A Study On The Clan Administration System Of Emperor Taizong In Tang Dynasty

The rulers of the early Tang dynasty held many discussions on the subject of feudalism（封建）,and eventually established the state system of the royal prince,which combined the title of prince with an official position.This article is divided into three parts,which explain this system.The first chapter focuses on the origins of the system and the debates among the Ch’ing-guan courtiers about the system.The debate over the implementation of the system was a game between the two modes of state governance,the feudal system（分封制）and the county system（郡县制）,and the discussion hinged on the principle of hereditary succession in the system,rather than on the politics of a single clan.The second chapter focuses on the powers of the clan’s assassins once they had assumed local office.In the course of the system’s implementation,a political pattern emerged in which the sons born from the empress（嫡子）held the capital and the sons born from other imperial concubines who were the wives of lower positions of the emperor（庶子）was out of it.In the face of specific state affairs,the clan prefects performed the same duties and responsibilities as the ordinary prefects,such as adjudicating prisons and inspecting provinces,and were subject to the same standards of evaluation.Even though the royal assassins had the honour of not looking after the affairs of the state,this did not mean that they lost their jurisdiction over the state.The Tang dynasty attached great importance to the appointment of Chang Shi.They were responsible for correcting the faults of the kings and for acting on their behalf.The third chapter examines the relationship between the appointment of Li Tai,the king of Wei,the shepherd of Yong state and always being in Chang’an.In the context of the early Tang dynasty’s royal family,the royal sons who were entrusted and relocated together with Li Tai were all appointed to local positions.Li Tai,the King of Wei,was always a distant assassin and governor.The fact that King Tai of Wei continued to grow in political power,eventually reaching the point where he was a rival to Prince Chengqian,is directly related to his stay in the capital.An analysis of the conditions and circumstances of Wei’s stay in the capital,starting with the nature and process of his appointment as an official as distinct from those of other imperial sons,suggests that the shepherd of Yong state provided Tai with the conditions for staying in the capital and the opportunity for further political participation.This situation was not only a result of Taizong’s own licking of the calf,but also a result of the Tang court’s attempts to build on the tradition of the prince holding the position of Yong state shepherd,to establish a ritualistic tradition that would indicate the distinction between the first and the second princes,and to balance the power of the princes.