Political Turn Transaction Between Two Han Dynasties And Huan Tan’s Historical Fate

Confucian scholars participated in a series of regime-change events during the transition of two Han dynasties, which proved that they could either become the builder and promoter or the gravedigger of a realistic regime. Liu Xiu witnessed how Confucian scholars followed and then abandoned Wang Mang during the transition of two Han dynasties, and also saw the significant impact that Confucian scholars could have on a realistic regime. Thus, he decided to accept Confucian scholars into his regime and use them to serve his own purpose. Liu Xiu claimed to rule with "leniency" and praise highly of the ideology and study of Confucianism, but his real purpose was to bureaucratize Confucian scholars. By confining Confucian scholars to government positions, he could instrumentalize them and the Confucianism study, and further strengthen the mind control over these Confucian scholars. These were the features of political context in the early years of Eastern Han dynasty.There are two main divergences between Huan Tan and Liu Xiu. First, Huan Tan advised Liu Xiu with the theory of "Guo Xin", which means he recognized the rationality of Wang Mang’s replacement of Han dynasty with reservation and the revival of Han dynasty was not predestined; in contrast, Liu Xiu negated Wang Mang’s Xin regime entirely and hoped that Confucian scholars could demonstrate the inevitability of the revival from a jurisprudential perspective and an angle of the manifest destiny. Second, Huan Tan denied "promoting prophetic remarks to the world" based on his experience of the failure of Wang Mang’s Xin regime, while Liu Xiu had his political purpose and certain intention of sorting prophetic remarks. Because of lacking understanding of Liu Xiu’s real intention, Huan Tan’s public criticism challenged Liu Xiu’s authority.