Origins
As Ouyang Xiu, the author of the New Book of Tang, asserted, Tang inherited the system from its predecessor Sui Dynasty, as Sui's founder Emperor Wen of Sui divided his government into five main bureaus:
- Shangshu Sheng (尚書省) -- executive bureau
- Menxia Sheng (門下省) -- examination bureau
- Neishǐ Sheng (內史省) -- legislative bureau (note different tone than the eunuch bureau below)
- Mishu Sheng (秘書省) -- archival bureau
- Neishì Sheng (內侍省) -- eunuch bureau (note different tone than the legislative bureau above), later changed by Emperor Wen's son Emperor Yang of Sui to Diannei Sheng (殿內省)
Under Emperor Wen, the executive bureau was regarded as the most important, and he had his most honored officials, including Gao Jiong, Yang Su, and Su Wei, head it at various points, and its heads were generally regarded as chancellors (as it always had two heads, known as the Shangshu Puye (尚書僕射)). Ouyang asserted, however, that the heads of the examination and legislative bureaus were also considered chancellors.
Read more about this topic: Chancellor Of The Tang Dynasty
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)