The Kingdom Of The Western Han Fu System

Fu and Xiang are two important official positions in the Western Han Dynasty. They are established by the ruler, combining with the central official position system. These two positions are highly respected and they run through the whole time of the Western Han Dynasty. They play an important role in coordinating the relationship between the central and local governmes, not only strengthening the central government's supervision and control to local ones, but also accessing the weak and young kings of kingdoms. Because Fu and Xiang are two important official positions in enfeoffment kingdoms, researches on them may involve the enfeoffment system in Han Dynasty and the selection, appointment and assessment of these official positions. This thesis explores the establishment, the evolution and the practical function of Fu and Xiang. Then a comparative study between Western Han kingdom's Fu and Xiang and the central Fu, Xiang and county profect is done to distribute the difference and similarity between them. Besides, the supervision function of Cishi to Fu and Xiang is also explored, aiming at presenting the mininature of Western Han kingdom's local supervision system, and enriching the research content of Western Han's local system.There are seven parts in this thesis. The introduction mainly introduces the necessity and practicality of this research, and related studies on this subject are also reviewed.In the first part, the author basically introduces the related circumstances of the Western Han kingdom, including its establishment reason, its development and its official system.The second part is concerned with the evolution of Fu and Xiang and their responsibilities.The third part explores the selection and assessment of Fu and Xiang. Firstly, the means and sources of Fu and Xiang are introduced, and the selection standard and reason are also given. Secondly, by referring to some related historical materials, the features of Fu and Xiang are summarized. Lastly, the assessment way of Fu and Xiang is introduced.In the fourth part, the author thoroughly compares the central Fu, Xiang and county profect to the kingdom Fu and Xiang. By this comparison, he fins out some similarity and difference between them.In the fifth part, the author first gives an introduction of the Cishi system and then he provides a description on how it supervise the kingdom Fu and Xiang.The conclusion part is a summary about the value and function of Western Han kingdom Fu and Xiang.