorities, had autonomy over the administration within their jurisdiction, and could be hereditary and have a lot of power. The great power gradually evolved into a separatist force.
(10) "Returning the land and returning to the current": Formation and development: During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the Tusi Yamen began to be abolished in the southwestern minority areas, and the government dispatched officials to directly rule; after the Qing Dynasty pacified the rebellion of the San Francisco, the Yongzheng Emperor implemented it on a large scale. . Reforming the land and returning to work is a major reform in my country’s political development. It not only strengthened the central government’s rule over the ethnic minorities in the southwest, changed the situation of local backwardness, isolation and disputes, but also promoted economic and cultural exchanges among various ethnic groups. Conducive to the consolidation and development of a unified multi-ethnic country.
Understanding: ①The feudal rulers of the past dynasties, through a series of administrative divisions and reforms, strengthened their control over the people, concentrated local power in the center, and made the multi-ethnic country continue to develop. ②From the enfeoffment system to the county system, it mainly reflects the change of the management appointment principle from the patriarchal blood relationship to the administrative appointment relationship, which is a manifestation of the progress of the political system. The change from the county system to the provincial system mainly reflects the change in the division of administrative divisions. Generally speaking, with the development of society, administrative divisions become smaller and more divided. ③The evolution of the local official system: Qin and Shangyang reformed and set up counties. After reunification, the county system was implemented. The county governor was the highest local officer and held the military and political power; in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the state prefect became the highest local officer; Financial, military and other powers have evolved into separate regimes of vassal and towns; the Northern Song Dynasty reduced the power of military envoys and envoys, appointed civil ministers as prefects, set up general judgments, and concentrated local financial and judicial powers (transfer envoys, etc.); Yuan established Xingzhongshu Province; Ming Dynasty Implementing the separation of powers among the three divisions, proclaiming the political envoys, prosecuting the procuratorial envoys, and the commanding envoys of the capital to restrain each other, and began to reform the land and return to the homeland; the Qing Dynasty set up governors, governors, generals, and ministers in various provinces and regions to manage and control each other. Scale improvement.
4. Official selection system
(1) Shiguan system: During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the official selection system of Shiqing Shilu was implemented according to the patriarchal blood relationship.
(2) Inspection system: The Han Dynasty developed a system of selecting officials for the election of talents, of which the inspection system is the main content. It is a system that selects talents as officials from the bottom up. The Western Han Dynasty strengthened the centralization of power through this system, which was mainly based on individual talents and virtues. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the inspection system focused on filial piety and integrity. The scrutiny is mainly based on an individual's local prestige, which is called a township election. With the development of powerful landlord forces, the family name of the family has become the main basis for elections.
(3) The nine-grade Zhongzheng system was implemented during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. At first, family background and talent were equally important; after the Western Jin Dynasty, attention was paid to family and family background, which promoted the development of the gentry system.
(4) The imperial examination system: With the decline of the gentry and the rise of the common people and landlords, the original system of electing officials could no longer be implemented. The Sui Dynasty established the imperial examination system and the Tang Dynasty improved it. This system has been used in successive dynasties and has far-reaching influence.
The evolution trend of the ancient official selection system: ①The selection criteria have gradually developed from family rank to talent and learning, and the selection method has gradually developed from selection to public examination; ②Talents have gradually become institutionalized, and the forms have become increasingly strict, reflecting relatively fair, open, and objective. in principle.
5. The ancient supervision system: the central government established a censor to supervise hundreds of officials. It has been used in all dynasties, but there have been some changes in the local supervision system.
(1) Qin Dynasty: Censors were established in the central government, and censors were set up locally.
(2) Western Han Dynasty: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up 13 prefectures as supervision areas, and set up governors to supervise.
(3) Eastern Han Dynasty: The supervision power of the provincial governor was further strengthened, and the local administrative power and military power were gradually increased.
(4) Northern Song Dynasty: Set up general judgments, responsible for supervising Zhizhou, and can report directly to the emperor, official documents must be jointly signed by Zhizhou and general judgments to take effect.
(5) Ming Dynasty: The local government set up a criminal justice department to supervise local supervision and justice; a factory and guard spy agency was also added to monitor hundreds of officials and civilians.
6. Military system (military system):
government military system; recruiting system; banning army system; more garrison law; Baojia law; general art of war;
7. The systems created by the ethnic minorities:
the land-equalization system, the renting system, the government military system, the Tibetan-Han division system, the Mengan-Miao restraint system, the provincial system, and the Eight Banners system.
8. Other important political systems in ancient times
(1) Concession system: It is a system of democratically electing the leaders of tribal alliances in the late primitive society, which was carried out within the circle of noble families. It is both a political reflection of primitive public ownership and a signal of the collapse of primitive society.
(2) Hereditary system: From celibacy to hereditary throne, from the world as the public to the world as the family, it is the result of the development of productive forces, the product of class antagonism, and the inevitable trend of historical development. The hereditary system, with its stark privatization, embodies the great progress of society.
(3) Patriarchal system: The patriarchal system is a system that determines the inheritance relationship and status based on blood kinship and direct descendants since the Western Zhou Dynasty. The clan system and privilege system formed by the patriarchal system have a huge impact on later generations.
(4) Awarding titles for military merit: The Shang Yang Reform during the Warring States Period stipulated that the titles of titles and fields should be awarded according to the size of military merit. Politically, it abolished the privileges of the slave-owners and nobles to enjoy titles and titles, which was conducive to the establishment of the dictatorship of the emerging landlord class.
(5) The gentry system: The gentry developed from the powerful landlords and belonged to the privileged stratum of the landlord class. The gentry system was formed in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, fully developed in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, declined in the last years of the Southern Dynasties, and died out in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It selects officials based on the level of family rank, that is, "being an official to look after the family, intermarriage and separation of scholars and commoners", which is a decadent political system.
3. Focus on key issues
1. Despotism centralization system
(1) Concept: Despotism centralization system is the basic political system in China's feudal society. It contains two meanings of authoritarianism and centralized system. Despotism refers to the decision-making method of the central government, which means that the monarch has supreme power. Specifically, it is the emperor’s personal dictatorship, which integrates the highest power of the country. Centralization refers to the decentralization of powers, which refers to the relationship between the central and local governments. , which is characterized by the fact that the local government has no independence in politics, economy, military and other aspects, and must strictly obey the central government. In essence, it is a tool used by the landlord class to oppress the vast majority of working people with farmers as the main body.
(2) Reasons for its formation and long-term maintenance: ①The long-term existence of the feudal economy (small peasant economy) is its economic reason; ②Legalist thought, which advocates centralization and the rule of law, and Confucianism which integrates the essence of various schools of law, etc. Its degree provides a theoretical basis (ideological basis); ③ China's special geographical and climatic conditions are important factors for the formation and consolidation of the system (geographical reasons); ④ The rulers adjust their policies to maintain national unity, social stability, and ensure the development of production. need.
(3) Basic contradictions: ① The contradiction between the central and local separatist forces. ② Contradictions between imperial power and prime ministerial power within the central government.
(4) Development trends: ①Continuously reforming the central administrative structure, weakening the power of the prime minister, and strengthening imperial power; ②Continuously reforming the local administrative structure, strengthening the central government’s jurisdiction over the localities, especially the frontier areas; ③Strengthening the ideological control of people; ④Strengthening Selection and supervision of officials.
(5) Features: 1. The supremacy and indivisible of imperial power; 2. Lifetime and hereditary system of the imperial throne; 3. Officials at all levels from the central to the local level are all directly appointed and dismissed by the emperor, not hereditary; 4. From decision-making to the exercise of legislation, administration, Judicial and other powers are arbitrary and arbitrary; (5) imperial power relies on divine power to promote theories such as "the divine authority of the monarch"; (6) cultural autocracy consolidates political and negotiated autocracy; Always; 8. The absolutist system of small and medium-sized centralized machines reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and became reactionary.
(6) Evaluation:
Positive: ①Politics: The central government can control localities, which is conducive to maintaining social stability and maintaining national unity. ②Economy: It can effectively organize human, material and financial resources to carry out large-scale economic construction and production activities, which is beneficial to the development of social economy. ③ Ethnic relations: Under a unified social environment, economic and cultural exchanges between regions are more frequent, and ethnic integration is strengthened, thereby promoting the development of a unified multi-ethnic country. ④ External relations: The strengthening of centralization provides strong human, material and financial guarantees for resisting aggression and safeguarding sovereignty, and to a certain extent safeguards national interests. ⑤Culture: National unity and social stability facilitate the cultural exchanges between various ethnic groups and countries, and promote the improvement of the cultural level of the entire Chinese nation.
Negative: ① Politics: Autocratic monarchy is easy to form tyranny and lead to the emergence of corruption, which has become a factor hindering historical development. ②Economy: During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it seriously hindered the emergence and development of the budding capitalism. ③Culture: It restrains people's thinking, makes intellectuals divorced from reality, and hinders technological innovation and cultural progress. ④Foreign relations: The closed-door policy in the Ming and Qing Dynasties blocked the connection with the world, causing China to gradually fall behind the world trend.
2. The imperial examination system
(1) Development process: ① Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty abolished the nine-rank Zhongzheng system and began to use the ten-subject examination method to select officials; ② During the reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, the Jinshi subject was established, and the imperial examination system was formed; ③ During the Tang Dynasty, the examination subjects were added to Jinshi and Mingjing were the main subjects; ④Wu Zetian created the martial arts and imperial examinations; ⑤During the Kaiyuan period, senior officials were appointed to preside over the examinations to improve the status of the imperial examinations; ⑥The Northern Song Dynasty examinations were divided into three levels: township examinations and provincial imperial examinations. 7. Wang Anshi reformed the imperial examinations, abolished the Ming Dynasty classics, set up the Ming Dynasty law department in the examination of the classics, and established the Ming law department; In 1898, the 1898 Reform Law proposed to abolish the eight-legged selection of scholars. In 1905, the Qing government formulated a new educational system and abolished the imperial examination system.
(2) Evaluation: The establishment of the imperial examination system was the product of social and economic development and changes in class relations, and it was a system of electing officials to maintain the rule of the feudal landlord class. In different periods, its historical role is not the same.
Positive effects: ①The opening of examinations has absorbed many cold scholars into the political power, which is beneficial to expanding and consolidating the political foundation of feudal rule, and has changed the situation in which aristocratic clans and clans dominated the government in the early period of feudal society. ②The majority of the landowners of the prosperous nationality became officials through the imperial examinations, which injected vitality and vitality into the feudal regime. ③The selection of officials has an objective basis for the level of cultural knowledge, which is conducive to the formation of a high-quality civil servant team. ④The three links of reading, examination, and official position, combining power, position and knowledge, have created the tradition of respecting teachers and valuing education in the Chinese nation and an atmosphere of diligent and diligent study. ⑤ Promoted the prosperity of literature, such as the Tang Dynasty used poetry and fu to select scholars, and promoted the prosperity of Tang poetry.
Negative effects: ① The eight-legged selection of scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties severely restricted the candidates from the content to the form, making many intellectuals not pay attention to practical knowledge or restricting the thinking of intellectuals. ②The style of study that was out of touch with reality brought about by the eight-legged selection of scholars had a very negative impact on the development of academic culture. ③ The imperial examination system at the end of the Qing Dynasty seriously hindered the development of science and culture, and was one of the important reasons for the backwardness of natural science in modern China. ④The imperial examination system is not conducive to knowledge innovation, and even less conducive to the cultivation of innovative talents.