Descriptions of the Bureaucracy during the Six Dynasties Period

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  • 六朝における官僚制の叙述
  • リクチョウ ニ オケル カンリョウセイ ノ ジョジュツ

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Abstract

This article is an attempt to analyze the changes that occurred in how the bureaucracy was described in the documents of the Six Dynasties Period. The first description of the bureaucracy appearing in the official histories was made in “Baiguan Gongqing-Biao” 百官公卿表 of Han Shu. However, soon the document form biao 表 was replaced by the form called zhi 志 (viz. ‘‘Baiguan Zhi” 百官志). The forms biao and zhi differ in that the former consists of diagrams of bureaucratic organizations and lists of bureaucrats, while the latter describes only the way in which the bureaucratic system was organized.The transition from biao to zhi meant that personal details about individual bureaucrats lost their significance in the dynastic record. On the other hand, documents in private sector published by groups of high officials concerning the bureaucracy increased. It was these documents that contained not only organizational diagrams, but also biographical details, regulations and provisions concerning appointments, qualifications, etc. The removal of personal details from the dynastic record indicates the government’s intention to describe its bureaucracy ideologically, rather than historically. In response, groups of high officials aimed to restore the personal details about their careers that were removed from official documents, in order to maintain the prestige that such facts accorded them and their families in Chinese society.

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