liubu 六ろく部ぶ, the Six Ministries

The Six Ministries (liubu 六ろく部ぶ, sometimes called "Six Boards") were important central government agencies in imperial China. These were, in hierarchical order, the Ministry of Personnel (libu 吏部), the Ministry of Revenue or Finance (hubu 戶部とべ), the Ministry of Rites (libu 禮れい部ぶ), the Ministry of War (bingbu 兵部ひょうぶ), the Ministry of Justice (xingbu 刑部おさかべ), and the Ministry of Works (gongbu 工こう各かく).

This hierarchy was arranged in two parallel columns during the Tang 唐とう (618-907) and Song 宋そう (960-1279) periods, with the ministries of Personnel and War at the head, that of Finance and Justice in the middle, and that of Rites and Works at the bottom of the double hierarchy, yet with the latter ones only in second place after that mentioned first (Works lower than Rites, Justice lower than Finance, ...).

The concept of six ministries is derived from the Confucian Classic Zhouli 周しゅう禮あや that describes the number, designations and duties of all state officials. These were arranged into six fields, corresponding to their duties.

Such might more or less the system of central administration have been at the court of the Zhou dynasty, and in the one or other of the regional states.

During the Qin 秦はた (221-206 BCE) and Han 漢かん (206 BCE-220 CE) periods the respective fields of administration were taken over by the Nine Chamberlains (jiu qing 九きゅう卿きょう). The transformation of these "ministries" into subagencies (cao 曹) of the Imperial Secretariat (shangshusheng 尚書しょうしょ省しょう) was made during the Wei 曹魏 (220-265) and Jin 晉すすむ (265-420) periods. The term bu became common from the Sui period 隋ずい (581-618) on.

At that time, the Six Ministries, still agencies under the Imperial Secretariat, were called libu (personnel), cibu 祠ほこら部ぶ (rites), duzhibu 度ど支部しぶ (revenue), zuohubu 左ひだり戶部とべ ("assisting the household", i.e. public works), duguanbu 都と官かん部ぶ ("supervising the officials' [performance], i.e. justice), and wubingbu 五ご兵部ひょうぶ (the "Five Armies"). The Ministry of Revenue was shortly later renamed minbu 民みん部ぶ, and was given the name hubu by the Tang dynasty in 649. The latter also renamed the cibu into libu, the zuohubu into gongbu, the duguanbu into xingbu, and the wuguanbu into bingbu. These terms were retained until the end of the Qing empire.

It seems that the Ministries were just administrative agencies under the Tang and Song periods. The Song dynasty even deprived them of their workload by establishing a parallel structure of administration, the Bureau of Military Affairs (shumiyuan 樞密院すうみついん) taking over military affairs and the State Finance Commission (sansi 三さん司つかさ) regulating financial matters. The offices of the Ministries were honorific ones or brought their holders a salary, but no jurisdictional rights (jiluguan 寄よせ祿ろく官かん).

Under the reign of Emperor Shenzong 宋そう神かみ宗はじめ (r. 1067-1085) the original state was revived.

The non-Chinese dynasties of the Western Xia 西にし夏なつ (1038-1227), Liao 遼りょう (907-1125) and Jin 金きむ (1115-1234) imitated the Ministries model.

The Yuan dynasty 元もと (1279-1368) rearranged the structure of the central government and subordinated the Ministries to the Palace Secretariat (zhongshusheng 中書ちゅうしょ省しょう). The Ming dissolved this linkage, abolished the Secretariat thoroughly (including the post of Counsellor-in-chief) and put the Ministries directly under the command of the Emperor. In this constellation the Ministries rose in importance.

The Ministry of Personnel arranged appointments in office, evaluated each official's performance and potential for promotion or reasons for demotion. The Ministry of Revenue controlled the land and household registers, as well as the tax revenue and financial policy. The Ministry of Rites organized the grand state rituals, supervised protocolary matters, carried out the state examinations and supervised state schools. The Ministry of War was responsible for military affairs and the supervision of the army. The Ministry of Justice promulgated law codes and checked the judicial system and revised verdicts of great importance. The Ministry of Works finally had the duty of supervising large construction projects, be it architectural ones or such of hydraulic engineering as the Grand Canal. It also controlled the military agro-colonies (tuntian 屯田とんでん).

The head of each Ministry was called shangshu 尚書しょうしょ, his deputy shilang 侍さむらい郎ろう. Each Ministry was divided into four courts (si si 四よん司つかさ), each headed by a director (langzhong 郎ろう中ちゅう), who was assisted by a vice director (yuanwailang 員外いんがい郎ろう). The Ming divided the ministries of Finance and Justice into thirteen courts, while the Qing enlarged the structure of the Ministry of Finance into fourteen, and that of the Ministry of Justice into eighteen courts.

In 1901 the Qing dynasty founded a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (waiwubu 外務がいむ部ぶ), which was given the highest rank among the Ministries. In 1906 further changes took place by renaming the Ministry of Revenue duzhibu 度ど支部しぶ, the Ministry of War lujunbu 陸軍りくぐん部ぶ, and the Ministry of Justice fabu 法ほう部ぶ. The Ministry of Works was integrated into a new Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce (nong-gong-shang bu 農工のうこう商しょう部ぶ). In addition to that, two new ministries were founded, namely the Ministry of Interior (minzhengbu 民政みんせい部ぶ) and the Ministry of Education (xuebu 學部がくぶ). From then on, the term "Six Ministries" was obsolete.