Qin And Western Han Throne Inherited

On the questions of Imperial Succession of ancient China, scholars always focused on the Patriarchal Clan System. Though many political nomenclatures were quoted in this field, the core literature that their research paper based on was still the sentence: "descending empire only to the eldest trueborn son" came from Gong Yong Zhuan. The imperial succession system is the key problem of the imperial system, and the spirit of the system is the power succession. One of the basic views of the academe is that the first-born heritage principle is the core of the power succession system in ancient China. Originating from Xi Zhou dynasty, ending in Qing dynasty, the system had been always effective. I think this view is uncertain. First, the Succession system of Qin cannot be explained by the first-born heritage principle. Thought Han dynasty took this principle, there had been a process of creation and establishment. Second, the phenomena that such small quantities of emperors' eldest trueborn sons came to power cannot be explained by the principle, too. The aim of my paper is to resolve these two problems.The preface of the paper includes two parts, one is the review of the academic history of this topic, and the other is about the definition.The second part of the paper is about the Succession system of Qin dynasty. Qin dynasty is a unique dynasty. It had formed the central power before the establishment of the uniform empire. So after the reunion of six countries, some parts of its former system were changed, but other parts were inherited. Before the discussion of the imperial succession system, we should know something about the succession system of Qin Country. The first-born heritage principle had been taken in the first part of Qin country, then it changed to another system that young brother inherited power from elder brother because of political reasons. In the end part of Qin country, the first-born heritage principle became more and more popular again, but the establishment of Qin dynasty stopped the normal development of the power succession system.This part of the paper will explain the fact that the Qin dynasty had not taken the first-born heritage principle. First, it is very uncertain that Qin Shi Huang chose his inheritor, so did the succession system of Qin dynasty. Second, we can judge from many phenomena that choosing inheritors before the death of the emperor had not been a system in Qin dynasty. Third, the contest for the power after the death of Qin Shi Huang also confirmed that the succession system of Qin dynasty was not a certain system.The third part of the paper will discuss the Succession system of Xi Han dynasty. I think that first-born heritage principle is related with the system of choosing inheritors before the death of the emperor. Liu Bang got lessons from Qin Shi Huang, so he chose his eldest trueborn son "Hiu Di" as the inheritor when he was only Han king. Then "Hui Di" was promoted as the formal inheritor of the emperor as soon as Liu Bang was crowned. It is the origin of the first-born heritage system. From then on, choosing inheritors before the death of the emperor became a formal system. At the same time, the first-born heritage principle formally came into being. The end of this part will also cover some questions about the Succession system of Xi Han dynasty. One of the important reasons for the political activity of Xi Han dynasty was the fact that every emperor chose the most worthy son as his inheritor. In the countries, its Succession system reflected that of central government. Finally, I will explain the fact that" Han Wu Di" chose "Zhao Di" as his inheritor and killed his mother. Some scholars regarded the system of killing mother but inheriting son system as a creation of Bei Wei dynasty. In my personal opinion, I do not think so. There were many reasons that prevent Han Wu Di from doing what would have been done by the emperors of Bei Wei dynasty. There were many inconsistencies in the Succession system of ancient China. I will separate them into four groups:...