Grand Secretariat

For the department in the Three Departments and Six Ministries government structure, see Zhongshu Sheng.

The Grand Secretariat, or the Cabinet[1] (Chinese: 內閣; pinyin: Nèigé), was nominally a coordinating agency but de facto the highest institution in the imperial government of the Chinese Ming dynasty. It first took shape after the Hongwu Emperor abolished the office of Chancellor (of the Zhongshu Sheng) in 1380 and gradually evolved into an effective coordinating organ superimposed on the Six Ministries.[2] There were altogether six Grand Secretaries (Chinese: 內閣大學士), though the posts were not always filled.[3] The most senior one was popularly called Senior Grand Secretary (首輔, shǒufǔ). The Grand Secretaries were nominally ranked as mid-level officials, ranked much lower than the Ministers, heads of the Ministries. However, since they screened documents submitted to the emperor from all governmental agencies, and had the power of drafting suggested rescripts for the emperor, generally known as piàonǐ (票擬) or tiáozhǐ (條旨), some senior Grand Secretaries were able to dominate the whole government, acting as de facto Chancellor.[4] The term nèigé itself is now used to refer to the modern cabinet in Chinese.[5]

The Grand Secretariat system was adopted by the Later Lê dynasty and Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam. It was also adopted by the Qing dynasty of China, but only served as the de jure highest institution in Qing China.

  1. ^ Mote, Frederick W. (2003). Imperial China 900-1800. Harvard University Press. p. 725. ISBN 978-0-674-01212-7.
  2. ^ Hucker, 23.
  3. ^ Hucker, 29.
  4. ^ Qian, 675.
  5. ^ The dictionary definition of 內閣 at Wiktionary