The Study Of The Five Classics Was Cited In The Eastern Han Dynasty

As an administrative documents,memorials to the throne is a written carrier for courtiers to perform their functions and participate in the discussion and administration of national affairs in feudal society.In the Eastern Han Dynasty,quoting from Confucian classics became the most common phenomenon in the writing of memorials to the throne.Whether it was the recommendation of talents,the impeachment of dignitaries and sycophantic officials,or the admonition to the emperor and the criticism of current affairs,ministers explicitly or implicitly quoted the Confucian classics as the basis for their opinions.As the mainstream of academic research in the Han Dynasty,how did Confucian classics enter into the political field and serve as the leading thought?What about the influence of the practice of quoting from Confucian classics to discuss national affairs on the empire?Based on the memorials collected in the whole Eastern Han Dynasty's prose,this paper tries to make a comprehensive analysis about the academic thoughts,administrative policies,social contradictions and scholars' mentality in Han Dynasty,especially in Eastern Han Dynasty by studying the interaction between memorials and Confucian classics.This paper is divided into six chapter:The introduction part first summarizes the research status of this subject and highlights the research value and significance of this subject.Meanwhile defining the two important words "Classics" and "the Confucian Classics Study" in the Han Dynasty.In the first chapter,taking the memorials collected in the whole Eastern Han Dynasty's prose as the basic literature,combined with CaiYong with his text Duduan,LiuXie with his text The Literary Mind and The Carving of Dragon,XuShiZeng with his text The Style Discrimination,which record the specific categories of Eastern Han Dynasty's memorials,to analyze and illustrate the specific categories as well as the writing requirements and functions of each subcategory of the Eastern Han memorials.The second chapter elaborates the performance of the Five Classics in the memorials of the Eastern Han Dynasty.It is the basic work for me to make quantitative statistics on the contents of the five classics cited in the memorials.Therefore,in the first section,this paper counts the number and contents distribution of the Five Classics cited in the memorials so as to clarify the value orientation of ministers.On this basis.this paper summarizes and exemplifies the specific functions of the Five Classics in the Eastern Han Dynasty's memorials.Meanwhile,generalizing and illustrating the distribution characteristics of the cited classics in structure as well as the ways of citation.The third chapter focuses on the reason of quoting the Five Classics.In the Han Dynasty,the Confucian education dominated the academic field.,the official selection system based on the knowledge of Confucian classics has brought up a Confucian bureaucracy,the sacredness of the Five Classics made it an indisputable law.The importance attached by imperators to the Confucian classics and the frequent decision-making depending on Confucian Classics in imperial edicts stimulated officials who had speculated about the sacred idea to imitate it.The suitability of Confucianism represented by the Five Classics in values and the inclusiveness of Confucian classics in their ideology make them highly adaptable to the society of the Han Dynasty.The atmosphere of worshiping the Confucian classics exerted a subtle influence on scholars'spirit world and urged them to adhere to the idea of governing the country by Confucian classics and strive to practice the ideas and codes of conduct in Confucian classics.The fourth chapter summarizes the influence of memorials citing the Five Confucian classics in the Eastern Han Dynasty.The language of the Confucian classics has the feature of "elegance",but lacks vigorous momentum.Therefore,the extensive reference makes the Eastern Han Dynasty's memorials appear solemn,dignified and elegant.Guiding the governance of the whole country was the main purpose for courtiers to cite them.And consulting the Confucian classics with the problem raised by the time was the fundamental purpose that courtiers cite the Confucian classics.The historical events and aphorisms contained in the classics were flexibly recruited by the courtiers to criticize the current situation and remonstrate the emperor,which had a certain influence on the judicial practice,election practice,ritual system practice and so on.Quoting from the Confucian classics strengthened the political authority of the Confucian classics academic and stimulated the government to collect the Confucian classics and to promote the interpretation of the classics.While,in the process of utilizing the Confucian classics for the national governance,they have been constantly remoulded and added some contents that not what it should be,which reflects distinctive time features.The academic orientation of pragmatism leads to the simplification of academic research and severely shackles the thoughts and souls of intellectuals.Conclusion part synthesizes the whole content,summarizes the core views and main content,and makes a diachronic expansion and extension to supplement the influence of the Eastern Han Dynasty's memorials citing the Five Classics on the subsequent society from the perspective of preserving classics,inheriting culture and affecting later ages.