Research On The Citations From The Five Classics In The Imperial Edicts Of The Western Han Dynasty

Imperial edict is a kind of literary form which reflects the supremacy of imperial power and authoritative of the emperor's instruction.On the one hand,it provides theoretical basis for the emperor to govern the nation.On the other hand,the status of Confucian classics is raised by the great influence of imperial edict.There are fifty-seven place where cited Confucian classics in imperial edits of the Western Han Dynasty,including twenty-two place for Shijing,twenty-four place for Shangshu,two place for Li,five place for Zhouyi and four place for Chunqiu.According to the period,there is only one place cited the Confucian classics in the earlier stage of Western Han Dynasty(from Emperor Gaozu to Emperor Jing of Han),twenty-three place in the mid-term of the Western Han Dynasty(from Emperor Wu to Emperor Xuan of Han),thirty-three place in the late period of the Western Han Dynasty(from Emperor Yuan to Emperor Ping of Han).It reflects a fact that with the steady development of regime,Confucian classics is growing fast during the Western Han Dynasty.Using the available documents nowadays to study the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty,it is not hard to see that the beginning of citing Shijing starts from Emperor Wen of the Han,after which appears the wide range of citing Confucian classics' phenomenon.According to the academic background of the Han Dynasty and the research of Wang Xianqian,Shijing which emperors of Western Han Dynasty cited most belonged to Lu Poem and Qi Poem.When it comes to the reason,it may matters the interest of emperor,the kind of poem who teach them and the academic background.After comparing words between The History of Han Dynasty and the handed down edition,it is obvious to find that there are many word and sentence patterns which are different,especially in Shang Shu.It also proves the complexity of the spreads of Shang shu.The citing of Li,Yi and Chunqiu were appeared in the late period of the Western Han Dynasty,also the Chunqiu cited all belongs to Gongyang Chunqiu.Guliang belongs to Luxue,Gongyang belongs to Qixue,so that could prove the two kinds of literature was kind of thriving.The feature of imperial edicts in Western Han Dynasty can reflect the school of thought,the development of Confucianism and the feature of early document.It reveals the academic feature of the Han Dynasty,thus provide evidence to the study on the academic question in the Han Dynasty.