What time did ancient officials go to work in the morning?

Ancient officials went to work at dawn (5-7 am).

The cock crowed at once.

The time of going to and from work in ancient times was similar to that in modern times, but the specific time was earlier than that in modern institutions, which was suitable for the rest habits of most people in agricultural society. In The Book of Songs Qi Feng Ji Ming, the wife urges her husband to get up: "The chicken has crowed and the court has arrived; The east is bright and the court is busy (the crow is full; The East is bright and North Korea is prosperous. "The tradition of the ancients' preparation for playing more was formed at least in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the future, this period will gradually become Shi Mao (from five to seven in the morning).

Determined by China's traditional administrative system, the subordinate organs of ancient civil servants can be divided into central and local governments. All officials working in the central organs must attend the Supreme State Council presided over by the monarch himself, which is also commonly known as the Chao Hui. Therefore, the first procedure for Beijing officials to go to work is "going to court", also known as "going to court". There will be a big dynasty and a regular dynasty. There is an imperial edict in the Ji of Emperor Wudi of Liang Shu, which stipulates that Tao is all state affairs, and everyone's opinions must be consulted at the meeting. Therefore, officials should "discuss current affairs in court, prepare before * *, and listen to politics after". In other words, in addition to legal holidays, such regular meetings with actual content are held almost every day. If the monarch is sick or lazy, the so-called "and the emperor, from now on, abandoned his early morning orders" is an exception.

Queue learning

Attendees come from various departments and have different levels, so they should enter the designated position when attending the meeting. This is called "attending class", which means attending class. Moreover, because officials are often promoted or demoted, or transferred between different departments, personally, this change is not static. In the meetings of modern organs, the attendees are marked with "famous brand" by the conference group as usual, and there is nothing wrong with being seated accordingly. The ancients did not invent this method. Therefore, the phenomenon of "disorderly classes" has occurred from time to time.

In Wanli Wild Collection (Volume XIII), when Ming Shenzong was in office, due to intermittent meetings, "classes were out of order". On one occasion, a cabinet official and a supervisory official competed for this position, and Cai, who arranged the class, was asked to distinguish right from wrong. Shu didn't want to offend anyone, so he gave an example: if you act according to the formal court, you are right; According to the court, he is not bad. It can be seen that all kinds of meetings have different ranking arrangements, which is the knowledge that officials working in central organs must master, otherwise they will make mistakes as soon as they go to work.

Depending on the agenda, the meeting usually ends at 9: 00 (7-9: 00 before noon, which means 9: 00 here), which is called "leaving the meeting", "class dismissed" or "quitting the meeting". After the Five Dynasties, it was often the early emperors who did not go to the temple to meet officials, but called some important officials such as the prime minister or the records to the inner temple for a short meeting. After the meeting, the prime minister came out, led the officials to salute in the palace and announced his retirement from the DPRK. Meng Qian Bi Tan records that at the beginning of Song Shenzong's accession to the throne, Han Qi served as prime minister. When a short meeting was held for too long, other officials were asked to step down on their own according to their previous habits. After Wang was appointed as an imperial envoy, he impeached Han Qi. So the emperor ordered that in case the ruling minister didn't finish his work before the end of the day, "the class would be released at the same time", that is, officials were allowed to resign from the DPRK on their own, and then it became a system.

Chaohui is the highest state meeting, presided over by the monarch himself.

For officials attending the DPRK meeting, quitting the DPRK means that the work has come to an end, and the next step is to prepare for the dinner. Therefore, retreating from the DPRK is also called "returning grain". There is a saying in the Book of Songs called "Nan Lamb". Since the Tang Dynasty, officials of the Beijing Dynasty have been able to have a full meal in the palace after retiring from the DPRK, and "returning grain to the people" has become an allusion. Fu Yuan Ruojin's poem "Keeping the King Zuocheng" says: "Burning incense at the Fengge Spring Banquet, Yulong will smell it at noon." Because there is a subtle difference between "retreating from the DPRK" and "dispersing the DPRK"-dispersing the DPRK should include the procedure of eating the DPRK. At this time, it was already noon.

Attending the DPRK meeting was the top priority for the officials of ancient Beijing and DPRK to go to work on time every day. Anyone who is absent without reason, arrives late and leaves early, or misbehaves in class is a violation of discipline, and there have been discipline regulations in past dynasties. Since the Tang dynasty, whenever there is summer heat, rain, snow and mud, it is called "release to the DPRK", which is followed by later generations. Tang Bai Juyi's poem "Rain and snow are released to the DPRK because of weak feelings" says: "Returning to the riding will be followed by nine songs one after another, and the three days of release will be clay paintings." Li Ming Dongyang's poem "It happened on the rainy road in the morning" said: "You have repeatedly released your goodwill towards North Korea, but you dare not forget the towel rack you left at home." All of the above are due to the weather. Imagine getting up at dawn and going to court at five o'clock. No wonder you want to be a "monarch" to praise.

But going to North Korea doesn't mean having a holiday. You still have to attend classes. Even in normal weather, officials from Beijing and North Korea often go to their respective organs to "do things", that is, work, after their retirement in North Korea. As for ordinary officials who are not qualified to attend court meetings, as well as documents, clerks, officials, etc. They also go to the office every morning (five to seven before noon).

The period between going to work and getting off work. After lunch, there is a lunch break as usual, which is free for individuals to control.

The working hours of local organs at all levels are similar to those in Beijing and North Korea, and there are also procedures for attending meetings presided over by the chief executive first and then working separately. According to the system, all "public servants", including bookkeepers of all subjects and servants of all classes, must go to work on time at dawn every day, and then the bookstore receives the seals (signatures) of all departments, and the servants enter their posts respectively, and the secretary and attendants open the door of the court. There are different signals, so we must not be vague.

It is very important to sign in by roll call.

In ancient times, the official motto was based on "being clear, cautious and diligent", and the minimum requirement of "diligence" was to get to and from work on time, which was stipulated in many laws and regulations of past dynasties. For example, in the Five Laws of the Tang Dynasty, there is a decree that "officials don't attend classes for no reason", saying that officials at home and abroad should be absent from work, and they will be fined 20 small boards for every day of absenteeism, one level will be increased every three days, 100 boards will be fined every 25 days, and one year's imprisonment will be fined every 35 days. If you are a "border official" working in a military town or border area, you have to add one more crime. In the same book "Work System IV", there is also a law and explanation on attendance by roll call, to the effect that internal and external officials should check the actual number of people by roll call, sometimes several times a day, and those who fail to roll call will get 20 small boards every time they miss the roll call. If you don't go to work every time, you have to count the days and be punished according to the crime of not coming to work for no reason.

Similar punishment methods appeared in the Five Dynasties and the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

It is impossible to prevent violation of discipline.

However, these are written rules. In fact, the ancients paid more attention to going to work on time. It doesn't matter when you get off work. For example, the Yuan Dynasty's "Zhiyuan New Pavilion" said: "The Meiji Incident, all officials must be settled, and the things that were discussed and dispatched on that day were all settled in the rear." I know that as long as I finish what I should do that day, I can get off work. Among them, eating lunch is a big joint. Many offices in Beijing and North Korea leave only one or two officials on duty after lunch, and the rest go home. Only officials and servants are still sticking to their posts. Comparatively speaking, the administrative departments in the concourse, such as those in Zhongshumen and Shangshu Cabinet, or confidential secretaries who directly serve the emperor, all require full-time work.

According to Jane Xuan Ji, Zhao Kuangyin once had a warning specifically for state and county officials: "Don't put your officials in yellow silk quilts!" It is a common phenomenon that the attendance system of local government offices is slack.

After further investigation, it may be that the violation of attendance by superiors is more serious than that of subordinates. Take the Tang Dynasty as an example. Even attending high-level government affairs activities such as the DPRK meeting, many people "made a mess." For example, in the fourth year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 850), Yushitai once played a special story, saying that there was a reason why officials of the civil and military were unwilling to attend court meetings. In fact, they eat and have fun outside, so please "allow formal articles to be punished twice as much as books" (Don Yao Hui, Volume 60). There are similar records in the Song Dynasty. For example, in the second year of Renzong Tiansheng (A.D. 1024), the right patrol ambassador (equivalent to CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection cadres) Zhang impeached the fact that 33 people, including Langzhong and Shi Zhongli, were ill and did not attend the meeting. The emperor issued a letter warning officials that the imperial court would send medical officers to check and verify those who were often absent from work due to illness (Volume 102 Long Edition).