| Researches on official system constitutes a main part of that ofpolitical system, and it has attained many attentions from researchers of differentperiods in history. The same is true for the research of local official system in TangDynasty (618——907), and great successes have been achieved in this regard.However, one respect of the local official system has not been given enough attention.That is the County Magistrate. This thesis intends to delve into the research on CountyMagistrate. The research includes the following aspects: the class origin of CountyMagistrate, its duty, transfer, and the marriage between famous and influential clans, aswell as the relation between County Magistrate and eunuch, assistants in thegovernment office, subofficial functionary, the arms, and supreme commanders.The thesis consists of eight chapters, and the contents of each chapter are asfollows:Chapter One Introduction summarizes the general situation of the research onCounty Magistrate in Tang Dynasty, and consequently puts forward the purpose andmethod of this research. In addition, the author also provides the literatures employedby this research.Chapter Two makes a review of the historical development of county and that ofcounty magistrates.Chapter Three carries an accurate statistics and analysis of the native places andclass origins of county magistrates in the earlier and later period of Tang Dynasty. Itcenters on the county magistrates of Henan and Hebei circuits. From the statistics ofthe native places of county magistrates of Henan and Hebei circuits, the author drawsthe conclusion that those county magistrates mainly came from the upper classes, nomatter in the earlier or later period of Tang Dynasty. From the statistics of class originsof county magistrates of Henan and Hebei circuits, the author concludes that in theearlier period of Tang Dynasty, the county magistrates mainly arose out of the Menyin,which was an official system through which sons of feudal bureaucrats would beofficials depending on their forefathers' contributions. Those arose imperil civil examination were ranked the second. Those arose out of other means tanks the last.Among the county magistrates arising out of other means, those who were formerofficials of Sui Dynasty (581——618) formed a quite large proportion. On the contrary,in the later period of Tang Dynasty, the county magistrates mainly came from imperilcivil examination, and the proportion of county magistrates arising from Menyin andother means dropped distinctly. This shows that the requirement of county magistrates'educational level has been improved continuously.Chapter Four elaborates on the duty of county magistrates. The author analysescounty magistrates' duty from the point of thoughts, culture, management of economy,execution of laws, social peace and order, social relief, sacrifice and etiquette, buildingand water conservancy. The author concludes that the duty of county magistratesplaces emphasis on enlightening by education, relief, and building irrigation project inthe earlier period of Tang Dynasty. In the later period of Tang Dynasty, however, theduty of county magistrates turns to rallying refugees, collecting taxes and levies, anddefending the tertiary of the region.Chapter Five carries out a statistics and analysis of transfer of county magistratesof Henan and Hebei circuits in Tang Dynasty, employing accurate data. The purpose isto find the changes between the earlier and later period of Tang Dynasty. From theanalysis, the author arrives at the following conclusion:In the earlier period of Tang Dynasty, the county magistrates moving in thecontemporary place came from various government organizations. However, amongthese county magistrates, those who were also officials in the local organizationsformed the major parts. Besides, among the officials in the local organizations,officials of Region constitute the lion's share, and followed by officials of county. Inthe later period of Tang Dynasty, the county magistrates moving in the contemporaryplace mainly came from officials in the local organizations. Those who had beenofficials in Sansheng (Three Departments) before they moved in the county magistratepost were ranked the second. In addition, among the officials in the local organizations,officials of county constitute the lion's share, and followed by officials of Region.Although the government of Tang Dynasty had a tilt in policy on the moving-outof county magistrates, the statistics shows that this is not the case. No matter in theearlier or later period of Tang Dynasty, the moving-out of county magistrates mainlyconsists of officials in the local organizations. Furthermore, among the officials in the local organizations, officials who were moved in the county magistrates post constitutethe lion's share, and followed by officials moving in Region official post.Chapter Six discusses marriages between families of famous and influentialclans of middle- and upper-classes as well as marriages between those who hadrelatives holding the post of county magistrates. First, the author summed up theresearch results concerning marriages between families of famous and influential clansof middle- and upper-classes in Tang Dynasty. Second, the author employs accuratedata to make a statistics and analysis of marriages between families of famous andinfluential clans who had relatives holding the post of county magistrates in the earlierand later period of Tang Dynasty. From the analysis, the author finds that no matter inthe earlier or later period of Tang Dynasty, marriages between families of famous andinfluential clans of middle- and upper-classes make up one-third of marriages ofmiddle- and upper-classes. On the other hand, marriages between families of famousand influential clans who had relatives holding the post of county magistrates alsomake up one-third of marriages of clans who had relatives holding the post of countymagistrates. Furthermore, as regards marriages between families of famous andinfluential clans who had relatives holding the post of county magistrates, there is atendency of increase in the later period of Tang Dynasty than in the earlier period ofTang Dynasty.Chapter Seven expounds on the relation between county magistrates and favoriteimperial concubine, eunuch, assistants in the government office, subofficialfunctionary, the arms, and military commissions. In the earlier period of Tang Dynasty,county magistrates can deal with those favorite imperial concubine and eunuch whohad broken the law and violated the discipline in accordance with the law. However, inthe later period of Tang Dynasty, with the increase of eunuch's power, the countymagistrates became under the control of favorite imperial concubine and eunuch. Thecounty magistrates possessed the supervision power over assistants in the governmentoffice and subofficial functionary, and had power of appointment and punishment overthose subofficial functionary who had broken the law and violated the discipline inaccordance with the law, but had no such power over those assistants in thegovernment office who had broken the law and violated the discipline in accordancewith the law. In the later period of Tang Dynasty, the separate rule by militarycommissions had become a special political scene. The increase of arms' power had arrived at such a point that military governor could flog a county magistrate to deathwith a stick. Under the rule of military commissions, the supreme commanderexclusively possessed the power of county magistrates' life and death as well as thepower of collecting taxes and levies and appointment.Chapter eight: Conclusions This part is to summarize the main ideas of the wholepaper... |
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