← Explore on the interactive map

Abolition of the Central Secretariat

Type Event Region China Time 1380

In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang used the Hu Weiyong case to abolish the Central Secretariat and the chancellorshi…

Timeline

  1. 1380Yingtian Prefecture (Nanjing) · Yingtian PrefectureAfter Hu Weiyong's execution, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately announced the abolition of the Central Secretariat and the dismissal of the left and right chancellors; the affairs formerly handled by the secretariat were divided among the Six Ministries, and each ministry's ministers reported directly to the emperor without further clearance through the secretariat.
  2. 1380Ming central government · ChinaAfter the abolition of the chancellorship, the Five Armies Commandery, the Censorate, the Transmission Office, the Court of Judicature and Revision, and other offices stood alongside the Six Ministries in dividing administrative duties, with the emperor personally grasping supreme power. Zhu Yuanzhang further declared that future successors must not again discuss establishing a chancellor, with severe punishment for violators, recorded in the ancestral injunctions.

Sources