| Book of Filial Piety is not only an ethical book to advocate filial piety,but also a political book of sage sovereign to civilize the later generations on how to govern the world.It puts forward a series of ideas,such as moral ethics,etiquette and music education and so on.based on the filial piety,to teach the people in power to actively practice so as to realize the great governance of the world.Since the Han Dynasty,all the monarchs of the past dynasties all have followed the rule of filial piety,and Book of Filial Piety has become the fundamental law of governing the country.With the lapse of time,Book of Filial Piety has influenced people's life imperceptibly,and it has become a habit to quote the sentences in the book.And the imperial edict and official document,as important documents for studying ancient Chinese politics,contain the rich political thoughts of the governors.The imperial edict and official document,as the important way of written communication between monarchs and ministers,quote Book of Filial Piety for comment frequently to closely combine Book of Filial Piety and national politics,which is the reflection of the concept of "Govern the country with filial piety".It is an important performance for the political thought of Book of Filial Piety to get the recognition by the ruling class.Book of Filial Piety takes filial piety as the core to design an ideal political model for governors,which is also the virtue of being a king and the way of being a minister.This paper starts from the quoted sentences in Book of Filial Piety of imperial edict and official document since Han Dynasty to conduct the research on the three chapters of filial piety of the emperors,benevolent government and correct criticism.The first two chapters aim at discussing the monarchs in political life on how to fulfill the way of governing the people for the emperor written in Book of Filial Piety and regulate the virtues of monarchs based on these principles taken by ministers,through analyzing and introducing specific cases.The third chapter aims at explaining how the ministers practice the way to serve the emperor,put forward by Book of Filial Piety.Judging by the citations from the imperial edict and official document,First of all,the filial piety of the emperor is primarily applied to three aspects:filiality,mourning and announcing an heir.Filial piety of an emperor is a political virtue manifested in national level.Consequently,the subjects often regard such piety as a standard to regulate the emperor's behaviours,emphasising its political efficacy and its impact on the government of a nation.When the emperor's personal conduct concerning filiality conflicts with the administration,the priority of public interests over personal ones is stressed-the personal behaviour of an emperor must take the nation into consideration.In general,political priority is highlighted.Next,the emperor has to promote the love and deference for parents to all his subjects and perform benevolent governance.On the one hand,the remark "in between the heaven and the earth,man is the most precious among all the created" has been used to solve the issue of servants and eunuchs by emperors of all dynasties,and employed as the basis for the enlightenment of human nature.All these manifest the emperor's benevolence and love to his subjects.On the other hand,guided by filial ethics,emperors and ministers of all dynasties had realised the substantial influence of the education of manner and music,and promoted the establishment of manners as well as the invention of music for governance.At last,for the ministers,it is not only justifiable,but also obligatory under the influence of loyalty and filial piety,to advise the emperor.Moreover,it is also the duty of the remonstrating officials.As subject,a minister has to be at once obedient and supportive in his service.Nevertheless,the emphasis differs in specific political practices in different epochs. |
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