A Study On Imperial Edict In The Northern Song Dynasty

After thousands of years’ development,Chinese culture peaked in the Song Dynasty.As the beginning period of “the Reform from the Tang to the Song dynasty”,the Northern Song Dynasty has gained brilliant innovations and achievements never seen before in history in social and cultural fields.As the outstanding production of this,the spirit of the articles and imperial edicts written by literati,officialdom and the Imperial Academy(Hanlin Yuan)in the Northern Song even outshines the Han or Tang Dynasty,thriving and booming in the time.However,influenced by the utilitarianism of "using" for a long time,the imperial edits in the Northern Song Dynasty were mostly classified as "stylized",and the performance of "writing" was covered by the prejudice of "weak placement" and "imitating according to the example".When ancient sages issued edict on historical materials,although the imperial edicts of ancient philosophers were mentioned by Ouyang Xiu,Su Shi and others,they still concentrated on the selected chapters of the text,without taking into account the majority of the poems based on the practice.Therefore,the paper will review the historical inheritance and progress of imperial edicts during the time from the three dynasties in the ancient times to the Northern Song Dynasty.Focusing on the history of imperial edicts,the paper displays the real history of “the contention at that time” so as to make an all-round study and propose relevant views.In accordance with the above deduction,the paper is divided into four sections—introduction,main body,postscript and conclusion.The main content is seen as follows:Introduction:It puts forward the origin and significance of the topic selection,defines the relevant concepts and terms,reviews the relevant research process,clarifies the objectives and innovative points,also outlines the basic content,ideas and methods.Chapter One,this chapter outlines the development of the name,the rule and the style of the imperial edicts during the thousands of years from the three ancient dynasties(Xia,Shang and Zhou)to the Jian Long reign in the Song Dynasty(A.D.960-961).From the diachronic perspective,the part focuses on the synchronic questions in particular on the imperial edicts in the Han and Tang dynasties and the remarks of the emperors noted in The Book of History.In contrast,it also pinpoints the realistic foundation for the Northern Song imperial edicts“Setting out again”.Chapter Two,based on the literary form and political relation,the chapter elaborates the category and literary form of the Northern Song imperial edicts.At the same time,the chapter also explores reciprocal divergence and connections among a variety of concepts,literary form and functions of the different emperors’remarks.With the help of classification of various imperial edicts such as“诏敕,zhào chì”,“制诰,zhìɡào”,“御札,yùzhá”,“批答,pīdá”,“口宣,kǒu xuān”,and“国书,guóshū”,the chapter tries to find out the relation between the literary form and political behaviors.Chapter Three,the chapter seeks and summarizes the details of the conditions,institutions,personnel and relevant procedures for the promulgation of the imperial edicts in the Northern Song Dynasty.The chapter probes into internal and external labor division in the Imperial Academy(Hanlin Yuan)as well as the qualities and conditions for appointing officials.Additionally,the chapter also comments on the subjective anomaly of the officials who draft and write the imperial edicts.Moreover,the chapter explains the similarity and difference of the imperial edicts’exchange between the internal and external institutions.Chapter Four,the chapter concentrates on the function for the emperor’s remarks and political targets of the imperial edicts in the Northern Song Dynasty.Serving as one of techniques for a country’s governance,imperial edicts include many areas such as politics,economy,livelihood and military affairs and so on.Each target reflects the interaction between the emperor’s will,talents and social development.The paper emphasizes the very characteristic of emperor’s remarks,i.e.,“the importance of the emperor’s remarks equals to the importance of nature to the creatures”by examining the imperial edicts for straightforward suggestion,farming,business,mediation and border affairs from different angles.Chapter Five,the chapter pays attention to the disputes of the imperial edicts in the Northern Song Dynasty,aiming to dig out some common connections between the imperial edicts and party disputes.Resorting to the study on the pertinent imperial edicts of“political party disputes in Shao Sheng reign(A.D.1094-1098)”and“political party ban for official appointment during Chong Ning reign(A.D.1102-1106)”,the chapter displays the cruelty and ridiculousness of the political party disputes.The case involving Su Shi and his political career are the most powerful evidence for the severe division and personality alienation due to the internal strife among the literati and officialdom.Chapter Six,the chapter generalizes the literary characteristics and art’s inheritance.Citing stories,sentences and rhymes,the chapter describes the unique and exceptional literary characteristics of the articles from the Imperial Academy(Hanlin Yuan).Meanwhile,from four time points,the chapter introduces the creative concepts and the art orientation respectively in order to pinpoint the characteristics of edict drafts in the different periods.With a specific analysis and reflection on the imperial edicts,the chapter makes a summary of the success and shortcomings of the Imperial Academy’s(Hanlin Yuan)articles in a systematic way.Chapter Seven,the chapter concentrates on the works of three famous edict writers—Ouyang Xiu,Wang Gui and Su Shi.With regard to Ouyang Xiu,the chapter highlights his“four-six literary form”i.e.,a rhythmical prose characterized by parallelism and ornateness.As to Wang Gui,the chapter stresses the meaning of his masterpiece.For Su Shi,the chapter has a close look at the emotions in his edicts.With an intense analysis for the three writers,the chapter demonstrates multi-dimensions of the imperial edict creations from the civilian officials as well as the reform cases of the ancient literati in the Northern Song Dynasty.Postscript,From a diachronic perspective,the postscript summarizes the imperial edicts’inheritance and derivation from the perspective of their detailed categories and style changes in order to complete an overview on the development of the imperial edicts.With the detailed and in-depth analysis and illustration,the paper comes to a conclusion: in the Northern Song Dynasty,imperial edicts play both a political and literary roles.Besides,imperial edicts reflect the prosperity and decline of a dynasty and the orientation of imperial edicts depend on different political parties.Imperial edicts are written with varied characteristics by the talents of civilian officials.With the interplay of the above three aspects,imperial edicts can reflect the emperor’s remarks in silence while presenting the most vivid literary scene of Northern Song dynasty practical writing in an outstanding and unique diction.