Study On County Officials Of Liao Dynasty

The Liao Dynasty was an ancient dynasty that ruled northern China for more than 200 years,implementing a tribal and state-county system at the local level.During the Liao Dynasty,the distribution of counties extended north beyond traditional farming areas and became important political regions for strengthening control.From the perspective of subordination,the counties of the Liao Dynasty are divided into three types: the counties under the South Privy Council,the counties belonging to Ordo,and the Touxiazhou Counties,the county officials of the South Privy Council counnties and the counties belonging to Ordo,are appointed by the government,and the county officials of Touxia Counties are appointed by the owners of the Touxia zhou counties.The research objects of this paper are the first two county officials.Examining the county officials of the Liao Dynasty is an important part of the study of the institutional history of the Liao Dynasty and the development history of county officials in ancient China.This paper mainly uses the official documents and inscription materials,combined with the research results of other scholars,to investigate the establishment of county officials in the Liao Dynasty,the composition and functions of county officials,the management system of county officials,and the characteristics of appointment and status of county officials,and strive to show the overall appearance of county officials in the Liao Dynasty.The origin of the counties in the Liao Dynasty comes from the prefectures of Jimi prefectures set up in the Khitan region in the Tang Dynasty,but the real Central Plains type of counties were established from the Yelyu Abaoji period,their number increased during the reign of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Shengzong,and the number of county officials also increased.The county officials of the Liao Dynasty inherited the system of the Tang and Five Dynasties in terms of establishment,functions,and divisions,such as setting up county prefects,the county registrar and the county commandant without setting up county deputy governor,and the functions of county prefects covered many aspects of politics,economy,culture,education,and military,and there were also temporary tasks.The counties in Liao Dynasty may have such types as Chi and Ji.At the same time,the county officials of the Liao Dynasty also had their own characteristics.the setting standards of county officials may not be too strict and arbitrary.In terms of appointment,the Liao Dynasty reversed the trend of recommending county officials in the Fanzhen of the Five Dynasties and the late Tang Dynasty,and concentrated the appointment power of county officials in the hands of the central government,and the departments responsible for selecting county officials included the Southern Privy Council,Zhongshu Province,and other titles such as"Quanliuneiwaiquan"(权流内外铨)and"Shangshulibuquan"(尚书吏部铨).The Zhongshu Province drafts and distributes the appointment documents of the county officials.The county officials of the Liao Dynasty came from the background of Yinbu(荫补),summoning or recommendation,imperial examination,etc.But the imperial examination is main way.In terms of relocation,the county officials were all southern officials,mainly were the officials of Jiezhen,but the appearance of northern officials among the moving officials showed that the Liao Dynasty paid great attention to the county management experience in the early stage of officials when selecting county prefects,and the space of promotion in the later period of county prefects became larger.In addition to elect the officials due to the results of the assessment,the influencing factors of the transfer of the county prefects include the factor of Prime Minister,special relationship with the emperor,personal request,participation in the Xianliangfangzheng(贤良方正),envoy or recommendation of the village elder.The rank of the county officials of the Liao Dynasty was below the Chaosandafu(朝散大夫),and the official was between the Taizijiaoshulang(太子校书郎)and the dianzhongshaojian(殿中少监)in the palace,and the official rank was mostly below the seventh grade.From the perspective of characteristics of appointment,the county officials of the Liao Dynasty were mainly the Han nationality,reflecting the hierarchical differences in the employment of officials in the Liao Dynasty.From the perspective of diachronic nature,the county officials of the Liao Dynasty paid more attention to the origin of the official family to the individual talent,which was conducive to improving the county government.County officials in the Liao Dynasty also appeal to upper-level government in implementing policies.The county prefects of Liao Dynasty adopted cooperation and crackdown attitude towards the big families in the villages in its jurisdiction,stabilizing the vast grassroots ruling order of the Liao Dynasty.