On The Ups And Downs Of The Xie Clan In Chenjun Prefecture In Eastern Jin Dynasty And Southern Dynasties

With the Xie Clan in Chenjun Prefecture in Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Dynasties as its object for research, this paper explores the three historic periods of its rising, flourishing and declining and analyses the reasons.In Eastern Jin Dynasty, Xie Kun was the first leading figure of the Xie Clan in Chenjun Prefecture. Afterwards, his son Xie Shang, his nephews Xie Yi and Xie Wan, etc, were appointed important local military and administrative posts such as West Lieutenant General and Yuzhou Provincial Governor, thus the Xie Clan prospered. When Xie Wan was dismissed from his post, his older brother Xie An, who was then living in seclusion in Eastern Mountain in Kuaiji County, made up his minds to take up an official career for the interest of his clan. He entered the core of the power community through his reputation and ability. Later on he was made Minister-regent by former Empery or Jian Wen, keeping the Xie Clan on the rising. But Xie An didn't monopolize the power until Huan Wen, who was then in power, died of illness. Afterwards, the juniors of the Xie Clan were appointed important military and administrative posts. The Xie Clan came to its flourishing period. In Battle of the Feihe River, Xie An, his brother Xie Shi; his nephew Xie Xuan, his son Xie Yan all made great achievements to the country. After the battle, Xie An was made Duke of LulinPrefecture, Xie Shi Duke of Nankang, Xie Xuan Duke of Kangle, Xie Yan Duck of Wangcai. With four Dukes, the Xie Clan reached the peak in its history. Towards the end of Eastern Jin Dynasty, Emperor Xiao Wu began to expand imperial power, Xie An, Xie Xuan, etc, were discriminated against and dismissed from office and then died one by one, which marked the passage of the flourishing period of the Xie Clan. However, the Xie Clan still kept a relatively high reputation and position. Afterwards, striken by the Peasant Revolt led by Sun En and Lu Xun and the blow of the reestablishing of the imperial power from late Jin Dynasty to early Song Dynasty, the Xie Clan suffered its declining until Southern Dynasties. However, though in the falling period of its political position, certain aspects of its official career, marriage and culture were not synchronous with the process of declining, which conformed to the characteristic of the declining process of scholar-officials in Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Dynasties. In this paper, the author will try to explore the reasons. In addition, the author will carry out case studies of some important figures in the process of the rising, flourishing and falling periods of the Xie Clan in Chenjun Prefecture in order to present a panoramic view.