The grand chancellor, also known by its Chinese name as (å®°ç¸) (variously interpreted as counselor-in-chief, chancellor, chief councillor, chief minister, imperial chancellor, lieutenant chancellor, and prime minister) is a generic blanket title identifying the highest-ranking ministers wielding both formal and actual authorities in the imperial Chinese government. Such ministers' titles varied over time and their responsibilities and actual authorities fluctuated widely throughout Chinese history, even within a particular dynasty or within the reign of a particular emperor. During various periods, two or three ministers/titles would be recognized jointly as the grand chancellor at any given point, either exercising authorities in commission with each other or each with authorities over a broad range of functions.
The offices and titles with broad recognition and acceptance as grand chancellor invariably possessed two broad powers:
The title grand chancellor have frequently been associated with powerful offices and ministers with one of the two powers but not both. This is most common with the ranking ministers from periods which the offices with both powers were formally abolished and not merely vacant. Such usage are however not broadly accepted. The role of grand chancellor was abolished in a formal sense following the elimination of the office of imperial chancellor (ä¸Âç¸) following the execution of Ming dynasty's Hu Weiyong in 1380. While certain individuals in the following 500 years were conferred with broad executive power comparable to or even exceed those possessed by previous grand chancellors, they were not formally referred as such.
Professor Zhu Zongbin of Peking University outlined the role of "grand chancellor" as one with the power to oversee all jurisdictional matters, the right to decide and to draft edicts with other ministers, and the position of chief advisor to the emperor. This extended even to the ability to criticize the emperor's edicts and decisions. Thus, the grand chancellor served as the emperor's chief of staff and main political advisor, often exercising power second only to the emperor. In practice, the grand chancellor was often a trusted executive aide to the emperor, but during political turmoil or power struggles between the two roles the grand chancellor could also be the emperor's primary political competitor and opponent.
This balance of power means that the relation between grand chancellor (and the scholar-officials they represent) and emperor holds great significance in the Confucian thought of governance and the relation of "lord and subject" ().
"Grand chancellor" can denote several positions. During the Six Dynasties period, the term denoted a number of power-holders serving as chief administrators, including zhongshun jian (Inspector General of the Secretariat), zhongshu ling (President of the Secretariat), shizhong (Palace Attendant), shangshu ling and puye (president and vice-president of the Department of State Affairs).
In the Spring and Autumn period, Guan Zhong was the first chancellor in China, who became chancellor under the state of Qi in 685 BC. In Qin, during the Warring States period, the chancellor was officially established as "the head of all civil service officials." There were sometimes two chancellors, differentiated as being "of the left" (senior) and "of the right" (junior). After emperor Qin Shi Huang ended the Warring States period by establishing the Qin dynasty (221âÂÂ206 BC), the chancellor, together with the imperial secretary, and the grand commandant, were the most important officials in the imperial government, generally referred as the Three Lords.
In 1 BC, during the reign of Emperor Ai, the title was changed to (). In the Eastern Han dynasty, the chancellor post was replaced by the Three Excellencies: Grand Commandant (), Minister over the Masses () and Minister of Works (). In AD190, Dong Zhuo claimed the title "Chancellor of State" () under the powerless Emperor Xian of Han, placing himself above the Three Excellencies. After Dong Zhuo's death in 192, the post was vacant until Cao Cao restored the position as "imperial chancellor" () and abolished the Three Excellencies in 208. From then until March 15, 220, the power of chancellor was greater than that of the emperor. Later this often happened when a dynasty became weak, usually some decades before the fall of a dynasty.
During the Sui dynasty, the executive officials of the three highest departments of the empire were called "chancellors" () together. In the Tang dynasty, the government was divided into three departments: the Department of State Affairs (), the Secretariat (), and the Chancellery (). The head of each department was generally referred to as the chancellor.
In the Song dynasty, the post of chancellor was also known as the (), in accordance with late-Tang terminology, while the vice-chancellor was known as the . Some years later, the post of chancellor was changed to "prime minister" (, ) and the post of vice-chancellor was changed to "second minister" ( ). In the late Southern Song dynasty, the system changed back to the Tang naming conventions.
During the Mongol-founded Yuan dynasty, the chancellor was not the head of the Secretariat, but the Crown Prince () was. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, the post became the head of the Zhongshu Sheng again. The post was abolished after the execution of Hu Weiyong, who was accused of treason (though his conviction is still strongly disputed in present times because of a lack of evidence to prove his guilt). Still, appointments of the people who held the highest post in the government were called "appointment of prime minister" () until 1644.
During and after the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, the Mongols continued the use of a title , from () for various high leaders, such as Pulad, the Yuan ambassador to the Ilkhan and for the deputy of the Western Mongol leader, the . The title was also used in the Ilkhanate, for the vizier Buqa.
Note: after the death of Hu Weiyong, the title of grand chancellor was abolished. The office of the Grand Secretariat assumed the powers of the chancellery after the reign of the Hongwu Emperor.
The Qing dynasty bureaucratic hierarchy did not contain a chancellor position. Instead, the duties normally assumed by a chancellor were entrusted to a series of formal and informal institutions, the most prominent of which was the Grand Council. Occasionally, one minister may have held enough power in the government such that he came to be identified, figuratively, as the "chancellor".
In 1911, the Qing court adopted reforms which, amongst other changes, established the position of prime minister. This position existed for less than a year before the Qing government was overthrown.