Political systems of Imperial China

The three notable tendencies in the history of Chinese politics includes, the convergence of unity, the capital priority of absolute monarchy, and the standardization of official selection.

[2] The ancient Chinese text Han Feizi proposed the establishment of the first all-encompassing autocratic monarchy for the future of the state.

Units of measurements, currency, and writing would be standardized, books and scholars of the previous regime burned and buried to keep ideological integrity, and officials were to act as faculties of the law.

[4] In resolute action to settle domestic concerns, Western Han conducted conclusive capital punishments, issued the Decree of Mercy and the Law of Supplementary Benefits, denounced the Hundred Schools of Thought, and only extolled Confucianism.

This, in turn, permitted sanctioning of three government officials to command the imperial army of which were mediated internally via privy council.

Regulation of financial power was acquired by arranging consignments on appropriate levels of operations to coordinate local finances.

Finally, standardization of judicial powers was executed via dispatching of civil officials to serve as local judiciaries.

These means and measures concentrated the sovereignty of the head of state; surmounting military, administrative, financial, and judicial authority from all levels of governance, this subsequently vanquished the foundation of feudal-vassal separation.

The three provinces and six ministries had both divisions of labor and cooperation, and they supervised and contained each other, thus forming a strict and complete system of the feudal bureaucracy, effectively improving administrative efficiency and strengthening the ruling power of the central government.

The military offices were set up in the Qing dynasty, and the remnants of the prime minister system disappeared, reflecting that the imperial power had reached its peak.

[18] In the spring and autumn period, it gradually collapsed and was replaced by the system of prefectures and counties, which remained in some later dynasties.

Since then, the provincial system has become the local administrative organ of China, which was followed in the Ming and Qing dynasties and has been retained until today.

These residential officials, held by local factions, exercised their administration within their jurisdiction until the fall of the Great Ming.

At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, the provincial governor evolved into the local highest military and political officer.

[31] During the closing era of archaic society, the selective appointment of affiliated alliance leaders was conducted within the circle of noble families.

This system selected officials in accordance to the level of their familial backgrounds, though it was often notably plagued by corruption.