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The control exercised by the Intendant of Affairs of the Masters of
Writing

The Masters of Writing (Shang-shu) were the private secretaries of the
emperor. Government business came to the emperor in the form of
memorials; the Masters of Writing received these memorials and brought
them to the attention of the emperor. They then prepared his replies or
sent the memorials to the appropriate officials for action. The emperor
naturally consulted with his Masters of Writing, so that this position
became an important one.

This office had been inherited by the Han from the Ch'in dynasty.
Before the time of Emperor Wu, these Masters of Writing do not seem
to have been important, since government business came first to the
ministers, especially the Lieutenant Chancellor or Grandee Secretary,
who presented their recommendations to the emperor for enactment.
Emperor Wu however took to himself the actual control of the government,
so that governmental affairs were brought directly to him. Hence

his private secretaries became important. Emperor Wu spent a large
part of his time in the harem, where the Masters of Writing, who were not
eunuchs, could not go. Consequently he established a new office, that
of Palace Writer (Chung-shu), a eunuch position, in order that his private
secretaries could be with him even in the imperial harem. (Szu-ma
Ch'ien was made a Palace Writer after his punishment; possibly one
of Emperor Wu's reasons for allowing Szu-ma Ch'ien to be thus punished
was to have a capable person in that office.) Because of court
opposition to eunuchs, the office of Palace Writer was abolished in 29
B.C. It did not have any importance during the reign of Emperor Chao.

When matters were brought to the attention of the government,
duplicates or abstracts had to be presented along with all memorials.
The duplicate was opened by the Intendant of Affairs of the Masters
of Writing; unless he approved the memorial, the matter was not brought
to the attention of the emperor. The Intendant of Affairs could thus
control the government by the simple expedient of controlling the
emperor's sources of information. A vigorous emperor might break
through these limitations, but the government business was so voluminous
that some sifting out of unimportant matters was unavoidable and the
person who did so inevitably obtained considerable control over the
government. Hence the attempt to make the emperor an absolute
autocrat resulted in making him dependent upon his entourage. When
he was Emperor, Wang Mang worked night and day, attempting to deal
in person with all government documents, but was unable to keep up
with his work. Thus Emperor Wu, in making the emperor an absolute
autocrat, virtually subverted the fundamental constitution of the state
for himself and his successors, by taking most of the governmental power
away from the Lieutenant Chancellor and the Grandee Secretary, who
were supposed to head the government. The result was that this power
came into the hands of whatever clique had the emperor's ear or had
entrenched itself with the imperial private secretaries. After the time
of Emperor Wu, the control of the government was usually held by the
Intendant of Affairs of the Masters of Writing or by the Chief Palace
Writer. Since these titles did not carry any high rank in the court, the
Intendant of Affairs was usually made concurrently the Commander-inchief.

In his capacity as virtual regent, Ho Kuang showed himself faithful
and reliable. Emperor Chao was only in his eighth year when he came
to the throne in 87 B.C.; when he was in his eighteenth year, he was
capped, thereby being entitled to rule in person. Ho Kuang had had
the Emperor's entire confidence and the young Emperor had defended

him against slander and intrigue, so the Emperor continued Ho Kuang
in control of the government to the end of his reign.