Western Han Exemption Form Study

In the Western Han dynasty,a sophisticated and rational official dismission system was established and laid good function to the running of bureaucracy.Previously very few researchers or scholars did any research to the official dismission system of Western Han dynasty systematically.In the Western Han dynasty,following means were taken to dismiss an official who commit crime.these means can be classified as administrative means and judicial means.Administrative means include deprivation,demotion and suspension based on sickness.Judicial means include punishment into prison and punishment to death.Especially for the nobility,the punishments to them even include deprivation of their territories and their noble titles.In a word,every official position had its own unique punishment.And each punishment had its own alternations based on different situations.The execution of punishment sometimes was judicial and sometimes was not judicial,even more seriously,secret execution or pushing one to commit suicide was taken to punish one official.So We can benefit from the above research to deepen our understanding of the bureaucracy institution of Western Han dynasty and draw lesson for the administration of official in our time.