Concentration (of power)

Concentration of power

& ltU & gt[font color=#0000cc] central system. Compared with decentralization, centralization is characterized by the fact that local governments have no independence in politics, economy and military affairs and must strictly obey the orders of the central authorities.

China's ancient regime-centralized feudal absolutism.

Feudal absolutism is a way of decision-making, which is manifested in the emperor's personal arbitrary dictatorship, which combines the highest rights of the state, and is arbitrary from decision-making to the exercise of military, political and financial power.

Compared with decentralization, centralization is characterized by the fact that local governments have no independence in politics, economy and military affairs and must strictly obey the orders of the central authorities. Wuhan

Authoritarianism embodies the relationship between monarch and minister; Centralization deals with the relationship between the central and local governments.

Monarchy must be centralized, but centralization is not necessarily authoritarian. Centralized, feudal society generally practiced absolute monarchy. With the development of society, the absolute monarchy will be eliminated and the central government will continue to exist. At present, all countries in the world, such as France and China, have implemented a centralized administrative system, but they are not autocratic monarchies.

Edit this paragraph II. build

In 22 1 BC, after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, in order to consolidate his rule over the whole country, he set out to establish and improve autocratic centralization.

After Qin Shihuang ruled the Qin Dynasty and unified the whole country, he thought he was highly respected in Huang San, and his achievements surpassed those of the five emperors. The title of king can no longer show his supreme power and status, so he changed his name and combined the titles of Huang Sanhe and the five emperors in ancient legends into one, called "emperor" From then on, the emperor became the title of the supreme ruler of feudal countries. In addition, it is also stipulated that the emperor calls himself "I", "Zhi", makes him "Zhao" and seals it. Abolish the "posthumous law" that children discuss their fathers and ministers discuss their princes, and stipulate that emperors should be arranged according to their seniority. The first generation was called the first emperor, and the descendants were counted by the second and third generations, and even "circulated endlessly". These regulations show the sacred status and supreme power of the emperor. Wuhan

The central organs of the Qin Dynasty implemented the system of "three publics and nine officials". Sangong is the Prime Minister, Qiu, and the Imperial Adviser, who is in charge of government affairs, military affairs, and supervision. The three publics are not unified and restrict each other, and they are all directly responsible to the emperor, so that power is concentrated on the emperor. Under the three fairs, there are nine Qing, specifically: serving the constant attendants and taking charge of the ancestral temple etiquette; Wei Wei, in charge of the palace security; LangZhongLing, in charge of the palace guards; Too servant, in charge of the palace chariots and horses; Dianke, dealing with minority affairs and diplomacy; Ting Wei, in charge of justice; Manage the internal history of Xiaomi and take charge of national finance and taxation; Zong Zheng, managing the internal affairs of the royal family; Shaofu, in charge of the national mountains, rivers, lakes and sea taxes and handicraft manufacturing. Three officials and nine ministers are appointed and removed by the emperor, not hereditary. Wuhan

In the local administrative organization, Qin Shihuang completely abolished the ancient enfeoffment system and extended the county system that had been implemented during the Warring States period to the whole country. The county has a sheriff, a sheriff and a censor, who are in charge of government affairs, military affairs and supervision respectively. A county has several counties, including county magistrate or county magistrate, county commandant and county magistrate. Within a county, there are several townships, and there are pavilions and alleys in the countryside, which constitute a set of strict local institutions. Wuhan

The autocratic centralization founded by Qin Shihuang was basically inherited by later feudal rulers.

Implementation reason

1, economic root-the need to maintain the feudal economic base. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the improvement of social productive forces led to the disintegration of the old relations of production, and Shang Yang's reform in Qin established the dominant position of feudal economy, which was manifested as a self-sufficient natural economy. It is a feudal individual small-scale peasant economy. This economic model needs a strong state power to safeguard national unity and social stability and ensure the production and reproduction of small-scale peasant economy. The emerging landlord class also needs to establish centralization to consolidate its dominant position, safeguard its political and economic interests and protect its land ownership. This feudal mode of production decided the establishment of centralization of authority. Wuhan

2. Social roots-the need to consolidate and safeguard national unity. Qin learned the lesson of warlord regime's incompetence next week, and established autocratic centralization after national reunification, in order to eliminate local separatist forces and safeguard national unity. Wuhan

3. Ideological root-Legalist thought lays the theoretical foundation. Since Shang Yang's political reform, the Qin Dynasty has always taken legalism as its ruling ideology. Han Feizi summed up a hundred theories and founded a complete set of centralized political theory, which laid a theoretical foundation for Qin Shihuang to establish autocratic centralization. Wuhan

Edit the third paragraph. Perfection and development

1) the basic characteristics and evolution law of authoritarian centralization.

The centralization of absolutism is the basic political system of China feudal society. Refers to the political system in which the monarch holds the supreme power of the country and manages and controls the country through the military and political bureaucracy. Including the imperial system, official politics and centralization, its basic characteristics are that the imperial power is supreme and indivisible, the imperial power is non-transferable, the throne is hereditary, and the monarch respects the minister. The imperial power is more and more respected, and the subjects are more and more humble, which is the general trend of the centralized development of ancient absolutism.

(2) The development and change of centralized absolutism.

① Initially formed during the Warring States Period.

During the Warring States period, the development of feudal economy, the growth of the emerging landlord class and the emergence of local national unity created social conditions for the formation of centralization. In order to meet the needs of new landlords to strengthen dictatorship and protect feudal economic development, a political system of centralized monarchy was initially established. This provided a successful experience for Qin to establish autocratic centralization. Han Feizi, an important representative of Legalism, put forward the idea of centralization and governing the country according to law, and formed a set of systematic centralization theory.

② The Qin Dynasty was formally established.

After Qin Shihuang unified China, he inherited the achievements of Shang Yang's political reform, put Han Feizi's theory into practice, and established an autocratic centralized political system. It includes not only the emperor's control of central officials, but also the control of local officials and people at all levels, thus organically combining the autocratic decision-making model with the centralized political system and formally establishing the authoritarian centralized political system. This is a great progress of the enfeoffment system before the Warring States Period. It plays a very important role in consolidating national unity and maintaining the foundation of feudal rule. Wuhan

③ Consolidation of the Western Han Dynasty

After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, the parallel system of counties and countries was implemented, which led to the emergence of kingdom problems and made the authoritarian centralized political system face severe challenges. In order to solve the problems of the kingdom, Emperor Jingdi put down the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms and recovered the right to appoint and remove officials from the kingdom on the basis of the separation of princes. During Liang Wudi's reign, measures such as favor decrees were promulgated to remove the threat of the kingdom. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty accepted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion and implemented "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", and finally found the theoretical basis most suitable for the feudal autocratic and centralized political system. Since then, the political system of the feudal political system has been basically shaped, and the autocratic centralization of authority has been consolidated. Wuhan

④ Perfection in Sui and Tang Dynasties

In the process of strengthening the autocratic and centralized political system, we should not only overcome the contradiction between the central and local governments, but also overcome the contradiction between monarchical power and relative power. The Sui Dynasty implemented the system of three provinces and six ministries, and dispersed the power of the former prime minister in three provinces and six ministries. This new measure was inherited and developed by the Tang Dynasty, which made centralization more perfect. The imperial examination system since Sui and Tang Dynasties also adapted to the development of the political system at that time. The implementation of "three provinces and six departments" and "imperial examination system" has improved administrative efficiency, expanded the ruling foundation, improved the cultural quality of the bureaucratic team, and further improved the autocratic centralization. Wuhan

⑤ Strengthening of Northern Song Dynasty

After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, Song Taizu learned the lessons of the separatist regime in the buffer region since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, accepted Zhao Pu's suggestion, and took measures such as "a glass of wine to disarm and return to the field", recovered the military power of the generals in the DPRK and our army, restored the local administrative, military and financial power to the central government, and prevented the emergence of local separatist forces. This strengthened the discussion in the central government, but it also caused some adverse consequences, leading to the formation of a huge bureaucracy and a huge army in the Northern Song Dynasty, which led to. Wuhan

⑥ New development of Yuan Dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty achieved great national unity. In order to strengthen feudal rule and jurisdiction over vast territory, Zhongshu Province was established. Local governments implement a provincial system. It is not only a successful attempt to consolidate a unified multi-ethnic country in the Yuan Dynasty, but also a new measure to strengthen centralization. It is a major development of the ancient county system and has a far-reaching impact on later generations.

All landowners reached its peak in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, in order to deal with the relationship between monarch and minister and the relationship between the central and local governments, the prime minister was abolished in the central government and the power was divided into six parts, which ended the prime minister system since the Qin Dynasty. In the provinces where the localities were abolished, three divisions were established, and the local power was further weakened. The establishment of factories and health secret service agencies in various parts of the Ming Dynasty and the recruitment of officials by stereotyped writing are outstanding manifestations of the strengthening of absolutism. The Qing Dynasty followed the Ming system, and then set up the Ministry of War and the literary inquisition, which made China's authoritarian political system reach its peak. Wuhan

The emergence of centralization is a political structure of Legalism, one of the schools of thought in China during the Warring States Period. Han Feizi, one of the representatives of Legalism, believes in his works that under the current chaotic social situation and powerful separatist forces, it is necessary for the king to unify all domestic forces to maintain his rule, which requires a centralized government to assist the king in governing the country and expanding his territory. At the same time, in the society at that time, agricultural natural economy needed a relatively stable environmental development. At the same time, the landlord, as the owner of the main means of production in society, also needs a strong government to suppress farmers' resistance and safeguard his ownership of the land.

Qin was the first country to implement centralization. The reform carried out by Shang Yang in the 3rd century BC initially established the embryonic form of centralization: the appointment power of local officials was transferred to the central government, and the circulation of some materials was unified. This laid a good foundation for Qin to unify the six countries and establish a unified country in the future. When the Qin Empire was formally established, Lisi used the existing experience to establish a county system, unified local writing, finance and economics, and established a centralized country in practical sense.

During the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wendi of Sui successfully carried out a centralized reform: implementing the system of three provinces and six departments and dividing the power of the central government not only improved the efficiency and scope of authority of government agencies, but also dispersed the power of officials, ensuring the stability of imperial power, thus strengthening the stability of centralized power. On the basis of this reform, the Tang Dynasty further deepened the reform and widely promoted the imperial examination system, which improved the overall cultural quality of officials, gave civilians the opportunity to become the upper class of society, and stabilized the unstable factors at the bottom of society brought about by centralization. This successful reform experience has also spread to the neighboring countries of China, strengthening the centralization of authority of these countries.

In the14th century, the influence of centralization was gradually replaced by absolute monarchy, and the emperor's jurisdiction over the government and society was strengthened by setting up some secret service agencies. In China, the Qing dynasty abolished the province and set up three divisions and a military department. The Mughal Empire of India established a perfect centralized whole in the middle of17th century, which marked the peak of the development of absolute monarchy and centralization. From the end of15th century to the beginning of16th century, many European countries established centralized system. With the development of liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism, the concentration of capital requires the concentration of political power and tends to centralization. Capitalist countries that adopt unitary system are mostly centralized; In the federal capitalist countries, although local governments have considerable power, state power is still concentrated in the hands of the central government.

With the semi-colonial and semi-feudal start of a large number of centralized countries after the mid-Kloc-0/9th century, centralization of authority has been strongly impacted by the modern democratic system. In particular, the modern democratic political system, which requires the separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers, completely denies centralization. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the people's congress system that China's * * * production party claimed to represent democratic centralism was implemented, which was called the combination of centralization and decentralization.

Germination: In theory, Han Feizi was the first to propose the establishment of a feudal autocratic centralized monarchy.

Practice: Shang Yang's political reform in the State of Qin stipulated that the enfeoffment system should be abolished, and the county system of "burning poems and knowing the law" should be implemented, and centralization should be implemented.

Founded in the Qin Dynasty: After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, in order to consolidate the rule, autocratic centralization was established. Establish the emperor system, implement the system of three public officials and nine ministers in the central government, implement the county system in local areas, and promulgate the Qin law. Unified measurement, money and words. Burning books and burying Confucianism to strengthen ideological control. Take law as teaching and officials as teachers.

Features: The autocratic decision-making method is organically combined with the centralized political system, and the high concentration of rights has become the most basic feature of the Qin Dynasty.

Consolidate in the Western Han Dynasty:

Content: The Western Han Dynasty reformed the control system, formed the inner dynasty and the outer dynasty, and strengthened the imperial power. Implement the secretariat system and strengthen the control of local bureaucrats. Promulgate the law of additional benefits of favor and solve the problem of kingdom. The implementation of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" made Confucianism the ruling thought of the Western Han Dynasty.

Features: the imperial power was strengthened. The direct rule of the central government over local governments has been re-strengthened. Transforming Confucianism into a guiding ideology to meet the needs of feudal autocracy centralization.

Perfection in Sui and Tang Dynasties;

Content: The implementation of "three provinces and six departments" made feudal bureaucrats form a complete and strict system, which divided the rights of prime ministers into three parts, thus weakening the relative rights and strengthening the imperial power.

The establishment and perfection of the imperial examination system, the expansion of the source of officials, the improvement of the cultural quality of officials, the strengthening of centralization, and the adjustment and improvement of the officers and men system are all conducive to strengthening centralization, and it is not easy to form a situation in which generals rely on foreign countries to fight. Wuhan

Features: strengthening imperial power through decentralization. The selection of officials is standardized and institutionalized, and the test scores replace the family background.

Strengthening in Song and Yuan Dynasties:

Northern Song Dynasty: Concentration of military power. Set up three officials to command the imperial army and contain each other with the Privy Council; Implement more defensive laws to prevent military commanders from monopolizing power.

Centralized administrative power. Set up counselors, Tang envoys and third secretaries to divide the prime minister's administrative power, military power and financial power; Send a civilian to be the magistrate, and the magistrate will set up a general judge to contain each other.

Concentrate financial power. Set up transshipment ambassadors in various roads to manage local finances.

Judicial power is centralized. The central government sends civil servants as local judicial staff. Wuhan

Through the above measures, the emperor mastered the military power, financial power, administrative power and judicial power from the central to the local, eradicated the foundation of feudal separatism and strengthened centralization.

Yuan dynasty: improved the central official system in the central government, set up the Chinese book province, the Privy Council and the Yushitai, responsible for administration, military affairs and supervision; Zheng Xuan Institute was established to take charge of religious affairs and manage Tibet. Wuhan

At the local level, provincial management is implemented.

Features: Strong cadres and weak branches (Northern Song Dynasty); Decentralization on the basis of central decentralization (Northern Song Dynasty);

The local administrative system has made great progress (yuan) and; Established the central government's direct management system (yuan) for border areas.

Reminder: In terms of imperial power and relative power, both the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty weakened the power of the prime minister through decentralization.

In the Tang dynasty, the system of three provinces and six ministries was implemented, which divided the rights of the prime minister into three;

In the Northern Song Dynasty, advisers, Tang envoys and third secretaries were set up to divide the prime minister's administrative, military and financial powers.

In the Yuan Dynasty, three provinces were abolished and a provincial system was implemented, that is, Zhongshu province, with the chief executive as the prime minister, thus the position of the prime minister gradually became high, posing a threat to the imperial power. Therefore, after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, it became inevitable to abolish Zhongshu Province and Prime Minister. Wuhan

It can be seen that the contradiction between imperial power and relative power was particularly prominent in the Tang, Northern Song and Ming Dynasties.

Strengthening and Ming and Qing Dynasties

Early Ming Dynasty: In the central government, the abolition of prime minister's power was divided into six parts; Decentralization of these three departments is implemented at the local level.

Change the commander-in-chief to the commander-in-chief of the army, and separate and unify the right to transfer troops.

Formulate the Daming Law.

Establish a factory health secret service organization. Wuhan

Implementing stereotyped writing to select scholars and strengthening ideological control.

Establish a cabinet (the cabinet established in the Ming Dynasty is the product of feudal monarchy, and the cabinet in Britain is the product of capitalist democracy)

Qing Dynasty: Six cabinets inherited from the Ming Dynasty.

The addition of the military department marked the peak of the feudal autocratic monarchy in centralization.

Daxing Zheng Xuan Hospital.

The imperial power was strengthened unprecedentedly, and the feudal autocracy focused on centralization and reached its peak.

Ending with 19 12: The Revolution of 1911 overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and ended the feudal monarchy in China for more than two thousand years.

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function

1, positive effect:

(1) is conducive to the establishment, consolidation and development of a multi-ethnic feudal country, and to safeguarding the unity and territorial integrity of the motherland.

② It can effectively organize manpower, material resources and financial resources to engage in large-scale production activities and economic construction, which is conducive to social and economic development.

(3) In a unified environment, it is conducive to the integration of all ethnic groups and economic and cultural exchanges in various regions.

2. Negative effects:

(1) Autocratic imperial power is prone to tyranny and corruption, which is a factor that hinders historical development.

(2) The ideology is exclusive, which stifles the ideology. Wuhan

(3) At the end of feudal society, it hindered the budding development of emerging capitalist relations of production.

China denied the emergence of absolute monarchy in the late feudal society.

During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the development of commodity economy, the feudal system gradually declined.

The early democratic enlightenment thought is also growing. In the Song Dynasty, Deng Mu wrote a book boldly denouncing the emperor as the biggest plunderer and exploiter and denying the autocratic rule of feudal monarchy. Deng Mu's thought of "no monarch" has a certain influence on progressive thinkers in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Li Zhi, a thinker in the late Ming Dynasty, accused the Confucian classics of not being "eternal supremacy" and denied that Confucius was a "born saint". He exposed the hypocrisy of Taoism and opposed discrimination against women and suppression of businessmen. Li Zhi was a pioneer of anti-feudalism in China. In a certain sense, his thought reflects the requirements of the embryonic era of capitalism and is democratic. Wuhan

Huang Zongxi, the most fierce critic of feudal monarchy in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, thought that monarchy was "a great disaster in the world". He advocated "rule of law" and opposed "rule of man", and put forward the idea of "industry and commerce as the foundation". Huang Zongxi's thought shocked the academic circles at that time, and also had a certain influence on the rise of democratic thoughts in the late Qing Dynasty.

Historical Evaluation of Absolute Centralization

Authoritarianism is based on feudal economy. The dispersion of feudal economy needs strong centralization to maintain national unity and social stability, thus ensuring the development of feudal economy. In order to maintain its rule, the feudal landlord class needed strong political power to suppress the peasants' resistance and consolidate its ruling position. Scattered individual small farmers also need to rely on strong political forces to stabilize society, resist foreign enemies and fight major disasters.

The centralized absolutism was compatible with the feudal mode of production in China. As the management system of the feudal country, it undertook two national functions: on the one hand, it oppressed, exploited and suppressed the people; on the other hand, it also played the role of organizing public affairs. Wuhan

Its historical role is: promoting the formation and development of a unified multi-ethnic country, consolidating national unity, creating conditions for the development of feudal economy, and also facilitating national integration, so that China has produced material civilization and spiritual civilization higher than other countries in the world at the same time. But it also strengthened the control over the people and affected the free and lively development of politics, economy and culture. This system often depends on the monarch's personal political quality, because the emperor's personal factors have a great influence on the political situation, and various contradictions and struggles within the ruling group (eunuchs monopolize power, cronyism, consorts interfere in politics, etc.). ) can be said to be a by-product of authoritarian centralization. Its negative effects became more and more serious in the late feudal society, especially after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which hindered the development of capitalism and social change, imprisoned people's thoughts and caused the stagnation of productive forces. This is also an important political reason for China's long-term stagnation in feudal society. Wuhan

Since ancient times, as long as the state exists, there will be a problem of power distribution between local and central governments. As for how distribution can stabilize the country and promote social development, it has always been a difficult problem that politics has to solve in each period. So far, there is no unified model for this issue, and all countries will adopt different political systems to promote the development of their respective countries according to different national conditions. Generally speaking, if the central power is too centralized, local development will lose its vitality, and if it only obeys the central government without much autonomy, local development will not take the initiative. If there is no local initiative, the development of the whole country will certainly be limited if it only relies on a central government. However, if the local power is too large, the central government can't command and control the local, and the decentralization of local power will lead to uneven regional development and affect the development of the country; This dilemma is a difficult problem for the leaders of any country. For China, the administrative relationship between the central and local governments is often vividly summarized as "unification leads to death, while liberalization leads to chaos". How to be unified without death and chaos is a political goal, which is difficult to achieve. If the people of a country have a strong sense of democracy, they prefer to manage themselves and have the ability to manage themselves, then most of them want to have more local power. If a country's democratic consciousness is weak, the people are used to leaders making decisions, and leaders are willing to make decisions, they want centralized power, so local power cannot be too great. Leaders like power very much, lack democratic supervision mechanism, and want to concentrate power. Such countries adopt centralization more. Generally speaking, from the current social situation, most countries hope to combine the two, and a state of moderation is the most ideal. Even so, the understanding of the golden mean is different. Wuhan

However, in ancient China, it was simpler. Emperors living in the central government are unwilling to delegate too much power to local governments for the stability of their rule. Since ancient times, the relationship between the two sides has been up and down, equality is a luxury, and power is concentrated in the central government at that time, which is obvious from the Qin Dynasty. Although local power sometimes threatens the central government, it is normal not to oppose centralization. Since the Qin Dynasty, China has been centralized, which has been consistently reflected in the entire ancient political system. This is an indisputable academic public opinion. But when did centralization end, and does it still exist? It's hard to agree. Historical issues, especially those that are tainted in the eyes of ordinary people, often make scholars cry speechless once they are discussed about their realistic dependence, and it is difficult for scholars to reflect the criticism of historical wisdom on reality. It is really because criticizing reality often leads to trouble, and it is difficult for historical research to play a practical role and become a simple dragon slayer in an ivory tower. The uselessness of history is sometimes due to lack of courage. However, such trivial matters can only lead to academic decline. In fact, some scholars have studied this issue. I think this kind of thinking should be valuable and should be supported as long as we adhere to academic principles. Therefore, "there is a view that centralization has not disappeared, but is hidden under the democratic regime", and there is another view that "the people's congress system of democratic centralism has been implemented after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the combination of centralization and decentralization not only ensures the unified leadership of the central government and the centralized handling of state affairs, but also gives full play to the initiative and enthusiasm of the localities, so that they enjoy certain autonomy." Forgive me for being lazy, but both of the above ideas come from wiki, and we should actually look for other real academic support. ) Neither view denies the existence of centralization in China's reality, but the degree is different. In fact, it is not shameful to recognize centralization in our system. Even in ancient times, centralization was not a sin. Chinese civilization has been ahead of the world for a long time, which is closely related to such centralization of authority and political structure. Only in modern times, such a system, coupled with other policies at that time, may have some problems. Whether it is closely related to centralization is debatable. We should know that democracy and centralization have always been relative, and they are both products of historical development. The western system cannot be copied in China. The quality of democracy and legal system of our people needs to be improved, otherwise, there is no need to improve democracy and legal system. This is not only the perfection of the system, but also the perfection of the market system formed by the commodity economy and the improvement of people's awareness of democracy and legal system. Centralization in China is not a bad thing, but it is necessary. Of course, the future development is a constantly improving democracy, which should also be indisputable. Wuhan

The problem of absolute monarchy

The monarch is the supreme head of state. In ancient China, monarchs were basically called emperors after the Qin Dynasty. The status of the emperor is undoubtedly noble. In order to maintain this aristocratic status, the emperors formulated many regulations to ensure this aristocratic status, such as the hereditary and supremacy of imperial power and the inviolability of others. But aristocrats do not mean monopolizing power, nor can they say that monarchs are dictatorships. There is no necessary connection between the two, especially in today's society. Many European countries still have monarchs and royals, but no one says they can be dictatorial. However, this reality is not so old. In the west, the monarch can't "bow to his knees", which is the result of the bourgeois revolution. When the monarchy was autocratic and the power was restricted, the decomposition line was very obvious in western history. Academics all admit that the establishment of a democratic system is gradually established with the development of capitalism. Speaking of China, I hesitated, because the monarch, as the emperor, only existed for such a period of time from the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, and there is no monarch yet. As an imperial system that has existed for more than two thousand years in history, can it be criticized by the word "autocracy"? Originally, everyone thought that monarchy was the root of all evil, but now there are some objections. Wuhan

Although China established the emperor system from the Qin Dynasty, the central government still implemented the system of three officials and nine ministers, and the local government implemented the system of counties. Compared with the pre-Qin period, China's political system has undergone great changes because of the establishment of these systems. The aristocratic politics relying on blood relationship and Shi Qing Shi Lu was replaced by bureaucratic politics relying on talents and the appointment of the emperor. All officials were employees of the emperor, and the pattern of "serving the nobility and selling information" became the normal state of China politics. Under such a system, there is no objection that the emperor has supreme power. However, whether we can say that we are autocratic or not depends on historical facts. Our thinking habit has a very bad habit, which can be said to be a directional thinking: in modern times, we can understand that the king and the government are separated by looking at the western system, and the royal family and the government are not the same thing. However, when we look at the history of China, we generally regard the government and the royal family as one. This view is very interesting and worth thinking about. The emperor of China can really be called absolute monarchy in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, because the prime minister was abolished and the government institutions were directly controlled by the emperor. The emperor not only controls the government, but also controls the courtiers. Everything can be called monopolizing power. But before the Ming Dynasty, it was hard to say whether the emperor's absolute monarchy was like this. Looking through Mr. Qian Mu's Political Gains and Losses in China, it is not difficult to understand that in the Qin and Han Dynasties, the royal family and the government were not the same thing. The royal family has royal institutions, the government has government institutions, and the Prime Minister is the head of government. According to Mr. Qian, the government secretariat is bigger than the royal secretariat. Compared with the six ministers of the royal family, the power of the prime minister is obviously great. Xiangquan didn't disappear completely until the early Ming Dynasty. It seems that it can't be viewed from the perspective of serving the imperial power to facilitate the autocratic monarchy. In fact, the balance between Xiangquan and imperial power also greatly reduced the absolute monarchy before the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Because of this, Mr. Qian Mu didn't think that the politics before the Ming Dynasty in ancient China was absolute monarchy. Mr. Qian's point of view may be too patriotic, but his argument is also full. We can't ignore those institutions, those systems and the institutional framework of checks and balances within the central government and think that the emperor is autocratic because he is in the highest position. However, from the western point of view, it is obvious that the imperial power of China has not been weakened since the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, but has been constantly strengthened. This difference from the west may be the irrefutable evidence of absolute monarchy, such as the control of military power, the appointment and removal of personnel, and even judicial trials. These powers, which belong to different departments, often seem to see the shadow of emperor's intervention or even direct control in China's ancient politics. Judging from these performances, it seems that the emperor is autocratic. There has been absolute monarchy in China since the Qin Dynasty. The strengthening of some monarchies in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in textbooks seems to imply the existence of political monarchies before the Ming and Qing Dynasties. How else can we strengthen it? But has absolute monarchy really existed since the Qin Dynasty? It seems that there are many objections from overseas scholars, and their doubts are reasonable. Even those scholars who agree with the existence of autocratic monarchy after the Qin Dynasty in ancient China have to admit that imperial powers such as eunuch's autocracy, prime minister's autocracy and consorts' autocracy exist. Of course, they will say that this is a by-product of the absolute monarchy, which just confirms the disadvantages of absolute monarchy. The reality is that when these autocratic powers exist, we can't call them absolute monarchy anyway, because the monarch at that time couldn't manage politics at all, and some ignorant people didn't want to manage politics. How could it be absolute monarchy? Coupled with the above, the contradiction between relative power and imperial power, it is difficult to conclude that China has been an autocratic monarchy since the Qin Dynasty. There is centralization, but the autocratic imperial power is not necessarily the case, and many problems are difficult to be explained by autocratic monarchy.

In ancient times, centralization and absolute monarchy were often regarded as twin brothers, but in fact, whether this is the case needs to be considered again.