The chancellor,also known by its Chinese name as the zaixiang,was a semi-formal designation for a number of high-level officials during China's Tang dynasty. This list also includes chancellors of the short-lived Zhou dynasty of the empress Wu Zetian within the Tang.
Ouyang Xiu,the author of the New Book of Tang,asserts that the Tang dynasty inherited its bureaucracy from its dynastic predecessor,the Sui,whose founder the Wen Emperor divided his government into five main bureaus (省,shěng):
The Eunuch Bureau (initially 內侍省,NèishìShěng,but later changed to 殿內省,Diànnèi Shěng by the Yang Emperor)
Under the Wen Emperor,the Department of State Affairs was regarded as the most important. He had his most honored officials such as Gao Jiong,Yang Su,and Su Wei lead it at various points. Its heads—the two shàngshūpúshè (尚書僕射)—were generally regarded as the Sui chancellors. Ouyang further asserts,however,that the heads of the Legislative Bureau and Chancellery were also considered chancellors.[1]
Emperor Gaozu, the founder of the Tang dynasty, initially followed the Sui's system of governance including the five-bureau organization. However, he established a single head for the Department of State Affairs, the shàngshūlǐng (尚書令), naming his second son Li Shimin to the post.[2] Li Shimin became emperor in 626 (posthumously remembered as Emperor Taizong) but his former post of shangshuling had to be left vacant because none of his officials dared occupy it. The Department of State Affairs therefore reverted to its previous arrangement of being headed by two vice-directors, the shangshu pushe.[3] Around 626, probably by Emperor Taizong's orders, the institution of multiple chancellors was also formalized, treating the office as an additional honorific for the vice-directors of the Department of State Affairs, the palace attendant of the Chancellery, and the director of the Legislative Bureau (中書令, Zhōngshū lǐng), whose Chinese name was changed to the Zhōngshū Shěng (中書省). The Chancellery and the Legislative Bureau themselves often had more than one head, so that there were frequently more than four chancellors in any given year.[4] After 705,[5] however, the vice-directors of the Department of State Affairs were no longer considered chancellors by default, although some continued to separately received the status as an additional title.[4]
The Tang government began to designate certain high-level officials as additional chancellors with titles such as the "participator in administrative governance" (參豫朝政, cānyù cháozhèng). These positions were given a formal designation in 643, reckoned "equivalent to the Legislative Bureau and Chancellery third-rank officials" (同中書門下三品, tóng Zhōngshū Ménxià sānpǐn). The 20th-century historian Bo Yang called such officials de facto chancellors (實質宰相, shízhì zǎixiàng). The names of the Legislative Bureau and the Chancellery changed names multiple times, such that the Chinese phrasing of the chancellors "equivalent to the Legislative Bureau and Chancellery third-rank officials" also required frequent adjustment. Under Emperor Xuanzong, when the Legislative Bureau was briefly known as the Zǐwéi Shěng (紫微省) and the Chancellery as the Huángmén Shěng (黃門省), the additional chancellors were known as tóng Zǐwéi Huángmén sānpǐn ((同紫微黃門三品).[6] A lesser designation with similar privileges was created in 682 under Emperor Gaozong, initially known as chancellors "equivalent to the Legislative Bureau and Chancellery participators" (同中書門下平章事, tóng Zhōngshū Ménxià píngzhāngshì).[1] These were called de facto chancellors, second grade,[clarification needed] by Bo.[4] The last additional chancellor "equivalent to the Legislative Bureau and Chancellery third-rank officials" to be noted as such was Li Lin in the Chinese lunar year spanning late 757 and early 758.[6]Lü Yin was also said to have carried such a title during his term as chancellor[which?] from 759 to 760[7] but he is not noted as such in the table of chancellors provided in the New Book of Tang.[8] Meanwhile, following An Lushan's rebellion, the chancellors "equivalent to the Legislative Bureau and Chancellery participators" became very common.[9]
Until the second reign of Emperor Ruizong began in 710, further variations on the "participator in administrative governance" continued to appear. These titles included the "participator in important matters" (參知機務, canzhi jiwu), the "participator in secret matters" (參掌機密, canzhang jimi), the "participator in governance matters" (參知政事, canzhi zhengshi, and 參謀政事, canmou zhengshi). These were grouped by Bo as de facto chancellors, third class.[clarification needed][4]
Function
Under the Tang, officials designated as chancellors met periodically at the Hall of Matters of Governance (政事堂, Zhengshi Tang), originally located within the Chancellery. In 683, Pei Yan headed both the Chancellery and the Legislative Bureau and moved the hall to the Legislative Bureau. Under Emperor Xuanzong, the chancellor Zhang Shuo changed the hall's name to "Area within the Legislative Bureau" (中書門下, Zhongshu menxia), apparently employing a triple entendre as the terms could also refer to the combination of the Legislative Bureau (Zhongshu Sheng) and the Chancellery (Menxia Sheng), Chinese often employing asyndeton, or to disciples or students of central affairs.[10] Zhang also created five offices under the chancellors to oversee the civil service, state secrets, military matters, governance, and criminal law.[10] Under Emperor Suzong, the chancellors begin to rotate their off days so that at least one would always be on duty, although, when submissions were made to the emperor, they were signed in the names of all the chancellors whether on duty or not. The name of the meeting place also changed back to the Hall of Matters of Governance.[11]
List
These lists includes chancellors of Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty but not various regional governors who were given the titles as honorifics. The chancellors under the pretenders Li Yun and Li Yu, Prince of De are listed, but not the chancellors under the pretender Li Chenghong. Li Chenghong was said to have had multiple chancellors but only Yu Kefeng (于可封) and Huo Huan (霍環)) were named and their specific titles were not given.
Heads of the Department of State Affairs
The executive bureau had these changes in name:[4]
Shangshu Sheng (尚書省) (618–662)
Zhong Tai (中臺) (662–670)
Shangshu Sheng (670–684)
Wenchang Tai (文昌臺) (684)
Wenchang Dusheng (文昌都省) (684–685)
Wenchang Dutai (文昌都臺) (685–703)
Zhong Tai (703–705)
Shangshu Sheng (705–907)
Correspondingly, the heads of the executive bureau, considered chancellors from 618 to 705,[5] had these titles during those periods:
Shangshu Ling (尚書令) (618–626)
Shangshu Puye (尚書僕射) (618–662)
Kuangzheng (匡政) (662–670)
Shangshu Puye (670–684)
Wenchang Xiang (文昌相) (684–705)
Shangshu Puye (705–713)
Cheng Xiang (丞相) (713–742)
Shangshu Puye (742–907)
The men who held the office included (including the Shangshu Puye during Emperor Gaozu's reign, even though at that time the office was for the deputy heads of the Shangshu Sheng):
The office was created in 643. The titles, as modified from time to time to reflect the names in changes of the Legislative Bureau and the Chancellery, included:
The office was created in 682. The titles, as modified from time to time to reflect the names in changes of the Legislative Bureau and Chancellery, included:
The office recurred as variations of the pre-formalization titles, even after formalization of the de facto chancellor offices of the first and second grades, but did not regularly recur after 713. Liu Youqiu, who held the title as Zhi Junguo Zhongshi, was the last person to hold any variation of the title as chancellor as a regular title, although Pei Du would hold the title of Pingzhang Junguo Zhongshi (平章軍國重事) briefly in 830. Toward the end of the dynasty, Li Zhirou was briefly put temporarily in charge of the Office of the Chancellors in 895 with the designation Quanzhi Zhongshu Shi (權知中書事) and therefore could be regarded as a chancellor as well (and was listed in the table of chancellors in the New Book of Tang); similarly, Lu Guangqi went through two similar titles.
1 2 3 Somewhat inconsistent with accounts about Shangshu Puye not being a chancellor post after 705, Doulu, Tang, and Wei were still referred in the table of chancellors while holding those posts during Emperor Zhongzong's second reign. See New Book of Tang, vol. 61.
↑ By this point, Shangshu Puye was ordinarily not considered a position for a chancellor any more. However, the table of chancellors in the New Book of Tang listed Li Chengqi as a chancellor. See New Book of Tang, vol. 61.
1 2 3 The table of chancellors in the New Book of Tang, vol. 61, recorded that Pei became Neishi in 685 and became Nayan in 686, but then again recorded in 687 that he became Nayan. According to the chronicles of Wu Zetian's reign in the Old Book of Tang, vol. 6, 舊唐書 本紀 卷一至十三. Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2007., he became Neishi in 685 and Nayan in 687. According to the chronicles of Wu Zetian's reign in the New Book of Tang, vol. 4 唐書 本紀 第一至十. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2007., he became Neishi in 686 and Nayan in 687.
1 2 3 4 5 6 The table of chancellors in the New Book of Tang had several entries with regard to chancellor movements during Wu Zetian's reign that were considered errant entries (as they were immediately duplicated within other subsequent entries) by both its commentators and Sima Guang, the lead editor of the Zizhi Tongjian, and accordingly, those entries are not considered here. Further, it gave no date for the end of Lu Yuanfang's second stint as chancellor, but the Zizhi Tongjian did. See New Book of Tang, vol. 61.
↑ Zhu Mei, who was the main supporter of the pretender Li Yun, had himself commissioned as Shizhong in 886 during Li Yun's brief reign, but is not listed among the official list of Tang chancellors in the New Book of Tang.
↑ Li Zhongchen joined Zhu Ci's state of Qin in 783 and served as a chancellor for Qin, but the table of chancellors in the New Book of Tang continued to regard Li Zhongchen as a chancellor until he was captured and executed by Tang forces in 784.
↑ Han Huang was not listed in the table of chancellors, perhaps because he was still then military governor (Jiedushi) of Zhenhai Circuit (鎮海, headquartered in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) and therefore arguably only an honorary chancellor, but he was listed in the table of chancellors' family trees, in the New Book of Tang. Compare New Book of Tang, vol. 62, with New Book of Tang, vol. 73. 漢川草廬-二十四史-新唐書-卷七十三‧表第十三. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2009. 新唐書-宰相世系三(韓氏). Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved April 8, 2009..
↑ Zheng Tian was listed in the official list of Tang chancellors for a brief duration in 881 as well; however, at that time, when Emperor Xizong had fled the capital Chang'an in response to the attack by the agrarian rebel Huang Chao, Zheng was serving as the military governor (Jiedushi) of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) in defense against further attacks by Huang, and therefore, despite that listing, he will not be considered a chancellor in 881.
↑ Pei Che served as the chancellor of the pretender Li Yun from 886 to 887, but was not officially removed from his chancellorship for the commonly recognized Emperor Xizong until he was executed in 887.
↑ Xiao Gou served as the chancellor of the pretender Li Yun briefly in 886, but was not officially removed from his chancellorship for the commonly recognized Emperor Xizong until he was executed in 887.
↑ Zheng Changtu is not listed in the official list of Tang chancellors in the New Book of Tang because he served under the pretender Li Yun.
1 2 3 Xu Jingzong, Gao Jifu, and Zhang Xingcheng were referred to as de facto chancellors by the New Book of Tang, vol. 61, but this appeared to be a temporary measure during the Goguryeo campaign with Emperor Taizong out of Tang territory and Li Zhi in charge temporarily. Xu, Gao, Zhang (each of whom would be later made chancellor) were not again referred to as chancellors until they were made chancellors after Emperor Taizong's death, even though they were not explicitly removed.
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