THE TWO EMPERORS AND THEIR PREDECESSORS

The character of the Ming monarchy had changed markedly over the two centuries preceding the reigns considered here. Early emperors directed military campaigns, proclaimed laws, organized state institutions, and managed the bureaucracy. After institutional arrangements had been settled and the civil service fully developed, the sovereign no longer assumed an active role in the management of imperial affairs. The bureaucrats simply wanted the emperor to personify their ideals of virtue and wisdom, so that as the highest authority on earth, his arbitration of issues in dispute would be seen as final and incontrovertible. This method of decision-making seldom supplied rational solutions to problems; but when backed by the absolute authority of the emperor, the solutions that resulted were unchallengeable.

To retain his absolute authority, the emperor was to refrain from involving himself in the issues brought to his attention. He gradually became more secluded, and his power assumed a negative character. He could readily dismiss or punish any official, order tax remissions, and grant pardons. It was, however, extremely difficult for him to introduce proposals on his own initiative. Earlier emperors had not given up any part of their imperial prerogatives, but when it became clear that it was no longer practical to direct state affairs from the throne, court officials began to speak reverently of early administrative arrangements as “the ancestors' systems,” implying thereby that it would be unfilial to tamper with the existing order.