The Six Ministries were the highest authorities in Chinese dynasties, with each ministry headed by a minister (shangshu) to take respective charge of personnel, revenue, rites, defense, justice, and works. These organs, especially those of personnel, revenue, and defense, grew most powerful in the early Ming dynasty. The Qing dynasty adopted the same design and assigned the ministries similar responsibilities: the Ministry of Personnel for administering civil officials; the Ministry of Revenue for governing all state finance affairs (including managing land and farms, overseeing household registration, collecting taxes, and paying government employees); the Ministry of Rites for overseeing state ceremonies, schools and imperial examinations; the Ministry of Defense for supervising all officers and conscripts; the Ministry of Justice for regulating judicial and penal processes; and the Ministry of Works for managing government construction projects. In 1901, the Qing regime restructured the General Office of International Affairs into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding the first-ever new ministry to the traditional six. Later, it established the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Police. In 1906, it renamed the Ministry of Revenue into the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Defense into the Ministry of the Army, the Court of Colonial Affairs into the Ministry of Colonial Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice into the Ministry of Legal Affairs; merged the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Commerce into the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce; and added the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Post and Communication. In May 1911, the Qing regime established its Executive Grand Secretariat, before removing the Ministry of Personnel and renaming the Ministry of Rites into the Office of Ceremonies and Rituals, thoroughly transforming the traditional system of the Six Ministries.
