On Functional Qualification of Presenting Secret Memorials in the Ming Dynasty

Secret memorials are the ones presented to the emperor by the officials in the Ming dynasty, where in the beginning of the development of the secret memorials, officials qualified to present them to the emperor are not stipulated clearly and definitely, but with the development of the political centralization of state power and autocratic monarchy, due to some urgent and special matters involved, some officials in those functional departments in the royal court are qualified to present secret memorials to the emperor. In the Ming dynasty, the functional departments are imperial Qintianjian(钦天监), the cabinet and the whole supervisory system, whose qualifications to present secret memorials to the emperor are related to the development of politics.