Officials inspection and their relations with the emperor - based on the capital officials’ self-inspection memorial to the throne in the Ming Dynasty

Abstract

按明制,每六年对南、北两京文官进行一次全体考察,谓之"京察"。在京察中,为体现对四品以上高级官员的优待而赋予他们自陈求去的特权。以京察自陈制度运行中的重要文本京察自陈疏为研究载体,通过对自陈疏特点、书写方式以及上呈下达过程的研究,能够呈现出该制度的动态运作流程。从对明代京官考察决策依据和决策过程的探析中,可以看出明代京察自陈制度虽未较好实现裁汰不职官员的初衷,但作为信息沟通渠道在维系君臣关系方面发挥了重要作用,这是该制度得以在明、清两朝稳定运作数百年的关键所在。 According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty,the civil officials graded above the fourth level in the south and north capitals should all be investigated every six years,which called capital official assessment. During the capital official assessment,the senior officials graded above fourth level were endowed with the privilege to resign by sending self-defense text in order to incarnate the preferential treatment for them. This article applies the capital officials’ self-inspection memorial to the throne as the carrier of research and demonstrates the dynamic operation characteristics of the self-inspection institution by systematically studying the characteristic,writing method and circulation mechanism of self-inspection text. While exploring the decisive basis and procedure of the officials investigation,we can find that the self-inspection institution worked as an information transmission channel which played an crucial role in the relationship between emperor and officials,although it failed to achieve the purpose of weeding out incompetent officials. This was the key reason why the self-inspection institution could be steadily operated for hundreds of years in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty.