Ministry of Justice | |||||||||
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(Pre-Sui) | |||||||||
Chinese | 都 官 | ||||||||
Literal meaning | Capital officials | ||||||||
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(Sui–Qing) | |||||||||
Chinese | 刑 部 | ||||||||
Literal meaning | Punishment(s) Department | ||||||||
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Manchu name | |||||||||
Manchu script | ᠪᡝᡳᡩᡝᡵᡝ ᠵᡠᡵᡤᠠᠨ | ||||||||
Möllendorff | beidere jurgan |
The Ministry or Board of Justice was one of the Six Ministries under the Department of State Affairs in imperial China.
Under the Ming,the Ministry of Justice had charge of most judicial and penal processes,but had no authority over the Censorate or the Grand Court of Revision. [1]
The Ming dynasty,officially the Great Ming,was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by Han Chinese. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng,numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662.
The Censorate was a high-level supervisory agency in Imperial China,first established during the Qin dynasty.
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The Zhongshu Sheng,also known as the Palace Secretariat or Central Secretariat,was one of the three highest governing institutions in imperial China from the Sui dynasty until the early Ming dynasty. As one of the Three Departments,the Zhongshu Sheng was primarily a policy-formulating agency responsible for proposing and drafting all imperial decrees. The Song dynasty modified that tripartite division of executive agencies in the central government. Under the Song,Liao and Jin dynasties,those organs exercised much of the executive authority for the emperor.
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The Three Departments and Six Ministries system was the primary administrative structure in imperial China from the Sui dynasty (581–618) to the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). It was also used by Balhae (698–926) and Goryeo (918–1392) in Manchuria,Korea and Vietnam.
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The Grand Secretariat was nominally a coordinating agency but de facto the highest institution in the imperial government of the Chinese Ming dynasty. It first took shape after the Hongwu Emperor abolished the office of Chancellor in 1380 and gradually evolved into an effective coordinating organ superimposed on the Six Ministries. There were altogether six Grand Secretaries,though the posts were not always filled. The most senior one was popularly called Senior Grand Secretary. The Grand Secretaries were nominally mid-level officials,ranked much lower than the Ministers,heads of the Ministries. However,since they screened documents submitted to the emperor from all governmental agencies,and had the power of drafting suggested rescripts for the emperor,generally known as piàonǐ (票擬) or tiáozhǐ (條旨),some senior Grand Secretaries were able to dominate the whole government,acting as de facto Chancellor. The word nèigé itself also became to refer modern cabinet in Chinese.
The Ministry of Personnel was one of the Six Ministries under the Department of State Affairs in imperial China.
The Imperial Clan Court or Court of the Imperial Clan was an institution responsible for all matters pertaining to the imperial family under the Ming and Qing dynasties of imperial China.
Chen Mingxia was Grand Secretariat and President of Ministry Personnel of the Qing dynasty. He was from Liyang in Jiangsu and was a Chinese official during the Shunzhi period (1644–1661) of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Before joining the Qing in early 1645,he had successively served the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the short-lived Shun regime of rebel leader Li Zicheng (1602–1645). He then served in the highest ranks of the Qing bureaucracy,being promoted to Grand Secretariat of the empire.
A xunfu was an important imperial Chinese provincial office under both the Ming and Qing dynasties. However,the purview of the office under the two dynasties differed markedly. Under the Ming,the post originated around 1430 as a kind of inspector-general and ad hoc provincial-level administrator;such a xunfu is usually translated as a grand coordinator. However,after the Manchu conquest of China in the mid-17th century,xunfu became the title of a regular provincial governor overseeing civil administration.
The Jiajing wokou raids caused extensive damage to the coast of China in the 16th century,during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty. The term "wokou" originally referred to Japanese pirates who crossed the sea and raided Korea and China;however,by the mid-Ming,the wokou consisted of multinational crewmen that included the Japanese and the Portuguese,but a great majority of them were Chinese instead. Mid-Ming wokou activity began to pose a serious problem in the 1540s,reached its peak in 1555,and subsided by 1567,with the extent of the destruction spreading across the coastal regions of Jiangnan,Zhejiang,Fujian,and Guangdong.
The Menxia Sheng,also known as the Chancellery,was one of the Three Departments of the imperial Chinese governments between the Western Jin dynasty and the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty. The Mengxia Sheng was the least important of the Three Departments. Its role involved advising the Emperor and the Central Secretariat,and reviewing edicts and commands. The institution was discontinued after Hu Weiyong's incident in the early Ming dynasty,and the Three Departments and Six Ministries were formally replaced by the Six Ministries structure.
Nine Courts is a general term referring to nine service agencies in imperial China from the Northern Qi dynasty (550–577) to the Qing dynasty (1636–1912). Headed by the Nine Chamberlains,the offices were subordinate to the Three Departments and Six Ministries,mostly ceremonial in nature and held a fair amount of power. During the Ming dynasty,the heads of the nine court transitioned away from referring to the nine courts,but to the Six Ministries,the Censorate,the Office of Transmission,and the Grand Court of Revision. The number of courts was not always nine throughout history.
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The administration of territory in dynastic China is the history of practices involved in governing the land from the Qin dynasty to the Qing dynasty (1636–1912).