Ministry of Rites

The rites Ministry (Chinese礼部, Pinyin Lǐbù ) was one of the six ministries of imperial China.

It existed in this form from the Tang Dynasty to the fall of the monarchy 1911. Previously his responsibilities were distributed among several sites, including the Grand Master of Ceremonies, the Grand Herald and the head of the clan ancestors. During the Song period, they were temporarily carried out by the Secretariat office.

The responsibilities of the Ministry of Rites was:

• The implementation of the Confucian state cult, including the court ceremonial and the imperial sacrifice.
• Certain matters relating to the Buddhist and Daoist priests.
• The holding of the official exams ( 736 adopted by the Ministry of Personnel ).
• The care of the relations with tributary foreign states - which first principle, the European states were calculated. With the establishment of the Zongli Yamen 1860 rites Ministry gave a large part of the relevant skills from there.