The Seclusion Phenomenon Of The Qin And Han Dynasties, And Related Issues For Research

The seclusion behavior of being away from the mainstream of society long-termly or temporarily to avoid fame and power has existed for a long time. The seclusion in the Qin and Han dynasties was developed on the basis of the pre-Qin dynasty and changed as the establishment of a unified absolute monarchy, as well as the difference of the specific circumstances of each stage in the Qin and Han dynasties, in which some prominent phenomena were appeared such as the seclusion of Huang-Lao in the Qin and early Western Han dynasties, no serving two masters and selecting the master being an official, as well as the seclusion under the fashion of worship in Eastern Han dynasty due to the study of Confucian classics, filial piety and Taoism etc. Compared with the pre or post dynasties, the seclusion of the Qin and Han dynasties possessed the characteristics of diversity, distinct features of each stage, prefering in "yin" to "yi" and relatively simple motivation, etc.Among the hermits group in the Qin and Han dynasties, the representative hermits were the four hermits in Shangzhou mountains, Yan Guang, Wang Fu and Zhuge Liang, etc. The four hermits in Shangzhou mountains secluded themselves twice for different reasons and came out to quell the struggle for the position of prince, which was conducive to the social and political stability in the early Han dynasty. Yan Guang was unwilling to be bound by authoritarian society, retiring from the world during the flourishing age, which represented the value orientation of a class of scholars in the ancient times with a unique significance. Wang Fu pursued the fame positively before witnessing the social darkness and did not choose to be a bureaucrat. He secluded himself in the countryside to write books with strong feelings of going into the society. Zhuge Liang's seclusion for ten years at his early age was not only due to the selection of a master, but also the aloof state of mind of a hermit, which had a great impact on the accumulation of his knowledge and perfection of personality. It is beneficial for us to have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the seclusion styles in Qin and Han dynasties analyzing the hermit or the related persons of different periods and different types for case studies.The basic life guarantee was the premise of hermit's sticking to individual freedom and independent personality. The main survival way of the Qin and Han hermits was self-farming and living in seclusion, which was closely related with their own qualities and the economic and cultural development of Qin and Han dynasties. Compared with the Pre Qin dynasty, the Qin and Han hermits were with more world breath and contacting with the society ambiguously. Although their food and clothing were simple and poor, the hermits had a rich spiritual life of leisure, including teaching, socializing, fishing and so on.The existence of numerous hermits in Qin and Han dynasty aroused great concern of the government, and the hermits were recruited at that time. The Qin dynasty recruited hermits mainly in the early stage with less effect, but we can not deny their hermit policy. The hermits in Han dynasty were unprecedentedly paid great attention to and the recruiting of hermits was extremely frequent with the characteristics of regular, stability, forbearance and value. The implementation of the hermit policy in Han dynasty received good effects and played an important role in talents recruiting, the popular support winning and social stability. Nevertheless, there were also drawbacks such as stylization and formalism. The social respecting for the hemits led to an inevitable consequence of worshipping the hemits which was the precursor to conscious of ancient scholars.Evaluations on the hermits in Qin and Han dynasties should be given objectively and comprehensively as the hermits had certain impacts on the society, which were shown as follows:first, they abandoned or temporarily abandoned the pursuit of official career and focused, on the cultural activities, which uniquely contributed to the development of the academic and the heritage and protection of the culture; second, the hermits'active teaching or unconscious influence purified the folk customs, especially promoted the cultivation of the grass-roots. Although the hermits were with the negative side of cowardice and escaping, they had their own contributions to being virtuous or setting up a theory and were not afraid of the nobles or took pride in wealth and position, which was the washback, digestion and transcendence to the ancient thinking of official rank standard.