Chun Qiu Wei And The Theory Of Chun Qiu In Han Dynasty

Chun Qiu Wei in Chen Wei as one of“seven books of prophacy”has the closest relationship with the theory of Chun Qiu. On the basis of the remained sections from other books, the rise and development of Chun Qiu Wei is influenced by the theory of Chun Qiu and also affects the development of the theory of Chun Qiu, though the original text of Chun Qiu Wei has lost as the result of the prohibition and destruction of royal court for many dynasties. Chun Qiu is put to use by scholars in Han Dynasty for settling the lawsuits, expounding the disasters, and drafting the political formulae, namely, the theory of Chun Qiu plays the significant role in political life of Han Dynasty. Chun Qiu Wei is the conjunction point and the union of the theory of Chun Qiu and Chen Wei. The study of Chun Qiu Wei is useful for not only the comprehension of the relationship between the theory of Chun Qiu in Han Dynasty and Chen Wei, but also the perception of the theory of Chun Qiu from perspective of Chen Wei, and even the understanding of politics, culture and ideology in Han Dynasty.The main body of this dissertation can be divided into three chapters.Chapter One focuses on Chun Qiu Wei in itself in terms of the scarce research on Chun Qiu Wei currently.Section One is the textual research of the compilation of Chun Qiu Wei. There has not been a specialized textual research of the compilation of Chun Qiu Wei. The textual research of the books on prophecy is numerous but still has no definite conclusion. The viewpoint that Chun Qiu Wei is compiled in "the period between Emperor Ai Di and Emperor Ping Di of Han Dynasty" is demonstrated to be incorrect according to the following two points: one is the discrimination and analysis of the "Wu Jing Liu Wei" which is mentioned in Han Shu·Li Xun Biography, the other is the argumentation and verification of opinion that the books on prophecy are compiled in "the period between Emperor Ai Di and Emperor Ping Di of Han Dynasty" which is claimed in Hou Han Shu·Zhang Heng Biography. Moreover, Chun Qiu Wei is verified as the cooperative achievements of Liu Xin and“those folk persons mastering prophecy”who are called by Wang Mang, which rests with two points: one is investigating the arisen time of the new "doctrine of five-virtue circulation" which is the main idea of Chun Qiu Wei, the other is employing the facts of conscripting some diviners in the last years in Yuan-Shi period of Emperor Ping Di of Han Dynasty which is recorded. Therefore, the time of compiling Chun Qiu Wei is confirmed during the time from the-fifth-year in Yuan-Shi period of Emperor Ping Di of Han Dynasty (A.D.5) to establishment of WangMang regime (A.D.9), that is, the period from Emperor Ping Di of Han Dynasty to XinMang Dynasty. Section Two is the review of sorting and research of Chun Qiu Wei of previous scholars, which mainly centers on the text collation, the astrology research and the document quotation. The text collation is the concentration of Chun Qiu Wei for the research of previous scholars, in which the higher achievement is the annotation and the collection of the loss. The annotation is mainly in the Eastern Han Dynasty and Wei-Jin Period, and the collection of the loss is mainly in Ming and Qing dynasties. The astrology research of Chun Qiu Wei rises in the Eastern Han Dynasty and peaks in Sui and Tang dynasties. And the main pattern of the astrology research is quoting directly the original text as the background, that is, the content of Chun Qiu Wei becomes the classic of the astrology research. Chun Qiu Wei as the document quotation is mainly up to Tang Dynasty, and is cited increasedly from a secondary source as the historical document after Tang Dynasty.Section Three is the textual research on the loss of Chun Qiu Wei. In the light of discerning the case of Chen Wei’s being prohibited and ruined and the loss of the original text and analyzing the source of the remained sections of Chun Qiu Wei, the loss of Chun Qiu Wei should be attributed to two historical facts: the national library version was lost during An Lushan Rebellion; and the folk hand-written copy was lost in the Emperor Tang Daizong’s prohibition of the folk Chen Wei in the second year of DaLi (767 A.D.) period. The loss of some specific sections and chapters falls into four stages: most are lost with the full-length Chun Qiu Wei, the rest respectively are lost in Xianping Period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhengtong Period of Ming Dynasty and Wanli Period of Ming Dynasty.Chapter Two focuses on the special phenomenon of interpreting the theory of Chun Qiu around XinMang Dynasty, and analyzes the impact of Chun Qiu Wei on the change of exegetic practice.Section One is the research on the target and content of exegesis of Chun Qiu Wei. The exegesis of Chun Qiu Wei is influenced directly by its three explanatory works but makes a big difference from them. On the basis of exegesis of GongYang Zhuan, Chun Qiu Wei takes up the idea and method of exegesis of Zuo Zhuan and GuLiang Zhuan and modifies the target and the pattern of the exegesis. The target of the exegesis is mainly focused on Chun Qiu and its three explanatory works rather than Chun Qiu itself; the emphasis of exegetic content is put on the explanation of textual research in the compilation of Chun Qiu and further analysis of significance and idea of Chun Qiuinstead of explanation of literal meaning of Chun Qiu.Section Two is the research on the exegetic characteristics of Chun Qiu Wei. Different from the exegesis with events or meanings in Chun Qiu and the three explanatory works or the exegetic manners in other explanatory books of Chun Qiu, the exegesis of Chun Qiu Wei employs the exegesis as the connective bridge of Chun Qiu and Chun Qiu Wei, and then explicates the political ideas with the exegesis. The exegetic characteristics of Chun Qiu Wei are represented in three respects: the political purpose of the exegesis, the random manner of the exegesis and the ideological inclination to GongYang Zhuan.Section Three discusses that the exegesis of Chun Qiu Fan Lu provides for the development of Chun Qiu Wei’s exegesis. The exegesis of Chun Qiu Wei borrows from and also develops the exegesis of Chun Qiu Fan Lu, which is represented by receiving instructions from Heaven and modifying institutional reform, the theory of Heaven-human beings, the consciousness of interpretation.Chapter Three studies comparatively Chun Qiu Wei and the three explanatory works of Chun Qiu respectively from three different perspectives.Section One is the comparative study on the political ideology of Chun Qiu Wei and GongYang Zhuan. The political ideology of GongYang Zhuan influences Chun Qiu Wei from three respects: transforming“the idea of respecting the respectable”, reinforcing awareness of political participation, changing the flexible ideas and enhancing the idea of calamities.Section Two is the comparative study on the civilian consciousness of Chun Qiu Wei and GuLiang Zhuan. Chun Qiu Wei has close relationship with the learning in Lu and GuLiang Zhuan, and the juncture is exactly the civilian consciousness for the reason of the similar background of compilation.Section Three is the comparative study on the narrative consciousness of Chun Qiu Wei and Zuo Zhuan. The relatedness between the narrative content and characteristics of Chun Qiu Wei and Zuo Zhuan is represented by the complementary function of narration in Chun Qiu Wei to the exegetic content of Zuo Zhuan. Chun Qiu Wei and Zuo Zhuan share the nature of mystique and morality in narration, but different representations, auspicious signs and calamities represented in Chun Qiu Wei while narration and comment represented in Zuo Zhuan.