The Social Movement In Late Eastern Han And The Pursuit Of "Taiping"

From the perspectives of "Chenwei" theology, primitive Daoism and virtue cycle of "Hanjia", my dissertation analyzes a continuous social movement led by intellectuals, hermits and primitive Daoism groups. During the historical process of Misfortune of Proscribed Party, Yellow Turbans Movement and the substitution of Wei Dynasty for Han Dynasty, these people held same value of "Taiping"(The Great Peace) and spontaneous launched the social movement.Comparing with the spirit of pursuing fairness in the pre-Qin period,"Chenwei", in the shape of mysterious religious belief, established "Hanjia theology"(all under heaven are of one family) which was grounded on the idea of "Jia"(home) but actually with "Wujia"(non-home) base, through praising the myth of Han Empire’s establishment, deifying Han-jia’s sacred position and transforming the sign of disasters into auspices. Such theology ensured the "Gong"(Fair) character of Han Empire (Hanjia) and meanwhile it started a fight for theocracy among different polities through Han dynasties. History witnessed both the usurpation and restoration of "Hanjia" during the transformation of two Han Powers, through the from perish to rebirth Han’s theological authority regained its power again. The usurpation and revival itself all relied on Chenwei to prove that "the world belongs to everyone in the nation rather than one single person", which demonstrates Chenwei was the crucial issue to gain people’s mind and win the mandate of Heaven (called Tian Ming). It also shows that the rational pursuit of "Fair Right" arising from Pre-Qing reached its summit in Han dynasty although it was shadowed by Hanjia’s theology at the same time. During the two Han Dynasties, the fight for theocracy and "Deyun" was the first social response to Chenwei when it added connotation into "Hanjia theology". At the end of Eastern Han, a series of religious-political movements, such as "Qingyi"(political criticism by intellectuals), Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions and Primitive Daoism, were all deeptly affected by Chenwei, so these can be regarded as a continuing effect of "Hanjia theology" An examination of the typical case of Zheng Xuan and He Xiu, which shows the popularity of Chenwei in Confucian Classics in late Han Dynasty, can provide us a tunnel to understand the strong expection of Taiping by the intellectuals, which became the basis of the criticism of "Qingyi" as well ascausing cause for "Dangyi" and scholars movement on the thought level. First of all, the scholars’ massive study tours broke the isolation of regions and classes, and furthermore, formed an unified value system among the intellectual groups. This value view conflicted with the values held by the Relatives and Eunuchs class, and finally led to a unified and broad resistance movement in late Han dynasty. During the process, the rumors acted as a media not only to connect and organize Qingliu school but also show the voices and support of the intellectuals. To clarity it, what the intellectuals resisted was the public rights, which had been privatized ("Zhuo Hua"), and their objectives were to recover the messed social order to their ideal "Hanjia" order. Therefore, the two Misfortune of Proscribed Party happened in late Eastern Han could be defined as a public criticism and political confrontations by the intellectuals (including some upright heros called Haoxia) across the country to protect the order of "Hanjia" from slipping into the verge of dissimilation and collision.The flourishing of Chenwei and the continuous influence of the theory Yin-yang calamity not only produced the Eastern Han’s political fate Tian Ming, but also attacted the common people into similar belief system. Accordingly,"Taiping" became the supreme goal for the whole society, and Tian Ming could be foreseen through a particular way. By focusing on the incident of Yellow-Turban’s Genuflect to Zheng Xuan, we can see the possible interaction of thoughts between Yellow-Turban and Zheng Xuan, from Chenwei, Yi-ology, and the interpretation of Taiping. To analyze this incident in historical context, we can see that the fact the hermits and intellectual groups held the knowledge of "Tian Ming"--its tendency and its source, one hand became the reason for ordinary people to worship them, and on the other hand formed people’s interpretation of the mystery of hermit and gradually created the cult in late Han. The hermits’ knowledge of both Confucianism and Daoism made them as go-between intellectual groups to lead and link different classes’ values, and it had potential but far-reaching influence to the local ethic-value order and the widely-spread social movements in late HanIf we examine the Yellow-Turban’s preparation and military weapons, moving route, and the response of the local and central officers to their uprising, we can see that the initiative motive of the Yellow-Turban movement is not to overthrow the "Han Power." Its doctrine, organization and slogan effectively revealed their religious concern, which suggusts that the Yellow-Turban’s movement was an concentrated expression of people’s strong expectation for "Taiping" after experiencing long time catastrophe and spiritual worries. It was similar to the religious pursueing which had some commonality with the Utopian pursuit of Wudoumi Sect. The Yellow-Turban finally departed from its initiative motive; and the reason for such a shift was complicated--under the influence of eschatology, Chenwei and Wude Zhongshi (five virtue’s cycle) theory, the Yellow-Turban’s soteriology took a turn from assisting Han to sustituing Han, and consequently it began searching for Zhenren (pure man) to dispel calamitous and gain the Taiping. It is difficult to find any word against "Hanjia" in the existing Taiping Jing, however, it carries a strong attitude of assisting "Hanjia", of which the salvation theology corresponded to the Yellow-Turban’s religious ideal, and it indicates that the two has the internal unity of thoughts. It also can be inferred that, the existing Taiping Jing (the main part at least) had been completed no late than the beginning of the Yellow-Turban movement.To sum up, by verifying and analyzing many classics, praying and longing for "Taiping" was a long pursuance throughout the different societies in late Eastern Han. Although there were some tiny differences in comprehension of "Taiping" among different social groups, the common theological element was in their ultimate goals. The theological attribute of the ultimate ideal order was the nature of "Taiping". The social movements in late Eastern Han from Disasters of "Danghuo" to the Yellow-Turban’s movement in late Eastern Han, were collective movements with the purpose of seeking "Taiping" and achieving an ideal country.