System of Performance Evaluation (Kaocheng Fa)

Timeline

1. 1573Beijing · BeijingZhang Juzheng submitted his memorial 'Requesting Inspection of Memorials and Performance Evaluation by Affair to Cultivate Practical Governance,' stating 'the difficulty lies not in establishing laws but in their certain enforcement.' After the Shenzong Emperor approved it, an edict required the Six Boards and Censorate to set deadlines for transferred matters and keep ledgers for record, making performance evaluation an administrative procedure binding on all offices nationwide.
2. 1574–1577Beijing · BeijingEach office kept three ledgers: the base register stayed with the board, one went to the corresponding Six Office for item-by-item cancellation, and one to the Grand Secretariat for inspection. Provincial governors and inspectors were impeached by boards and ministries for delay; boards and ministries for concealment; Six Offices for tolerance of concealment by Grand Secretaries — forming a closed loop of monthly and annual review. The Grand Secretariat thereby gained administrative oversight over the Six Offices and Six Boards.
3. 1578–1582Beijing and provincial governor and inspector offices · Ming dynastyThe kaocheng fa was used to supervise tax and grain payment, land surveying, and promotion of the Single Whip Reform, preventing governors and inspectors from discharging duties with empty documents. It raised central extraction and the reach of government orders, but the object of evaluation remained completion of official business, not candidates' classical learning or examination rankings.
4. 1582–1584Beijing · BeijingAfter Zhang Juzheng died in Wanli 10, opponents settled accounts over his autocracy; the Grand Secretariat lost its coercive auditing power over the Six Offices, and deadline cancellation and annual review were no longer seriously enforced. The kaocheng fa as a workable administrative system essentially ended here, surviving only as a reform case in later histories.