Talk:Three Departments and Six Ministries

What [does it] mean ?

« The head of the Secretariat or the Department of State Affairs was generally referred to as the Chancellor, next only to the emperor in rank and power. »

Possible meaining :

• They were them too called "Chancellor" ;
• They were called Chancellor (-> so how is called the head of the Chancellery ? O.o)

220.135.4.212 (talk) 12:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I did not write this article, a fellow editor of mine did in collaboration with the Ming Dynasty article that I brought to FA status. However, I think what it is saying is that the head of the Secretariat could be called chancellor, but so could the head of the Department of State Affairs. The designation of "chancellor" is simply the person with the highest position in government, which in this case can be either the head of the Secretariat or the Department of State Affairs.--Pericles of Athens^Talk 15:26, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

It's a confusing issue because Chancellor or Chief Councillor can either refer to as a specific post, or as a generic name to the highest official in court. In some dynasties when they had the post, it was usually taken by the head of the Secretariat or the Department of State Affairs. In some dynasties when they did not, the highest civil official (usually either the head of the Secretariat or the Department of State Affairs, or as in Ming, the Grand Secretary) was referred to as the Chancellor. Josuechan (talk) 00:48, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Sources for future article expansion

here and at the pages for the Six Ministries:

• 1
• 2

 — LlywelynII 05:58, 30 May 2017 (UTC)

"秘书" and relevant English

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 秘书 literally translates to secret books but is currently (and probably formerly) used to describe a librarian, bookkeeper, scribe or secretary (notetaker). Thus, is the translation correct? Augend (drop a line) 21:11, 24 May 2020 (UTC)