A Research On The Policy Of Renzi In Han Dynasty

The policy of Renzi(仕子制)is a regime that senior officials can recommend their sons or nephews as guards of the monarch with a special kind of responsibilities. As the annotation by Ying Shao (应劭) of the biography of Ai Emperor(哀帝)in the Book of Former Han says, according to the Annotation of the Rules of Etiquette in Han Dynasty, officials whose rank is higher than2000Dan (二千石) can recommend one of his brothers or sons as a guard of the monarch by the means of Renju(任举)if he has been on his post for more than three years. The recommendation with the special responsibility called Renju(任举)is a kind of recommendations with personal guarantees, which are distinguished from other recommendations by whether presenters take responsibilities or not. In the time of Qin Dynasty, the responsibilities of presenters are normal in the appointments of government officials. These recommendations with responsibilities include practices of Renju(任举),hiring and many other kinds of recommendations with personal guarantees. Hiring is that one chooses his subordinates. Renju(任举)is that one recommends monarch the officials who are not his subordinates, which reflects the spirit of guaranteeing for one’s competence of being an official. In the term of the official, the presenter must take responsibility for his recommendation, standing together with the man he recommends. In Han Dynasty, recommendations with personal guarantees include many forms. Unlike Renju(任举),they tend to present the spirit of guarantceing that the man recommended is of some virtue. The responsibilities of these recommendations lie on virtues, while the responsibilities of Renju(任举)lie on the term of being an official. In the early time of West Han, Renju(任举)is a common form of recommendations. With the establishments and improvements of subjects of the recommendation named Chaju(察举),the spirit of Renju(任举)gradually fails, hardly cared and understood by people day by day.The policy of Renzi(任子制)is the practice of Renju(任举),by whose side we can better understand the vicissitude of the policy in Han Dynasty. This policy is the main approach for one to be a guard of the monarch, which shapes the major feature of senior bureaucratic politics in West Han. Under the policy, the presenter is unlikely to recommend his heir as a guard, so that he can leave this chance to other sons or nephews. The policy gives one the opportunity to step into his official career, while one’s promotion in his official career is mainly affected by his personal states, not related to the method by which he steps into his official career. In the time when Wu Emperor(武帝)rules, we can see critici sms to the pol icy of Renzi(任子制),while in the time of Ai Emperor(哀帝),the policy is eventually dominated. The fact that the policy of Renzi(任子制)lasts such a long period in West Han not only owes to the self-extension and self-protection of the senior bureaucratic class, but also owes to the practice of Renju(任举)in West Han. However, with the fading of Renju(任举),the policy of Renzi(任子制)appears to be a preferential treatment more than a responsibility. It is totally considered as malpractice and finally abolished inevitably.The phenomenon that one becomes a guard of the monarch by an award of the imperial edict appears often in East Han. The phenomenon is comparable with the policy of Renzi(任子制)since they share the feature of being officials hereditarily. At the beginning of East Han, Renzi(任子)is still a common access to one’s official career. However, since the time of Ming Emperor(明帝)and Zhang Emperor(章帝),the status of those who start their official career by the means of Renzi(任子)and imperial edicts’ award lowers. The guards recommended by the policy of Renzi(任子制)could hardly be promoted and as a result, the practices of Renzi (任子) reduce. In conclusion, the impact of Renzi(任子)on senior bureaucratic politics in East Han is far smaller than that in West Han.