From the era of the Yellow Emperor to the establishment of the Xia Dynasty, the prosperous period of Chinese tribal alliances lasted for about 400 years. According to ancient records, in addition to setting up six phases, the Yellow Emperor also set up historians to accompany him, record his words and deeds, and compile them into secretaries for preservation. This is the earliest secretary in our country. The name "historian" first appeared in the Shang Dynasty, and the Yellow Emperor established a historian. It may be that later generations used the official name of the Yellow Emperor period. However, it shows that there were secretaries in the Huangdi era who were similar to later historians. The emergence of historians marks the origin of secretarial work.
After the Yellow Emperor, tribal alliances developed continuously, and the management of public affairs became more and more busy, and the records of secretarial activities in ancient books increased day by day. According to Cui Bao's Dai Zhe, Notes on Huai Nan Zi, Notes on Ancient and Modern Times and other ancient books, when Yao was in office, he once erected a banner (that is, a banner) in front of the court to let the people stand below and put forward suggestions and opinions on the court affairs. There was a time when many people made up words to govern the world. According to Shun's suggestion, Yao ordered Shun to set up a wooden pillar in front of the earth steps, so that the people could write down their opinions and point out their mistakes on it, so as to improve politics, which was called "slandering trees" in history. Therefore, the wood was ordered by Shun, also known as Zhong Hua, so it was also called Hua Biao. After he succeeded to the throne, Shun went to the good place every day to listen to and read the opinions of the people, so as to understand the situation and get rid of social evils. If the common people want to reflect the situation and make suggestions, they just need to knock a few remonstrance drums, and he will come out for a meeting and listen to opinions. The drums of kindness, ostentation and extravagance and courage are the source of China's official letters and visits.
During the reign of Shun, nine officials were appointed to rule the world, including one appointed by Long. "Shangshu Shundian" contains: "The Emperor said: Dragon! I [B02 1] said I was going to do it, which startled my teacher and ordered you to speak. I told you to do it at night, but I promised. " Shun ordered the dragon to announce his orders day and night when necessary, report the people's feelings truthfully, and prevent those who spread rumors, do bad things and shock the world from running amok. "Records of the Five Emperors" Kong Anguo notes: "The official who speaks is also a mouthpiece. If you listen to what you say, you will accept it. If you are told by what you say, you will believe it. " It can be seen that Yan Na is an official who investigates and understands the situation, reports decisions to Shun, conveys Shun's orders, and plays a role in conveying and publishing. He is a typical secretary official. At this point, the secretaries in the flourishing period of tribal alliance are: historians-people who record the words and deeds of tribal alliance leaders and receive consultation; Ran Yan-an official in charge of investigation, issuing orders and announcing leaders' orders. The documents recorded in ancient books are: Dian-an ancient document that records the words and deeds of tribal alliance leaders.
To sum up, it can be seen that the secretarial work in China originated from the prosperous period of tribal alliances, that is, the period from the Yellow Emperor to Yu, about 4500 to 4 100 years ago.