ge 格, administrative regulations

Ge 格 were administrative regulations. The term ge replaced the earlier term ke 科, used since the early imperial period for legal provisions for daily routine. The change of term was carried out by the Eastern Wei dynasty 東魏 (534-550), which – according to the statecraft encyclopaedia Tang liudian 唐六典 shortened and fixed the legal provisions of the Jin 晉 (265-420) and the Northern Wei 北魏 (386-534) dynasties and issued a specific code, the Linzhi ge 麟趾格, called so because they were created in the Hall of the Unicorn's Hoove (Linchi Dian 麟趾殿).

The Tang dynasty 唐 (618-907) adopted the use of ge regulations and defined them as "matters regularly carried out by all officials and functionaries" (baiguan yousi zhi suo chang xing zhi shi 百官有司之所常行之事). Several ge codes were created during the Tang period, like the Wude ge 武德格, Zhenguan ge 貞觀格, Yonghui ge 永徽格, Chuigong ge 垂拱格 or Kaiyuan ge 開元格, all of them named according to the reign-period in force. The Sui 隋 (581-618) and Tang dynasties discerned between four types of laws, namely statutes (lü 律), sub-statutes (ling 令), regulations (ge 格), and ordinances (shi 式).

Based on the scope of implementation, ge regulations were divided into "circulated regulations" (sanban ge 散頒格 or sanxing ge 散行格), which were promulgated nationwide, and "internal regulations" (liusi ge 留司格 or benxing ge 本行格), which remained within the issuing office and were not universally applied.

By the Song dynasty 宋 (960-1279), ge evolved into regulations concerning the ranks of officials and commoners, as well as provisions for awarding merits based on evaluation. Such were, for instance, the Kaibao changding ge 開寶長定格. Administrative regulations were thereafter enforced through "orders" (ling). In the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368), ge became part of the legal code, with the Zhiyuan xinge 至元新格 "New regulations of the Zhiyuan region-period" effectively serving as the legal code of the Yuan dynasty.

Under the Ming 明 (1368-1644) and Qing 清 (1644-1911) dynasties, administrative regulations were incorporated into the Huidian 會典 collections (see Da-Ming huidian 大明會典 and Da-Qing huidian 大清會典) and were not separately codified. The term ge was abolished.

The word ge is also known as an extremely cruel instrument of punishment in the oldest times, see "roasting beam".