The Summer Office: Minister of War

AnonymousThe Commercial Press · ChinaJul 2024

4.2

Word count: 8.9K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Only the king establishes the state, determines the cardinal directions and rectifies positions, lays out the capital and divides the countryside, establishes offices and assigns duties, thereby making them the standard for the people. He then establishes the Minister of Summer, causing him to lead his subordinates and control the government of the state, so as to assist the king in bringing peace to the realm. The subordinates of the office of government: the Grand Minister of War, one man of the ministerial rank. The Junior Minister of War, two men of the middle grandee rank. The Minister of the Army, four men of the lower grandee rank. The Minister of Chariots, eight men of the upper knight rank.

Editor's review

This is the Republican-era Commercial Press original edition of the Summer Offices chapter of the Rites of Zhou. It sets out the offices of the Grand Minister of War, the Junior Minister of War, the Minister of the Army and the Minister of Chariots, together with their subordinate staff, and opens by stating the institutional principle of establishing offices and assigning duties so as to assist the king in bringing peace to the realm. Its value lies in presenting an idealized pre-Qin framework of military and governmental offices; it is a classic text for understanding the six-office system of the Rites of Zhou and ancient ideas of military administration, and it offers a foundational reference for later discussions of official institutions. The language is terse and archaic, consisting mainly of lists of offices and their duties, with little narrative thread, so that it can feel dry when read on its own. The photographic reprint makes the old edition's appearance easy to see, and it is suitable for reading alongside the other five offices of the Rites of Zhou and their commentaries, serving as a primary source in institutional history, ritual studies and classical scholarship. Readers should have some familiarity with classical studies to grasp its format and nature; it should not be taken as a direct record of the actual pre-Qin bureaucracy.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars of classical studies and history studying the Rites of Zhou and pre-Qin institutional history
Researchers of institutional history interested in the ancient ideal of establishing offices and assigning duties
Users of primary sources needing to check the titles and staff numbers of the Summer Offices' subordinate officials
Advanced readers with some grounding in classical Chinese and an interest in the classics section

Not a good fit for

General history readers seeking details of actual pre-Qin military and governmental operations
Beginners without classical Chinese reading ability encountering the classics section for the first time
Readers expecting narrative storytelling or modern vernacular interpretation

Reading tips

Read the opening general statement first, to grasp the institutional purpose of establishing offices, assigning duties and assisting the king in bringing peace to the realm
Read alongside the other five offices, such as the Heavenly Offices and Earthly Offices, to understand the overall structure of the six-office system
Consult the commentaries of successive dynasties to distinguish the original meaning of the text from later analogies to contemporary officialdom
Arrange the lists of offices into tables for easy checking of subordinate ranks and staff numbers

About the publisher

The Commercial Press China · Founded in 1897

"Republic-era Commercial Press Original Editions" refers to original books printed by The Commercial Press during the Republican period, not a separate publishing house. Judging from the 300 titles held in the collection, its publishing focus centers on classical poetry and lyrics, literary appreciation, classic works, military texts, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy. Representative titles include Wang Guowei's Renjian Cihua, Zhong Rong's Shipin, the lyric collections of Xin Qiji and Liu Yong, Sun Wu's The Art of War, and Lü Buwei's Xianshi Lan. Its author resources are mainly classical writers, together with modern scholars such as Li Jingbang and Guo Huaruo, whose collations and annotations are also represented, giving the list a character centered on original texts while attending to annotation and appreciation. Public information on the precise Republican-era catalog and printings is limited; this overview is based only on the titles held in the collection.

版权信息
夏官司马第四

FAQ

What does the Summer Offices chapter mainly discuss?

It chiefly describes the offices of the Summer Offices system, including the Grand Minister of War, the Junior Minister of War, the Minister of the Army and the Minister of Chariots, together with their subordinate staff; its opening explains the institutional principle of establishing offices and assigning duties so as to assist the king in bringing peace to the realm. It belongs to the government-office section of the six-office system in the Rites of Zhou.

Does this book reflect the actual pre-Qin bureaucracy?

The offices recorded in the Rites of Zhou have an idealized, constructed character, and scholars differ on how far they reflect reality. It should be read as an institutional design and a classical text, not as a direct record of the pre-Qin bureaucracy.

What are the features of the Republican-era Commercial Press original edition?

This edition preserves the layout and textual appearance of the old printing, making it useful for understanding modern publishing forms and for comparing editions. Readers should note the traditional characters and old-style typesetting and are advised to use it together with a standard modern critical edition.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.