Chapter 4 Lecture 1 Han Dynasty-2

2. The electoral system of the Han Dynasty The above mentioned many central and local officials in the Han Dynasty, but where did these many officials come from?Who can be the prime minister, Yushi doctor or even the chief of this department?This is one of the most important big issues in China's political system.In the ancient feudal hereditary system, the son of the emperor was the son of heaven, the son of the prince was the prince, the son of the prince was the minister, and the son of the doctor was the mansion. Officials had a certain blood, so naturally this problem would not occur.But it was different in the Qin and Han Dynasties.The feudal hereditary system has been overthrown, who should be in politics and who should not be in politics?In addition to hereditary aristocrats, it first reminds people of military politics. Whoever holds military power controls the political power and dominates official careers, but this was not the case in the Han Dynasty.Secondly, it makes people think of the politics of the rich. Whoever has wealth can easily become an official and hold power, but this was not the case in the Han Dynasty.We talk about the system in this aspect of the Han Dynasty, and it was not until after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that it gradually became finalized.At that time, there was Taixue, just like the current National University.At that time, there was only one national university, and the students there were divided into two grades for graduation, which were called subjects at that time.Those born in Branch A are Lang; those born in Branch B are officials.Lang Guan is a guard in the palace under Guang Luxun. As usual, anyone who is a two thousand stone official, (there are many such officials in the Han Dynasty. More than a hundred.) Their children, nephews and descendants have to request as usual to be sent to the palace as bodyguards.After he has served in front of the emperor for a few years, when the government needs people, it will be selected and distributed here.Although this system is not hereditary to the aristocracy, the aristocratic group is also a bureaucratic group, and the official career is still monopolized by the aristocratic group.This system was seen in the West until modern times.China has changed since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.At that time, it was stipulated that those who got the first grade in the Taixue graduation examination had to be Lang officials. If so, many intellectuals were recruited into the Lang officials, but intellectuals were not the children of nobles.Those who have reached the second grade will return to the local government of their hometown to serve as officials.Officials are subordinates of local governors.In the Han Dynasty, there was a limit to the appointment of officials. Local governors must be appointed by the central government.However, the counties and counties belong to the local people.For example, a person from Taipei City cannot be the mayor of Taipei City; but all officials in the Taipei City Government from the mayor down, which were called vassals in the Han Dynasty, must be local people from Taipei City.However, the right to use the vassals is in the hands of the chief, which is called privatizing the vassals.Sangong, Jiuqing, county prefect, county magistrate, these are appointed by the emperor by the central government.The thirteen cao below the prime minister will be used by the prime minister himself.In addition, the heads of the guards are all officials, and they are all appointed by the heads of the yamen themselves.Now this Tai student has passed the second grade in the examination. For example, if he is from Kuaiji County, he will go back to Kuaiji and appoint the county government for probation. This is the so-called supplementary official.Bulang and Buli are the treatment that Tai students should have after graduation.

Let’s talk about the electoral system of the Han Dynasty, which was historically known as the township election.At that time, various localities could elect talents to the central government from time to time.Their elections can be roughly divided into two types, or three types: one is irregular, for example, when the old emperor dies and the new emperor ascends the throne, he often issues an edict, hoping to elect talents from all over the country to the court; or In the event of a great famine, flood, or plague, it means that the government has neglected its duties and has been sent by heaven. It is often issued an edict to hope that the local government will elect wise people to speak to the government or do things for the country.These elections are indefinite.Those who are elected in this way are mostly called virtuous.After Xianliang was elected to the government, as usual, the government asked them for advice on several important political issues.This is called policy questioning.Policy is a kind of bamboo.Questions are written on bamboo slips, so it is called Cewen.One after another policy question, ask the virtuous people to express their opinions, this is called a countermeasure.The government reads their opinions and selects and appoints them separately. This is one way.This kind of election is neither regular nor has a definite electoral body.Local public opinion can also be cited, as can the three officials and nine ministers, and government bureaucrats.What is cited is called virtuous, and virtuous refers to people with outstanding talents.The second type is special elections. For example, the government will send envoys to the Xiongnu and the Western Regions this year. They need to be proficient in foreign languages, able to endure hardships, and be able to adapt. The so-called envoys who are extinct, the government often issues edicts to solicit. With this talent, you can apply for yourself.Another example is that military talents are needed in the army, or if the Yellow River bursts and people who are good at water control are needed, everyone knows that there are such talents, and everyone can choose them. If you feel confident, you can directly apply for the election.This is a special kind of election.Later, there was another kind of regular election, that is, the election of Xiaolian.In the Han Dynasty, there was always an imperial edict for the local police to promote filial sons and honest officials.However, local governments sometimes do not pay attention to this matter, and the candidates are not enthusiastic.During the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he once issued an imperial edict to the effect that it would be unreasonable to say that you have such a large county that you don't have a dutiful son or an honest official who can be prosecuted to the court.Moreover, the duty of the local governor is not only to manage the administration, but also to find talents for the country; if within a year, not even a dutiful son or an honest official can be selected, it can be seen that the responsibility of the governor has not been fulfilled.So Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered everyone to discuss how to punish the local governor who did not honor his filial sons and honest officials.In this way, a kind of regular election is virtually formed.In any case, each county has to name one or two filial sons and honest officials every year to take responsibility.In the more than 100 counties in the Han Dynasty, at least 200 filial pieties were promoted to the imperial court every year.When these people arrived at the court, they could not have a better and quicker background like a virtuous person, and they were probably still placed in the palace as officials.If so, a Tai student, after he is distributed to the local government as an official, he still has the hope of being inspected and promoted to be a Lang in the palace.Wait for him to serve in the Lang Department for a few years before distributing them.Since Emperor Wu, the Han Dynasty has gradually formed a kind of filial piety in the county with one action every year. At least two hundred new filial pieties will be added to the Lang's office in each county every year, and there will be 2,000 in more than ten years.In the past, there were only about 2,000 Lang Guan guards in the palace.Since then the system was formed, twenty or thirty years later, all the officials in the imperial palace have become filial and honest in the county and country, and most of those filial piety in the county and country were born as supplementary officials by graduates of Taixue.If so, the emperor's bodyguard group has also deteriorated invisibly.They have all become young intellectuals who have graduated from universities.So after Emperor Wu, all the officials in the Han Dynasty gradually became educated.Later, Lang's office was full, and there were as many talents as possible to be distributed and appointed, so no regular elections and special elections were invisible, and the only way to official career was to be filial and honest. This was a matter in the Eastern Han Dynasty.This system has also evolved from district inspections to distribution according to the proportion of household registration, which is established as a quota.At that time, all 200,000 households in the county had to be prosecuted as Xiaolian, so Xiaolian only became a name for political participation, and the original meaning of filial son and honest official was lost.Finally, after the examination by the county and the state, the central government added another exam.This system is then completed by combining the four procedures of education, administrative practice, elections and examinations.

From this we can see that this system was very important politically at that time.A young man went to Taixue to study, and after graduation, he was sent to serve in a local area.After serving the local administration with achievements, they will be selected to the central government by the chief executive, and must pass some examinations prescribed by the central government before officially entering the official position.That was the only right way to enter politics at that time.Almost all government officials come from this way.We can no longer call such a government an aristocracy.Although there are noble children among Lang Guan, they are a minority after all.We can't call it a military government, because Lang Guan is not from a military background.We also cannot call it a capitalist government, because these officials are not the children of merchant capitalists.We can only call this kind of government a government of scholars, or a government of scholars.In the Han Dynasty, the successive prime ministers from Zhaoxuan were almost all scholars, and their backgrounds were all selected through local elections.It is not because of his blood relationship with the emperor and former high officials, or because he is a big soldier and rich man, that he climbed onto the political stage.It is entirely because he is a reading intellectual that he got into the official career.This situation started from the Han Dynasty.We can say that the current government in Chinese history is neither an aristocratic government, nor a military government, nor a merchant government, but a "government that advocates the rule of culture", that is, a government of scholars.As long as these people are allowed to run on the political stage, the government will be organized by them, and all political power will be distributed in their hands.