Research On The Image Of Mother In "Hanshu" And "Hanshu"

The image of mother is an important and unique element in antient Chinese historical books,which reflects mainstream expectations for mothers in a certain time.In Han Dynasty,Confucianism and filial piety were highly embraced,thus the disparity between previous and emerging systems laid a foundation to shape the unique mother image in Han Dynasty,which has been irreplaceable in history.Given abundant historical records about mother image in Book of Han and Book of the Later Han,this paper will study on historical images of mother in Han Dynasty and analyze their features as well as implications during that period.The formation and development of the image of mother in Han Dynasty is closely related to the strong trend of respecting mother in Han Dynasty.At the beginning of the Han Dynasty,there was still a maternal tradition.Under the influence of the war and the policy of filial piety,the mother was more respected in the family and society.No matter the family status,power or the filial piety to the mother advocated by the society,all of them reflected the reverence to the mother.It is more helpful for us to analyze and explore the specific image of mothers in Han Dynasty to understand the trend of advocating mothers in Han Dynasty.In Book of Han and Book of the Later Han,mother image mainly falls into two categories,the positive and the negative.On the one hand,positive mothers are being noble,virtuous,amiable,brave and capable,which will be studied from the perspective of matriarchy,maternal figure and maternal love.On the other hand,negative mothers are mean and narrow-minded.After comparing these two kinds of images caused by different social environments,this paper is to present their influences on families and society.The special social environment of Han Dynasty diversified mother image,which varied from region to region and from class to class.With the establishment of “filial piety” governing rule and the implementation of “dismiss the hundred schools,revere only the Confucians” cultural policy in Han Dynasty,mother image started to be in line with Confucianism as well.However,the reality was fall short of the standard.Not only so,due to the progression of ethical codes,mother images in Han and later Han also took on ethical and ritual elements.Besides,matriarchy and maternal consciousness of mothers in Han Dynasty showed great difference with that in later generations.To sum up,the mother image in Han Dynasty set a benchmark to educate women being good wives and mothers in a way to promote family harmony.It also set a paradigm for later ages and exerted far-reaching influences on Chinese traditional mothers' virtues.