"Research on the System under the Doors of the Middle Books of the Tang Dynasty" is a research on the history of the political system in the Tang Dynasty, to be precise, a study on the change of the political system in the Tang Dynasty.
From the point of view of the problem, it is a long-standing problem on the surface, but the angle of raising the problem is different from the research of general political system history, and it is even more different from the traditional history of official system.
Political system is a concept of modern political science. From the perspective of political system, analyzing the state power structure and its operating mechanism in different periods in ancient China, and then replacing the traditional history of the official system, has become an important academic in the study of the history of ancient Chinese political systems. orientation.
The concepts of "Three Provinces System" and "Three Provinces and Six Ministries" cannot solve the problem of the evolution of the political system from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty.
Since the three provinces of Shangshu, Zhongshu and Menxia were in the primary position in the basic institutional framework of the bureaucratic system stipulated by the national decrees (laws) in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the three provinces were basically in the relationship of equal checks and balances, the concept of "three provinces system" came into being. .
And because the administrative system under the three provinces is dominated by the six ministries of Shangshu Province, the Sixth Ministry of Shangshu is the highest administrative department of the country. Local officials are all departments in charge of specific affairs, and even the supervisory powers of the censors are exercised around the administration of the six ministries, so the "three provinces and six ministries system" has become a commonly used formulation to summarize this system.
However, from the perspective of the evolution of the system and the characteristics of the times, the "three-province system" and the "three-province and six-ministerial system" are mainly beneficial to solve the difference between the political system of the Tang Dynasty and the previous political system, as well as the foothold of the development of the political system since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. .
However, these two concepts cannot solve the problem of the evolution of the political system of the Tang Dynasty to the political system of the Song Dynasty.
The political system of the Northern Song Dynasty was the result of the development and changes of the political system in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
The political system of the Northern Song Dynasty is not only summed up by the "employee dispatch system".
The proposal of "Zhongshu Menxia System" attempts to answer the question of the overall trajectory of the evolution of the political system from the Tang Dynasty to the political system of the Song Dynasty, as well as the actual operation of the political system in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
The evolution of the political system, the operation of the bureaucratic system, and the operation of national government affairs are the three basic aspects of the study of the history of the political system in the Tang Dynasty that this book focuses on.
The title of this book is "Zhongshu Menxia System", which is an attempt to expand on these three levels.
First of all, the "Zhongshu Menxia System" was a stage in the evolution of the political system in the Tang Dynasty. It grew up on the basis of the "Three Provinces System". It represented the basic characteristics of the political system in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and laid the foundation for the political system of the Northern Song Dynasty. Base.
Secondly, the "Zhongshumenxia system" centers on the prime minister's institution (instead of the three provinces) under the Zhongshumen, and takes the post (instead of the six departments of the Shangshu) as the administrative subject, forming a new operating mechanism for the entire bureaucratic system.
Thirdly, the filing and adjudication of major national government affairs under the "Zhongshumenxia System" has formed a new operating mechanism, which is reflected in the form of documents and operating procedures that are different from the three-province system.
Define the political system in the middle and late Tang Dynasty as "the system of Zhongshumenxia"
In order to describe the changes in the political system of the Tang Dynasty in the past three hundred years, it is necessary to first establish a narrative framework.
Under this premise, new narrative frameworks and research paradigms need to be further sought.
This book explores in terms of research method or analysis, trying to establish a narrative framework that is conducive to describing the overall changes in the political system of the Tang Dynasty.
First of all, according to the changes of the highest-level organization and its operating mechanism in the operation of national government affairs, the political system of the Tang Dynasty is divided into two different forms, the former and the latter. The system (or the dispatch system under the Zhongshumen), the key point of the change is the change of the Zhengshitang to the Zhongshumenxia in the eleventh year of Kaiyuan.
Secondly, pay attention to grasping the temporality of institutional changes, and introduce strict temporal orientation into the study of institutional history.
It can also be said that this is a reference to the diachronic research that anthropology pays attention to.
The premise of exploring the development and change trajectory of the political system is the determination of the promulgation time of some institutional laws.
Only through detailed and thorough research on the establishment and reform time of various systems and the promulgation of relevant system reform laws, and through the collusion analysis of these time points, can the trajectory of the entire political system change be presented in detail and three-dimensionally.
Thirdly, in order to explore the actual operation of the system in political life, we cannot stop at the provisions of the relevant system records, but must return to the daily political activities themselves.
In historical materials, the records that best reflect the daily political activities and the systems embodied in them are the official documents that were actually used at that time preserved as physical historical materials, and the ascending and descending documents preserved in various documents, mainly anthologies.
Therefore, by analyzing the specific form and application of official documents, and combining the document form with the institutional structure and system operation, it is possible to restore the basic procedures of the system operation in a specific period to a certain extent.
In a sense, this can also be said to be inspired by the "structure-function" analysis method in Western historiography.
Through the analysis of the structure and operation procedures of the documents, it is possible to locate the position of the relevant official positions in the complex network of the bureaucratic system, and to locate the position of the government affairs links undertaken by the relevant official positions in the government affairs operation procedures that are connected from top to bottom. A goal that has been pursued but not yet fully achieved.
Finally, because the historical materials did not leave a detailed record enough to assemble and explain the changes of the entire political system, the remaining part of the Tang Dynasty official documents, mainly the Dunhuang Turpan documents, and some historical records preserved in the inscriptions and collections The transcribed documents, because they reflect the characteristics of the system in different periods, just become the basis for analyzing the changes in the system.
From the perspective of the overall situation of institutional changes, the changes in the form of official documents are an effective perspective for analyzing changes in the political system.
Especially for the institutional changes that are quietly taking place in the actual operation process, starting from the changes in the form of official documents and their operating mechanisms has become an important entry point.
In a word, this book defines the political system in the middle and late Tang Dynasty as the “Zhongshumenxia system” on the basis of comprehensive research on the changes of official documents and the evolution of the political system. What is proposed above is the result of in-depth research on the political system of the Tang Dynasty.
Liu Houbin
(The author is the Librarian of Renmin University of China and a professor at the School of History)