學界以往對唐宋以前官制史的認識，主要是透過《漢書》以下的歷代百 官志表所建立，著眼於漢、唐從而分別官制史的階段，往往受限材料，忽略 了漢唐之間官制的關鍵性演變及其歷史意義。緣此，本文選取成書於南朝的 《南齊書．百官志》，具體考察、梳理蕭子顯（ 487-535）在序文（〈志序〉） 中所述職官文獻與官制史。循著官制發展的時間先後展開，〈志序〉呈現出 一個綴連上古至當代的職官文獻序列，實際上建構東漢至南朝間職官文獻撰 錄與傳承的歷史敘述，亦具有闡述歷代官制史演變的意涵，反映自魏晉以來 迄 6世紀時人的認識。
依據〈志序〉，本文指出職官文獻的撰述與流傳在宋、齊間達到興盛，官僚對官制的關注逐漸聚焦於官品、遷轉秩序等當代施行制度。職官文獻既有別於正史百官志，卻又與後者發揮著互補作用，透過兩者能夠認識官制史及其歷史意義。〈志序〉揭示東漢以來以《周禮》為理想官制的撰錄傳統，同時呈現歷代撰錄者愈加措意於時代變化的傾向，這些變化最終制度化，成為《晉令》的重要內容，同時規範了百官志。再者，〈志序〉描述《晉令》與職官文獻的關係，呈現時人對官制史各個階段的認識，其後隱含著皇帝政治與現實官僚制度妥協的傾向，反映中古官制在經典理念與現實制度之間的移轉。

In the preface to the ‘Treatise on Bureaucracy’in the Book of Qi (Nan Qi Shu, 南齊書), the official history of Southern Qi in early medieval China, bureaucratic literature and the history are presented systematically for the first time. It helps us to understand not only the bureaucratic literature and history from the Latter Han to the Southern Dynasty, but also to understand the transition andits meaning in imperial politics in China later on.
According to the preface, treatises on bureaucracy (baiguanzhi,百官志 ) in official histories are divided from other bureaucratic literature which is categorized as historical and bureaucratic documents (shizhu, 史注). On one hand, treatises on bureaucracy express the practical meanings of traditional political ideas; bureaucratic and administrative affairs that changed with times are selected and collected, on the other. Between idea and reality, these two forms of bureaucratic literature support each other. After the bureaucratic systems based on the Ordinance of Jin (Jinling, 晉令) in 3th Century have been put into practice, the writing tradition of treatises on bureaucracy starts transferring from the Rites of Zhou (Zhouli, 周禮) to the Ordinance of Jin, reflecting the tendency from Confucian idea’s toward political system in practice. The preface of ‘Treatise on Bureaucracy’ in the Book of Qi revealed the process of change of poltical system based on the Ordinance of Jin and transmittedits meaning to the latter times.