[Teacher's question] The system of three provinces and six departments was an official system implemented during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Please recall. What was the official system before Sui and Tang Dynasties?

[Student's answer] The Qin Dynasty set up a system of "three public officials" and "nine ministers", and the "three public officials" were prime ministers, imperial envoys and Qiu. The prime minister helped the emperor deal with national politics; The suggestion is in charge of ministers' memorials, issuing imperial edicts, and also in charge of state supervision affairs; Qiu is in charge of the military. Under the "three publics", there are "nine ministers" in charge of government affairs.

[Teacher's question] Ok. This is the Qin Dynasty. What about the Han Dynasty?

[Student's Supplement] The Han Dynasty basically followed the official system of the Qin Dynasty, but after the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a stricter supervision system was implemented than that of the Qin Dynasty, and a secretariat system was established. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the supervisory power of the secretariat was further strengthened, and the local administrative power and military power gradually increased. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was in charge of the country's military and political power and became the highest head of the country.

The teacher asked a good question. So have you ever wondered why Sui and Tang Dynasties reformed the official system in Qin and Han Dynasties? We can discuss it.

[Student A] The original official system is easy to form the autocratic power of the prime minister.

[Student B's answer] The original official division of labor is not clear, which leads to inefficiency.

It is always good for teachers to tell stories. From what we have learned about the evolution of the functions and powers of the prime minister, we can see that there are some disadvantages in the original official system, such as the easy formation of the exclusive power of the prime minister and the unclear division of labor, which leads to low efficiency. Therefore, Emperor Wendi of the Sui Dynasty integrated the official system since the Han and Wei Dynasties and established a system of three provinces and six departments in the central government. Emperor Taizong further clarified the functions and powers of the three provinces.

[Teacher's question] Ask the students to read books, and then talk about the functions of the three provinces and their chiefs.

[Student Answer] The three provinces are divided into Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province and Shangshu Province. Zhongshu Province is responsible for drafting and issuing imperial edicts. The province under the door is responsible for reviewing government decrees and vetoing those that are not feasible. Shangshu province is responsible for implementing important state laws and regulations. The governors of the three provinces are all prime ministers.

[Teacher asks] Which six are these six? What are their duties?

[Student's answer] Six departments are subordinate institutions of Shangshu Province, including officials, households, ceremonies, soldiers, criminals and workers. The official department is responsible for the assessment and appointment of officials, the household department is responsible for household registration and taxation, the ritual department is responsible for the national etiquette system, the Ministry of War is responsible for military and political affairs, the Ministry of Punishment is responsible for criminal law, and the Ministry of Industry is responsible for national engineering construction.

[Teacher tells] Everyone must clearly remember the responsibilities of the three provinces and six departments, and don't confuse them. In the Sui Dynasty, Zhongshu Province was called the province of internal history, which was responsible for drafting government decrees and was the decision-making body. The province under the door is in charge of the audit of government decrees and policies, and it is an audit institution. Shangshu province is responsible for the implementation, that is, the administrative agency, which consists of six departments. In layman's terms, six departments are institutions that do specific things. Officials are officials; Household registration; Ceremony is etiquette; Soldiers are soldiers; Punishment is criminal law; Work is engineering. Among them, families should pay taxes, because taxes were collected according to household registration in ancient times. In order to facilitate memory, we can make the following chart of six provinces.

[Projection display]

emperor

Cabinet of ministers

(Draft)

Menxia province

(review)

the State Council

(execution)

Officials, families, rituals, soldiers, punishment and workers

[Teacher's question] What is the role of implementing the six-part system in the three provinces?

[Student's answer] First, the feudal bureaucracy formed a complete and rigorous system, which improved administrative efficiency and strengthened the ruling power of the central government. Second, the power of the prime minister-divided into three provinces, the three provinces have low levels of governors, which weakens the relative power and strengthens the imperial power of the factory.

[The teacher tells us that during the Qin and Han Dynasties, the prime minister assisted the emperor in handling state political affairs, and was in the position of "one person below, ten thousand people above". Whenever the emperor is incompetent, the prime minister may be authoritarian. The establishment of the system of "three provinces and six departments" is divided into three parts, which is conducive to solving the contradiction between imperial power and relative power and strengthening imperial power; At the same time, it expanded the number of people discussing politics and received the effect of brainstorming; Third, a clear division of responsibilities among ministries is conducive to the centralization of the emperor and the implementation of government decrees, improving administrative efficiency and giving full play to the effectiveness of state institutions.

The system of three provinces and six departments is a great change in the history of China's official system, which marks the maturity of the feudal political system. After that, the dynasties basically followed this system.