A Restudy Of The Han-Wei Transition: The Prince-Minister Relationship And The Writing Of History

Proceeding from the prince-minister relationship and the writing of history, this dissertation researches into the comprehensive Han-Wei transition under a sight of the changing of imperial power structure.This dissertation captures four significant political events to develop its discussion, which happened in the period from the end of Han dynasty to the beginning of Cao Wei dynasty:1. in the period of Jianan建安,the official called shizhongshangshu侍中尚书was established in Han Xiandi's regime at Xudu许都;2. on the eve of the establishment of Wei dynasty, Cao Pi, King of Wei commended'Ershisixian'二十四贤(twenty-four worthies), including'yimin'逸民(the hermits) of the late Eastern Han dynasty;3. in Yankang延康1(220), Han Xiandi abdicated the imperial throne to Cao Pi, King of Wei ;4. in Huangchu黄初3(222), Cao Pi,Wei Wendi issued a edict, known as Jiawu-edict甲午诏书,five days before he installed Guoshi郭氏as the Empress.These four political events respectively corresponded to four essential aspects of the prince-minister relationship under the imperial power structure: 1. the relationship between an emperor and the officials at the central;2. the relationship between an emperor and the governed in the local;3. the relationship between the founding emperor of a new dynasty and the former dynasty;4. the relationship between an emperor and his relatives, such as empress, dowager empress and their family members.By means of the discussions and analysis of the four political events and four aspects of the prince-minister relationship, the dissertation comes to the conclusion that the Cao Wei's imperial power structure and the Han's existed as two opposed orders and constitutions. Some differences of the writing of history between Cao Wei and Han also show the opposition of the two imperial power structures.The transition of the imperial power structure from Han to Cao Wei corresponds with the following historical course: based on the secondary prince-minister relationship practiced in the local politics, the Han imperial power structure was reconstructed into a new one by Confucian scholar-officials during the late Eastern Han and the early Cao Wei.