Tian Qianqiu Study

Tian Qianqiu, also known as Che Qianqiu, was born in Changling (Now Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province), spent his whole life during the ruling periods of Emperors Wu and Zhao of the Western Han Dynasty. He was a historic person of great legend during the ruling period of Emperor Wu and one of the few statesmen with a good ending. According to the historical materials, Tian Qianqiu was not the most outstanding in the administrative ability among his contemporaries. However, he was really a great master in seizing opportunities. During the Witchcraft Incident, Tian Qianqiu bravely expressed his opinion to Emperor Wu, was promoted to the prime minister from a low-rank official, and conferred Marquis Fumin. His story has been talked about for thousands of years (Han History-Biography of Tian Qianqiu). Why did he make such envious achievement? What was his role in the history of the Western Han Dynasty? The academic circle has not made systematic research of the two issues so far. This article will discuss the political and economical situations in the ruling periods of Emperors Wu and Zhao to make an in-depth analysis of the role Tian Qianqiu played in the Western Han Dynasty, and properly comment on his position in the history of the Western Han Dynasty.Before this article was written, the works about the systematic study of Tian Qianqiu had been few. Even if some works have touched upon Tian Qianqiu, he was not given enough description or analysis. As a result, the later generations have been unable to fully understand the entire political life of Tian Qianqiu, and define his historical role. This article will explore the historic feature of Tian Qianqiu in his time, and admit his significant contribution and important role to reversing the dangerous situation in the middle period of the Western Han Dynasty. For this purpose, this article will systematically analyze the official career of the legendary prime minister in the Western Han Dynasty in seven sections, including the academic research profile, the background of his time, the political situations in the ruling periods of Emperors Wu and Zhao and the political acts of Tian Qianqiu, analysis of the luckiness of Tian Qianqiu's official career, the historical materials and textual researches about Tian Qianqiu, the practical significance of researching the person, and historical comments on him. This article will also refer to the available historical literatures and relevant academic works.In the prior researches, most of the researchers thought that the research of Tian Qianqiu was unnecessary because he was only a second-rate person, and of less value because the historical materials about Tian Qianqiu were relatively few. The author believes that the entire political life of Tian Qianqiu was laden with particularity and personal fortune after looking through a large amount of historical materials about the Qin and Han Dynasties. After the Witchcraft Incident, the political field of the Western Han Dynasty was shadowed with panic and worry, which had almost brought the society into the blind alley. At this critical moment, Tian Qianqiu risked his life to redress the injustice for Crown Prince Li, and this helped Emperor Wu to realize his mistake, and corrected the wrongdoings in handling the Witchcraft Incident. The result was the formation of the resurgence in the ruling periods of Emperors Zhao and Xuan. The historical position of Tian Qianqiu in the Western Han Dynasty should not be ignored just because of this point. During the period of Emperor Zhao, his strong support and help for Huo Guang had led to effective recovery of the political stability and social economy. Therefore, his active role to the historical development should not be denied. In one word, the historical position of Tian Qianqiu should draw our enough attention, and his political role should be recognized too.