Three Kingdoms Official Positions

This compilation of official positions during the Three Kingdoms period draws primarily on the Table of Official Positions of the Three Kingdoms (三國職官表) by Qing scholar Hong Yisun, with references to the following authoritative works: Lü Zongli's Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Official Systems, Hong Wuxiong's Examination of the Shu-Han Section of the Table of Official Positions of the Three Kingdom, and Yang Chen's Compendium of the Three Kingdoms.



The translations are chosen or devised with personal discretion, but developed in consultation with the following Chinese-English translation works: Official Titles of the Han Dynasty (University of Washington), Rafe de Crespigny's A Biographical Dictionary of the Han, Michael Loewe's A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods (221 BC-AD 24), and Charles O. Hucker's A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China.

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Guide

名(魏)
Name (Wei)
名(吳)
Name (Wu)
郎中令 Court Gentleman Prefect
光祿勳 Minister of the Household
郎中令 Court Gentleman Prefect
光祿勳 Minister of the Household
虎賁中郎將 Gentleman-General of the Rapid Tigers ?
虎賁侍郎 Attendant Gentleman of the Rapid Tigers ?
Red: Dignitary officials
White: Secondary Officials subordinate to Dignitary officials
Blue: Minor Officials subordinate to Secondary officials
(?): Unknown
(-): No such position
( ): [In Jobscope & Salary columns] No information

Link to various offices (Mobile not recommended):

Salary during the Han


Estimation for missing values/adjusted values by Bielenstein1 in blue. One hu (斛) = one dan (石), at approximately 20 litres2 in volume, or about 10–20 kg of grain, depending on grain type and packing.

Annual Salary Rank (dan) 3 4 Monthly Salary - Unhusked Grain (hu)
[Former Han, Later Han AD 50 or both] 3 4
Calculated Actual Annual dan/hu Monthly Salary in Coin
[Later Han 106 AD] 1 4
Monthly Salary in Husked Grain (hu)
[Later Han 106 AD] 1 4
萬 10000350420017500105
中二千 Fully 20001802160900072, 54
真二千 True 200015018006500, 600036
二千 20001201440
比二千 Equivalent to 20001001200500034, 30
千 100090, 80960-10804000, 450030, 27
比千 Equivalent to 100080960400024
六百 60070840350021
比六百 Equivalent to 60060, 50600-720300018
四百 40050, 45540-600250015
比四百 Equivalent to 40045, 40480-540225013.5
三百 30040480185012
比三百 Equivalent to 30037444185011.1
二百 200303601000, 15009
比二百 Equivalent to 2002732413508.1
一百 100161928004.8
斗食 Paid in Dou111325503.3
佐吏 Accessory Clerks8964002.4


1. The salaries of the officials (Chapter 5), in The Bureaucracy of Han Times, Hans Bielenstein.
2. 鄒大海《從出土文獻看秦漢計量單位石的變遷》(Zou Dahai, Changes in the Qin–Han Measurement Unit shi Viewed through Excavated Textual Evidence)
3. 顔師古注《漢書‧百官公卿表》(Yan Shigu's annotations of Book of Han, Table of nobility ranks and government offices)
4. 《後漢書‧百官志》及注 (Book of the Later Han, Treatise of the Hundred Offices and annotations)