Western Han Dynasty And Political Research

Zaiyi(??),which includes natural disasters,social and astronomical abnormality can easily be explained by modern people with scientific explanation,while ancient people regarded it as the celestial warnings or punishments on emperors made by heaven.It also indicated the changes of human affairs and politics.The Western Han Dynasty is the time when zaiyi theory began and completed its academicalization.Also,it was the time when the records of zaiyi multiplied.Zaiyi is the object of study of this paper.Specifically,it contains the records of zaiyi in the Western Han Dynasty,the explanation of zaiyi and how it impacted on politics of the Han dynasty.It can be found by my research that zaiyi was classified by Confucian scholars of the Han dynasty to six categories.These six categories were corresponded with different changes of human affairs and politics.And the selective records reflected scholars' evaluation and cognition of emperors of the Western Han Dynasty.The prevalence of zaiyi theory is linked closely with the political situation and imperial power.The bizarre records of emperors' bodies reflected the strengthening and apotheosis of imperial powers of the Western Han Dynasty.Hence,one purpose and utility of the rise of zaiyi theory was to restrict the fearless imperial powers.Dong zhong shu,who assimilated and remolded the Yinyang(??)thought under the situation of cheng qin li han(????),propagated the zai yi theory in Chun Qiu(????)and then raised his proposition of reform.After the zaiyi theory was accepted by most people,it began to influence the politics,such as the self-criticism of emperors with rescripts,the removal of San Gong(??).In addition,the broadly practice of Yue Ling(??)politics and the frequently appearance of Lu Qiu(??)were also to maintain the harmony of Yinyang(??).