Chapter 9 Section 3 Other Works with the Nature of Political Books

The laws and regulations of the past dynasties are an important part of the cultural history of our country.In order to understand the laws and regulations of the past dynasties in China, in addition to the above-mentioned various political documents, there are also some political documents or works with the nature of political documents, or monographs recording a certain aspect of the system of each dynasty, such as "Tang Law Shuyi" is the earliest legal code preserved in our country; "Da Tang Kaiyuan Ceremony" is the criterion for the imperial court to hold ceremonies.Another example is the "Zao Fa Shi" of the Song Dynasty and the "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" of the Qing Dynasty.In addition, there are also monographs written in the form of staff tables, such as "Bills of Officials in the Past Dynasties", etc., which should also be known.

"List of Officials in the Past Dynasties" is a reference book that can be used to look up the genealogy of officials in the past dynasties.In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1780), it was edited by Ji Yun [yun Yun] and others. It took three years to complete the book, with a total of 72 volumes.This book takes the official system of the Qing Dynasty as the outline, and then lists the central and local official systems from the Three Dynasties to the Ming Dynasty in columns, and compares the similarities and differences.Due to the complexity of the content, it was abridged during the Daoguang period. In 1965, Zhonghua Book Company collated and reprinted the abridged version; in order to facilitate readers to understand the history of the official system and the evolution of the functions of various officials, the "Summary of the Official System in the Past Dynasties" and "A Brief Explanation of the Official System of Past Dynasties" has two articles; it is a very useful reference book for understanding the official system of the past dynasties.

The official system of the Qing Dynasty recorded in the "Official Officials of Past Dynasties" only lasted until the Qianlong Dynasty, and the official system of the late Qing Dynasty underwent great changes.Therefore, today's Qian Shifu compiled the "Chronology of Important Officials in the Qing Dynasty" and "Chronology of Newly Established Officials in the Qing Dynasty"; Political Chronicle, he also compiled the "Chronology of Officials in the Qing Dynasty".In addition, a useful book for understanding the official system of the Qing Dynasty is the "Chronology of Generals, Governors, Ministers, etc. in various places in the Qing Dynasty" edited by Zhang Bofeng.

Other books of this type will not be introduced one by one. The last thing I want to mention is that political books are a very helpful reference book for us to read books on literature and history.Reading literature and history books, it is necessary to understand our country's laws and regulations; at the same time, using political books, you can also look up historical materials.For example: to check information about "meteorites and meteorite rain", go to "Meteorites in the Lishu Gate" in "Qin Hui Yao Ding Su"; Currently, relevant information can be found.These materials are the records about meteorites in the history books of our country for more than two thousand years, and they are also the earliest records of meteorites in the world. From this, we can know that there were correct opinions on meteorites at that time.In addition, even when reading poetry, you can also use political books if you have any doubts.For example, when reading the famous work "Pipa Xing" by Bai Juyi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, there are two sentences at the end: "Who is the most weeping in the seat, Jiangzhou Sima's green shirt is wet." What kind of official is Sima?If you look up the "General Annals·Official Officials", you can know that Sima is the official in charge of the military, and Jiangzhou Sima is the official in charge of the military in Jiangzhou.According to the "Concise Explanation of Officials in Past Dynasties", it is known that after the middle of Tang Dynasty, the official position of State Sima was generally assigned to officials who were demoted, and could not interfere with official affairs, and it was just a false name.Looking at the "General Chronicles · Vessel Clothes" again, it is recorded that "the four-year system of Zhenguan: purple for the third rank and above; scarlet (red) for the fourth rank and above the fifth rank; green for the sixth rank and above the seventh rank; green for the eighth rank and ninth rank Those above wear green..." This means that green shirts were worn by low-ranking officials of the eighth and ninth ranks at that time.Because Bai Juyi was demoted to Sima of Jiangzhou at that time, and he was wearing a green shirt, so he sighed that "the same people have fallen in the end of the world".Knowing these, you will deepen your understanding of poetry.Today, some movies and dramas with historical themes make jokes about costumes and props. One of the reasons is the lack of knowledge of ancient laws and regulations.