At the beginning of the 6th century, a great change was quietly taking place in Chinese history. This was the founding of the Sui Dynasty and a series of major political, economic, and social reforms introduced by its first emperor, Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui.
One of the most important is that he created the "Three Provinces and Six Ministries System", a unique form of central administrative organization. This was a major innovation in the ancient Chinese bureaucratic system, and it was also the political model basically followed by the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
Before the Sui Dynasty, China's imperial court was relatively simple, often with a single large department such as Shangshutai. With the expansion of the country and the multiplicity of affairs, it is clear that such a setup is no longer sufficient. Therefore, Emperor Wen of Sui learned from the experience of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in setting up the Zhongshu Order, and reorganized the original Shangshutai into three parts, namely the Inner History Province (also known as the Zhongshu Province), the Menxia Province and the Shangshu Province, and set up six ministerial-level units with specific functions - the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Criminal Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, forming the so-called "three provinces and six ministries".
In this new system, the Ministry of Inner History was responsible for drafting edicts and reviewing official documents, Menxia Province was the emperor's advisor and advisory body, and Shangshu Province was responsible for the actual administration of government and supervised the work of various departments. The three not only check each other, but also cooperate with each other, so as to realize the effective decentralization of power and the orderly operation mechanism. The greatest advantage of this new type of government design is that there is a clear division of labor and clear responsibilities. Each department has a specific task to ensure that the decision-making process is more scientifically sound. For example, the Ministry of Officials in Shangshu Province is mainly responsible for the selection and evaluation of officials, the Ministry of Household Affairs is in charge of finance and taxation, and the Criminal Department is in charge of judicial adjudication, and so on. This not only improves work efficiency, but also avoids many internal conflicts and corruption.
Another important feature of the "Three Provinces and Six Ministries" system was its strict social hierarchy of the feudal bureaucracy. Officials at all levels are divided into nine grades according to their ranks, ranging from the highest rank of the first rank to the lowest rank from the eighth grade. This makes all kinds of positions have a certain social status and sense of dignity, thus promoting the stable and harmonious development of the entire social order.
The "Three Provinces and Six Ministries System" founded by Emperor Wen of Sui was an extremely important reform of the political system, which played an important role in promoting the development of ancient Chinese political civilization. It embodies the wisdom and courage of the ancient Chinese people, and has become one of the historical legacies that we still need to learn and Xi inherit today.