清华简《祭公》与西周三公之制

Zhai Gong in the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips and the Three Ministers of the Western Zhou

清华简《祭公》源自可靠的西周文献,简文所言三公具体人名为研究三公之制提供了崭新线索。三公为西周时期朝廷执政大臣的通称,但不以三人为限,主要由卿士寮、太史寮有关部门的主官三四人或五六人组成,其中常有一人为首席执政大臣。三公多来自畿内伯爵诸侯,而畿外诸侯入为王朝卿士的情况则较为少见。执政大臣大都尊享公爵,通常及身而止,多不世袭,以保持机构政治活力。在周天子享有最高决策权的前提下,西周三公合议制实际行使中央政府职能,具有一定程度的民主执政色彩和优化行政决策作用。

The Zhai Gong on the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips comes from a dependable Western Zhou source.The names of the Three Ministers inscribed on the slips have provided a new line of research on the collegial system set by the three ministers.'Three Ministers'was a general term of address for the executive ministers,not limited to three,who worked in the Western Zhou court.They usually included three to six chief officials from the Bureau of Administration and the Grand Secretariat,one of whom would generally be the Chief Executive Minister.The'Three Ministers'were chosen from among the feudal lords with the rank of count in the capital city and its environs;it was rare for people living outside the capital to be chosen to work at court.Most of the Chief Executive Ministers were treated as having the rank of duke,but to maintain the political vitality of the administration,such titles were rarely inherited by their sons.With the proviso that the Zhou ruler had the supreme decision-making power,the'Three Ministers'of the Western Zhou carried out the functions of the central government through a collegial system,a system implemented with a certain degree of democracy and optimization of executive decision-making.