Emperors And Literature Of Han Dynasty

The Ancient Literature could be classified to the following types with the relatively more academic research achievements, such as the folk literature, the court literature, the feminist literature, and so on. And the group of imperial literature is one of the special literatures with the unique feature, which attracts more and more scholars’ attention in recent years. Because the emperors has the special political position in Chinese history, and do its imperial literature: From the phenomenon of Pre-Qin Literature: such as Wind Song for Emperor Shun, The Book of History for recording the political essays from the former emperors before the Spring and Autumn Period by Confucius; and even for works from the Book of Songs. In brief, the emperor, as the supreme ruler in Chinese feudal society, has the profound influence on literature; their attitudes always impact on the trends of the literature development for the period of their control and even on the descendants of literary trends.In terms of the three impacts on the literature of Han Dynasty by the dynasty founder, LIU Bang: firstly, referring to the contents and its style of Wing Song created on the way of returning, which has inherited the literary style of QuFu ChuTzu. After the succession, to express their grief and develop its periodical culture of Emperor Gaozu, the King, Emperor LIU Hui, made the Wind Song as the dynasty ritual music, which required the official musician to perform in regular. Secondly, concerning to the dominant literary thought of Han Dynasty, it is the Confucianism that LIU Bang regards it as the essential role in statecraft. Thirdly, in relate to the reason for the high attention to An Shi Fang Zhong Ge, as its virtue and filial piety thoughts benefit for the peace and stabilization to the country. The rules of filial piety could regulate the behavior of the emperor and clan relatives. And the virtues could guarantee the people to follow the standards in some degree. Therefore, out of the Emperor LIU Bang’s personal concern to An Shi Fang Zhong Ge, it established the important position of virtue and filial piety thoughts in his governing, which plays the crucial role to the development trend of the literature of Han Dynasty, even to the whole Chinese Ancient Literature.During the period after Liu Bang’s death and before Emperor Wu’s throne, the literature achievements by the emperors of Han Dynasty is limited. This period is the key stage for the collision, mix and influence of the Confucian ritual and musical ideas and the science of Huang-Lao during the Han’s reign. In the term of Emperor LIU Hui’s power, the Confucian ritual and musical ideas is limited to spread, and the Science of Huang-Lao is dominant in relative. This time, the Emperor LIU Hui went to Tianhe’s home to study I-Ching without appointing any confucianists. It was until to the reign of Emperor Wen, the confucianist, Jia Yi were re-nominated and the Confucianism was revalued again, which made it become the monarch learning and the core ideological thoughts of literature in Han Dynasty once again.Before Emperor Liu Che ascended the throne, three influential cultural and academic centers were formed in the Han Vassal State: the region of Wu and Liang, Huainan and HeJian region. The three academic centers have played a significant role in promoting the prosperity of Han literature and establishing- the relationship between literature and the study of Confucian Classics.After Liu Che’s throne, he built a unified dynasty from politics, economy, military, and literature as well. Vassal state literature was never allowed to be against central authorities or even better than the central authorities. As a result, he adopted the unified measures, such as: cleaning pre-Qin various theories, setting up the independent position of Confucianism and Confucian classicsin the imperial court. At the same time, he encouraged Confucian scholars and promoted the government acquisition of Confucian classics both inside and outside. In addition, he collected literature scholars throughout the whole country who were good at CiFu, which shows the respect for the litterateurs. Moreover, the emperor Wu himself wrote many valuable literary works, such as the Autumn Speech, Tianma Ge, Mrs. LI’s Song and so on.The development of ancient Chinese literature was influenced by inner and outer factors. Among various factors, the emperors was one of the most significant. Emperors were the symbol of the country’s power, therefore their political strategies, cultural orientation and even personal interest had implications on the literature of their reigns and the following generations. So one of the most important aspect of the development of ancient Chinese literature would be the implications Chinese emperors had on literature. The article intends to analyze the contributions the emperors of Han had made to literature and political strategies of early Han dynasty.