The Explanation Of The Heavenly Image In The Political Field Of Qin And Han

During the Qin and Han Dynasties,the practices of explaining astronomical phenomena were flourishing.The court took a tolerant attitude towards astronomy knowledge learning,astronomical observation and explanations about astronomical phenomena without strict policy controls.In this age,there were lots of stargazers,and the government attached great importance to astronomy.All these things provided a solid foundation for getting astronomical observation data.Persons who studied astronomy knowledge were widely distributed in various regions,classes and groups,in a way of either family-educated or teacher-educated,forming a giant astronomy learning net in this era.There are professional officials responsible for daily astronomical phenomena observation in the Qin and Han Dynasties.When the abnormal astronomical phenomena happened,the person concerned should report to the court.Court constructed Royal observatory(LingTai 灵台)as astronomical phenomena observing place.Other persons also were allowed to observe and explain the astronomical phenomena.During the Qin and Han Dynasties,most people believed in astrology.On this basis,the astronomical phenomena could be understood more widely and deeply.Persons flexibly applied the explanations about astronomical phenomena for their own political goals.Dominators saw the astronomical phenomena as the symbol of divine right of kings,and they also evaluated and reorganized affairs of state based on astronomical phenomena and the explanations.Through these things,dominators strengthened the monarchical power.Confucian regarded astronomy and astrological divination knowledge as parts of Confucian knowledge.The explanation about astronomical phenomena was one important part of disaster theory.Confucian made use of astronomical phenomena explanations for regulating the King’s behavior and even the court politics.Chinese ancient astrology performed two functions:predicting and backtracking.The former focused on avoiding dangerous states and the later focused on correcting mistakes.As a result,in the explanations about astronomical phenomena,the emphasis was on the disasters.But in some cases,such as proving the mandate of Heaven(Tianmingsuozai 天命所在)or the coming flourishing age,auspicious signs played a role that cannot be replaced by disasters,which closely associated with political activities in a specific period.During this period,the people who had the right to explain astronomical phenomena were very broad.Astronomical officials,other officials,people who adhered to Gongfu(公府)or seigneur,and civilian may to express a view about astronomical phenomena.For the most part,people drew a purposeful conclusion by synthesizing many kinds of factors,such as astrological knowledge,society,politics,nature,etc.The explanations about astronomical phenomena had two modes:predicting mode and backtracking mode.The predicting mode could help people take preventive measures to avoid the danger.Based on it,an abnormal method evolved——moving the curse to eliminate disaster,which had influenced Chinese history.The predicting mode could serve a special purpose:predicting the result of the war.This function was very important.The interaction between astronomical phenomena and military affairs appeared both inside and outside the war.There are many reasons for the long existence of the predicting mode,such as the astrological words had the characteristic of a little scientificity,flexibility and fuzzification,the analysis was reasonable after synthesized many kinds of factors,and most of all,predicting mode and backtracking mode made it each other possible.In the backtracking mode,the most important thing was blame allocation.Around it,various political forces launched the intense struggle and the conflict to achieve their political objectives.In the process of evolvement,during the Western Han Dynasty,the emperor was to blame for the abnormal astronomical phenomena at first,but gradually the chancellors were to blame for those phenomena.With the influence of the thought that Three councilors(Sangong 三公)should be to blame for different kinds of disaster,during the Xin and Eastern Han Dynasties,Sima(司马)or Taiwei(太尉)was mainly to blame for the abnormal astronomical phenomena gradually.Finally this practice had been normalized in Ling Emperor Period.In the backtracking mode,there existed many kinds of theories about why the abnormal astronomical phenomena occurred,in which "excess of Yin and shortage of Yang" and official incompetence could explain why officials were primarily liable for the abnormal astronomical phenomena occurring.The backtracking mode helped to warn monarch,regulate court politics and stabilize society.But for some reasons,such as the contradiction within the system itself and a long-term presence of dual political authority structure,the last effect of the backtracking explanation was severely limited by monarchy personal ability.As a result,Confucians were often at a disadvantage,when they struggled with eunuch and Waiqi(外戚)by use of astronomical interpretation,and thus weaken the effect of astronomical interpretation in maintaining the benign operation of the government.Sometimes the abnormal astronomical phenomenon couldn’t fit into interpreter’s political goal.In this case,the interpreter had to make an explanation that didn’t meet the basic principles of astrology.So there were a small number of unconventional cases about the interpretations of the abnormal astronomical phenomena during this period.This illustrated between the politics and the explanation about astronomical phenomenon,the former occupied a more important role.The people who judged the interpretation of the astronomical phenomenon was correct or not drew a purposeful conclusion by synthesizing astrological knowledge and actual conditions.But,whatever the result of judgment,all in all,the Han rulers took a tolerant attitude towards the interpreters of astronomical phenomena.The possible political risks for the interpreters were not high.This was a very significant factor that propelled the practices of interpreting astronomical phenomena were flourishing.During the Qin and Han Dynasties,astrology and politics were closely related.The astrology was a very important part of political culture.The abnormal astronomical phenomena and the interpretations of them greatly influenced the court politics.All these things reflected the political situation of the Han Dynasty and the ups and downs of various forces,which became special scenery in the political culture in this period.