Studies On The Rules Of LI(Rite) Between The Dynasties Of Qin And Han China

The Rules of LI(Rite) was one of political systems in the governance of country and people, of which in China had a long history. The period of the Qin and Han Dynasties was a most important developing time, when(the time from the unification of the Qin Dynasty to the early years of Emperor Wu Di in the Western Han adopting the thought of Banning the Contention of Most Schools of Thoughts and Honouring Confucianism Alone) the thoughts of governance changed greatly. Just for the purpose of enriching and strengthening the state, the Qin Dynasty and its former advocated the thought of legists, which claimed the standard law of adjudgement and the official as the teacher to control Society, as a result, the whole society was in chaos. In the early years of the Western Han, the Emperors adopted the thought of Huang-lao, which was based on Daoism, exerting a regime of Laissez-faire so as to restore and develop social economy. In some sense, the Rules of LI(Rite) during the period of Qin and Han were dreary, however it did not mean death. Although Qin Shi Huang(the first Emperor) had the events of burning Confucian books and burying Confucian scholars alive, there were some elements of the Rules of LI(Rite) in his governance thought, in which the core viewpoints were making a distinction between gentle and simple, noble and humble. All these thoughts were kept in some carved stone inscriptions left by Qin Shi Huang(the first Emperor) when he was going through the country. In a way, these thoughts were also showing the official value. In the early years of the Western Han the Confucian scholars were arguing with the Huang-lao scholars, the Confucian scholars preached restoring Confucian doctrine and the Rules of LI(Rite), which meant the existence of the Rules of Li(Rite) not only as a kind of theory but an important ideology of the state's political life. Therefore, it is valuable to do some research on this aspect of this period. The one hand this research can make the thought history of Qin and Han more perfect, on the other hand as a political standard, the Rules of LI(Rite) still have some important hints to the reality.The main contents of this dissertation are as follows:Firstly, the origination of LI(Rite) was discussed. LI(Rite) originated in the collection of customs, the process of sacrificial ceremonies, prevention of chaos and the trade and economic events so on in the Period of Remote Antiquity. In some sense, LI(Rite) originated in different causes. Secondly, the attitudes of different schools to LI(Rite) were investigated. The Confucius lay emphasis upon the importance of Rite, the Taoism disaffirmming the Rite of Confucius, meanwhile the Moism criticized the excessively detailed rituals of lavish burial without working for a long time in the name of filial piety and the legist school combining the thoughts of legist with the Rite. The legists thought Li(Rite) was not good for enriching and strengthening the country, but they did not deny all the importance of Li(Rite), of whom Shang Yang, Han Fei and others each had their own merits. Thirdly, special attention was paid on the the Rules of LI(Rite) of LU Jia, SHU Suntong JIA Yi, JIA Shan and HAN Yin, who learned the lessons of Qin' governance. At the beginning of Han dynasty SHU Suntong made tomonori, LU Jia had Xin Yu, JIA Yi wrote Xin Shu, which advocated the Rules of LI(Rite).With their endeavour, they made the foundation for the restoring of Confucian school. Fourthly, in a more common sense, the San Li(the book of Rites and the other two books of Rites) and their thoughts of Rites were discussed in historical way from Pre-qin Dynasty to the early years of Wu Di in the western Han. At last, DONG Zhongshu' doctrine of Rites and the Rules of Rites were studied. DONG Zhongshu worshiped Heaven and honored Confucianism, absorbing the thought of Legists. He made the basical tactics principle for the transform of the political guiding ideology with the time trace. The doctrines of Heaven and Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues by DONG Zhongshu were the concentrated reflection of Rite.The four purposes of researching the Rules of Li(Rites) in the time of Qin and Han are as follows:Firstly, analysis of the Rules of Rites in Qin Dynasty and its Practice. Based upon the literatures of Shi ji(Records of the Historian),Han Shu, Qin Huiyao and the new research achievements; the elements of the Rules of Li(Rites) from the Qin State to the Qin Dynasty were dectected in an aspect of geographic origination and enlargement,which showed the Qin State not only focused on penalty and development of agriculture for winning of the war but also Li(the Rites) played a great role in the controlling and governance of Society. In this research, the system of the thought history of Qin and Han was further dectected. Secondly, researching the historical thought in the development of history could show the function of stability of Li(Rites),which was not completely denied in the social life. The cause of the life of Li(Rites) was worth studying, no matter how great Society changed,in a chao or in restoration and development. Thirdly, the clue of Li(Rites) history was researched during the period of Qin and Han.Duke Dan of Zhou made Li(Rites) and Yue(music), which was carried on by Confucius. Zixia was a bridge of the Book of Rites from Confucius to Hsun Tzu,who devleoped the Rites of Confucius.Jia Yi made the Book of Rites a new life, and then Dong Zhongshu made sure the dominant political philosophy of the Confucian Rules of LI(Rite). In this way, the inheritage of thought and culture was mainly decided by human beings,who wisely gave great contributions to Society. And meanwhile they succeeded the tradition and made innovation. Fourthly, some important classical books of Li(Rites) were in a detailed analysis,of which the three books of rites(Zhou li,Yi li, Li ji) had a centralized summarization of Rite, ritual system and the rule of Rite. The three biographies of Chun Qiu made sure the criterion of judging the deeds of heroes and events,of which the Rules of LI(Rite) were also looked into, showing their historic meaning. Besides, the Collections of Lv Shi Chun Qiu and Huai Nan Zi by various scholars also gave the ideaology of rule of Rite, which could be reexplained with the new viewpoint.The thoery of Li(Rites) and the Rules of LI(Rite) in the time of Qin and Han had an important play in the history of thought and culture China which were original political sources in the governance of country. With these researches, the academic and practical value can be found. As a feudal ideology, Li(Rites) had its historical limitation. Anyhow, it still has some certain practical meanings, for its functions can integrate different resources of society, unite different strengths, propagate culture and purify customs, which are also meaningful to make harmony society.