Tang Three Departments and Six Ministries System

Timeline

1. c. 713–741Imperial City, Chang'an · GuanzhongDuring Kaiyuan the Three Departments and Six Ministries reached maturity: Zhongshu handled edicts, Menxia handled review and remonstrance, Shangshu oversaw the six ministries' execution, forming a closed loop of drafting–review–promulgation. The six ministries managed personnel, household and fiscal matters, rituals and examinations, military affairs, justice, and works, constituting an efficient early Tang central administration.
2. c. 742–780Chang'an · GuanzhongFrom Tianbao onward emperors often appointed Hanlin scholars or jiedushi concurrently as Zhongshu Ling or Shizhong, known as 'commissioner-chancellors' (shixiang), bypassing normal Three Departments procedures to issue orders directly. After the An Lushan Rebellion, fanzhen and eunuch power grew, edicts often issued from commissioner headquarters, and the Three Departments nominally survived while real power dispersed, greatly changing central decision-making.
3. c. 780–800Chang'an · GuanzhongAfter Dezong and Xianzong, eunuchs controlled the Shence Army and the Privy Council, inner court decision-making power rose, and the outer court's Three Departments and Six Ministries largely handled document execution. Although the institutional framework still followed early Tang, the central power structure showed inner and outer courts standing side by side, laying institutional groundwork for late Tang eunuch despotism and fanzhen separatism.