For those who are familiar with Chinese history, you may have heard of a saying: "Since ancient times, the officials have not entered the cabinet." So, what is the official book? It is often referred to as the supreme governor of the Ministry of Officials, the head of the six departments. As for why the official secretary could not enter the cabinet, there are historical reasons for this. In ancient times, although the Ministry of Officials was in charge of important matters such as the selection, appointment and dismissal of officials, its status was not the same as that of the Cabinet. The cabinet is the emperor's advisory body and holds the decision-making power over the country's major policies. Therefore, despite their high status, they were not part of the cabinet according to the official system of the time. This is the origin of "heavenly officials do not enter the cabinet".
In Chinese history, since the Qin and Han dynasties, there has been the position of prime minister, and the prime minister is in charge of the administrative power of the whole country. However, with the evolution of history, in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the state began to establish a system of three provinces and six ministries. These three provinces are the Zhongshu Province, the Menxia Province and the Shangshu Province, which respectively controlled the power of the original prime minister, so the power of the prime minister has been significantly weakened.
During the Ming Dynasty, in order to consolidate the imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, carried out major reforms. He decided to abolish the system of three provinces and prime ministers, so that the power to make decisions about government affairs in the whole country was directly vested in the emperor. In this way, the six ministries and bureaus directly obeyed the orders of the emperor and took charge of the administrative power of the whole country. Such a change made the emperor's power unprecedentedly strengthened.
The six departments refer to the six departments, including the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Crime, and the Ministry of Industry. This sort was determined after Wang Anshi changed the law during the Northern Song Dynasty Shenzong. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the status of these six ministries was elevated, and their power was expanded accordingly. Since the emperor had to deal with so many affairs, the imperial court of the Ming and Qing dynasties set up a cabinet to help the emperor handle government affairs and enable the emperor to manage the country more efficiently. This institutional arrangement made the six ministries and the cabinet constitute an important organizational structure of the imperial court.
Why, then, can't the Ministers join the Cabinet? Actually, it's because he has too much power. The Ministry of Officials is the department responsible for managing the promotion and transfer of officials at all levels, as well as the evaluation of officials. Normally, officials below the fourth grade will directly decide on their appointment, dismissal and arrangement based on the evaluation results. The official department has a lot of decision-making power and influence in this process. In other words, he has too much power and may influence the decision-making and balance of the cabinet, so he cannot easily enter the cabinet.
Although the list of high-ranking officials was reported to the emperor, the responsibility for drawing up the actual list of candidates remained in the hands of the ministry. The ministry does not have decision-making power, but has the right to recommend. As a result, the Ministry of Officials actually has a pivotal position in the promotion of officials, and the amount of power they have is amazing. In other words, the ministry plays an important role in the fate of officials' promotions.
In the imperial court, the officials in charge of the ministries and courts had a noble title - "Heavenly Official", which refers to the official department. If this scholar also served as the head of the cabinet or the highest academic position at the university, his influence would undoubtedly be even stronger. He was not only in charge of the appointment and dismissal of personnel, but also responsible for conveying the decrees of the imperial court. Over time, his power was so concentrated that it could even pose a threat to imperial power. To put it simply, the position of the official secretary is very important, and if he also holds other important positions, then his power will be even more significant, and he will have a significant impact on the decision-making and personnel of the imperial court, and may even pose a challenge to the authority of the royal family.
In other words, if the status of the official secretary is elevated to the rank of cabinet member, it is equivalent to the existence of an important minister around the emperor, who is not nominally a prime minister, but can have the general power of a prime minister. Because imperial power has been indivisible since ancient times, this phenomenon is intolerable in the eyes of the supremacist of imperial power. So, this is a situation that the emperor does not want. Such a situation also represents the imminent disruption of the delicate balance of power relations in the imperial realm.