Tentative Research Into The Phenomenon Of Respecting And Supporting The Aged Civilians In Tang Dynasty

The measures that had been taken in Tang Dynasty in general covered the Bureaucrat and Civilian Hierarchies. Due to the lack of supportive historic data and other reasons, most of the relevant researchers have tended to pay more attention to those retired aged from the Bureaucrat hierarchy. Even if when they cover the Civilian hierarchy, they refer to some certain aspects of the same, leaving the research treatises incomplete and non-systematic ones. Thus, based on select relevant historical data and synchronization of a variety of materials while wiping off the false facts, the author of this dissertation is attempting to make a comprehensive research and thus reach a better understanding of the Phenomenon of Respecting and Supporting the Aged in Tang Dynasty.This dissertation begins with the exposition of the reasons for Tang Dynasty to promote the ideal of respecting and supporting the aged from the perspective of history and reality, and then further expounds the Governmental measures to achieve the goal of respecting and supporting the aged in Tang Dynasty, covering the following aspects: 1. Material bestows: The Tang Government performs continuing activities of bestow to set examples in order to trumpet its emphasis on respecting and supporting the aged civilians. 2. Honorary award: The Tang Government continued and developed the previous governments' general practice of awarding honorary titles and made it more Tang-characterized. 3. The Tang Government bettered the system by granting Shiding to provide Shilao, which would be explained further by the author of this dissertation. 4. Strengthern the education of filial ethic: The Tang Governonment combined the reinforcement of filial ethic education with respecting and supporting the aged civilians for the purpose of encouraging the people to share more respects and supports to the aged.On top of that, this dissertation confirms positively the historic significance of the Tang Dynasty's efforts to respect and support the aged civilians while indicating its limitations. As a whole, the official measures taken by the Tang Government enriched the content of the traditional policy of respecting and supporting the aged and thus make them historic which marks quite a significant historical progress.