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Introduction
The apogee of the Former Han period
The reign of Emperor Hsüan (74-48 B.C.) marks the
highest point of Chinese power and civilization during the Former Han period.
In government, in prosperity, in art (cf. 8: 25a), and in its power over
foreign tribes, this reign constitutes the apogee of the period. Never before
was the government so well-administered or so kindly disposed to the people;
never before had there been such good harvests. Emperor Wu had sent out
victorious military expeditions, but never before had the Huns acknowledged
themselves vassals of the Chinese. After this reign, decline ensued, until the
dynasty ended and there came a general collapse under Wang Mang.
In giving an account of the important events in
this reign omitted from or inadequately discussed in these "Annals," it will
perhaps be worth while to discuss the change in the succession to the throne,
the revolt of the Ho clan, the character of Emperor Hsüan's rule, the
submission of the Huns, and the ascendancy of Confucianism over its rivals.
Liu Ho(4b)'s brief reign and
deposition
Emperor Hsüan was not the Heir-apparent of Emperor
Chao, but was selected to be Emperor by Ho Kuang and the ministers. The actual
successor to Emperor Chao was Liu Ho(4b), who was dismissed from the throne after
a reign of twenty-seven days. This episode is passed over with a bare mention
in the "Annals," since Emperor Hsüan did not figure in it. A full account of
this as well as of other matters discussed in this introduction is to be found
in the relevant "Treatises" and "Memoirs," which are abstracted in the
glossary.
Emperor Wu had six sons, three of whom died before
their father. Liu Chü, his Heir-apparent, was killed in the insurrection caused
by the famous witchcraft and black magic case (91 B.C.). With him died all his
sons. The only descendant saved alive was an infant grandson only a few months
old, Liu Ping-yi (the future Emperor Hsüan), who had been born of a singer and
dancer slave-girl sold into the household of Liu Chü's son. Since the babe was
a grandson, he was not executed, for the Chinese law of blood-feud demanded
that vengeance be taken for a parent's death only to the first generation of
the dead man's descendants. Consequently, the Chinese law of inculpation
similarly required the execution, in heinous crimes, of only the three sets of
closest relatives (cf. glossary, sub Three sets of relatives). The courage of
Ping Chi prevented this babe's death in the general executions that occurred
after that insurrection. By 74 B.C., when Emperor Chao died, Liu Ping-yi had
already been restored to membership in the imperial clan, from which he had at
first been excluded, and was known as the Imperial Great-grandson.
Another son of Emperor Wu, Liu Hung(1a), King of
Ch'i, had died in 110 B.C. without descendants. A third son, Liu Po(6), King of
Ch'ang-yi, had also died before his father (89 B.C.), leaving a son, Liu Ho(4b).
A fourth son of Emperor Wu, Liu Tan(4a), King of Yen, had intrigued against
Emperor Chao and Ho Kuang, and had been executed (80 B.C.). A fifth son, Liu
Hsü, King of Kuang-ling, was still living. The sixth and youngest son, Liu
Fu-ling, had become Emperor Chao.
There were thus, at the time of Emperor Chao's
death, only three eligible descendants of Emperor Wu: Liu Ping-yi, Liu Ho(4b),
and Liu Hsü. Liu Tan(4a)'s three sons were then commoners, and, because of their
father's crimes, were not eligible. Liu Hsü had not proved himself a suitable
person for the throne. He had been far from decorous and had delighted in such
things as music (dancing), wandering, and feats of strength, such as lifting
weights and fighting bare-handed with bears, boars, and other wild animals. He
was passed over. Twenty years later he was executed for murder.
The obvious choice for the throne was Liu Ho(4b), and
he was accordingly invited to come and perform the funeral rites as the heir of
Emperor Chao. Liu Ho(4b) was then in his eighteenth or nineteenth year and had
already been King of Ch'ang-yi for twelve years. The manic-depressive insanity
that seems to have afflicted him in later years was probably already beginning
to affect him. He was expecting the message; it was sent by fire-beacons from
Ch'ang-an to Ch'ang-yi, which latter place was located in the present
southwestern Shantung. In a fit of enthusiasm, Liu Ho(4b) started for the
imperial capital late the same afternoon, spurring as hard as he could, killing
horses recklessly, traveling 135 li in the remainder of that day. Meat,
intercourse with women, and joyful amusements were forbidden during the period
of mourning; in his delight at being on the way to the throne, Liu Ho(4b) forgot
all prudence and had his slaves secure women and meat. When, forty-two days
after, he reached the capital, instead of weeping as the heir of a deceased
emperor, he could not control his joy. When he came to the palace Portal, he
however performed the required prostrations.
Liu Ho(4b) was now given the imperial seals and the
title of Emperor. Emperor Chao's Empress (née Shang-kuan), who was a
grand-daughter of Ho Kuang, was made Empress Dowager, thus becoming the
adoptive mother of Liu Ho(4b). Emperor Chao died on June 5th; Liu Ho(4b) became
Emperor on July 18th; Emperor Chao was buried on July 24th. An essential
feature of the coronation was the presentation of the new Emperor in the
ancestral Temple of Emperor Kao, the founder of the line. Liu Ho(4b), in his
pursuit of enjoyment, postponed this event.
Meanwhile he gave rein to his wishes like a
care-free youth. He played with the imperial seals. He gave his followers a
thousand catties of gold in order that they might secure ten wives for him. He
gave elaborate rewards to his boon companions. While the imperial coffin was
still in the Palace Hall, he had music performed. He indulged in elaborate
feasts, and did not refrain from meat, sending his followers out to buy
chickens and pork when the palace officials refused to provide them for him. He
committed fornication with the Palace Maids and threatened death to anyone who
revealed the fact. In the twenty-seven days of his reign, he sent out
messengers with credentials and edicts on 1127 missions. Officials who
admonished him were warned to keep silent or were imprisoned.
Ho Kuang was in distress at this flaunting of the
dynasty's customs and institutions, and asked his intimates what could be done.
He was reminded of the precedent set by Yi Yin, the venerated minister of T'ang
the Victorious, the founder of the Shang dynasty. Yi Yin had imprisoned to the
third year, in a place near his grandfather's tomb, T'ai-chia, an unworthy
grandson and successor of T'ang, until T'ai-chia had repented of his wild ways.
Thereupon Yi Yin had handed the rule back to T'ai-chia. This account was part
of the Confucian tradition (it is found in Mencius V, i, vi, 5, also in the
SC [Mh I, 189]), and was
consequently part of the state constitution. Ho Kuang summoned the officials
and members of his party to a conclave and explained the situation to them.
They were astounded at the proposal to dethrone the Emperor, and did not dare
to say anything, until T'ien Yen-nien arose, pulled out his sword, and asked
for permission to kill anyone who dissented. The officials thereupon agreed
unanimously.
The Empress Dowager, Ho Kuang's grand-daughter, was
three or four years younger than Liu Ho(4b), but was technically his mother, so
that she could command Liu Ho(4b). To lure Liu Ho(4b) out of the imperial quarters,
she went to the Emperor's palace. Liu Ho(4b) accordingly came to pay his court to
her; when he returned to his apartments, he alone was allowed to enter the
doors; the eunuchs held the doors and kept Liu Ho(4b)'s followers out. These
followers were arrested and imprisoned. Liu Ho(4b) was summoned to the Empress
Dowager. She received him in full regalia (probably in the throne room), seated
in the military tent, with several hundred attendants bearing arms. The
courtiers ascended into the audience hall according to their proper order and
Liu Ho(4b) was commanded to prostrate himself and hear the proceedings. A Master
of Writing thereupon read a memorial signed by Ho Kuang and all the important
officials, which asserted that Liu Ho(4b) had abandoned the rules of proper
conduct and moral principles, and enumerated his misdeeds one by one. When the
reading reached the point where Liu Ho(4b) was charged with fornication, the
Empress Dowager said, "Stop. Could any subject or son of mine act in so
disorderly a manner as this?"
Liu Ho(4b) left his mat and prostrated himself while
the Master of Writing continued reading the memorial. It ended by saying that
Liu Ho(4b) had not yet presented himself in the Temple of Emperor Kao to receive
the imperial mandate and was not fit to continue the imperial line nor to
uphold the sacrifices in the imperial ancestral temples, so that he should be
dismissed. It begged that the proper officials should be instructed to give
information of that fact in the Temple of Emperor Kao. The Empress Dowager
assented to this memorial and Ho Kuang ordered Liu Ho(4b) to arise, bow and
accept the edict. Liu Ho(4b) protested, whereupon Ho Kuang held Liu Ho(4b)'s hands
and took away from him his imperial seals, the insignia of imperial authority.
These he presented to the Empress Dowager, and led Liu Ho(4b) down, out of the
palace Hall, out of the palace gate, and to the residence at the imperial
capital for the kings of Ch'ang-yi. Liu Ho(4b) was then sent back to Ch'ang-yi,
where he was given a stipend; his wealth was distributed among his daughters
and sisters and he was left without any title. Ten years later, when he had
proved to be harmless, he was made a marquis.
The selection of Emperor
Hsuan
Ho Kuang and the ministers thereupon discussed the
succession to the throne. Liu Hsü had already been passed over and the sons of
Liu Tan(4a) could not be considered. Hence the most closely related member of the
imperial clan was Liu Ping-yi, the Imperial Great-grandson. He was well spoken
of and was then in his eighteenth year. Emperor Wu had ordered him to be taken
care of in the imperial palace, and faithful eunuchs had used their private
funds to have him given a good Confucian education and to get him properly
married. Ho Kuang memorialized the Empress Dowager that this youth would be a
fit person to be the successor of Emperor Chao. The proper officials then went
to the youth's residence, bathed and dressed him, and took him to the yamen of
the Superintendent of the Imperial House, where he purified himself by fasting.
Liu Ho(4b) was dismissed on Aug. 14; on Sept. 10, Liu Ping-yi presented himself
to the Empress Dowager, who first ennobled him, making a marquis, after which
Ho Kuang, acting upon her direction, invested him with the imperial seals and
presented him to the imperial ancestors in the Temple of Emperor Kao.
Thus the
Confucian constitution of the state showed itself capable of
dismissing an unworthy emperor after he had been (partly) enthroned, and of
selecting another imperial scion to take his place, without creating any
disturbance in the state. The particular device used was the principle of
authority in the family: that a filial son owes obedience to his parents, hence
the mother of the family could even dismiss from the throne an unworthy
imperial son. (The Han emperors, after the first one, were all called hsiao,
"filial," in their posthumous names.) The success of such a change depended
upon the loyalty of the minister who made the change and his reputation in the
court.
The dangerous intrigues and
downfall of the Ho clan
The revolt of the Ho clan is probably the most
important single internal disturbance during this reign. When Emperor Hsüan was
enthroned, Ho Kuang modestly resigned; Emperor Hsüan retained this minister in
power, and he was the actual ruler until his death in 68 B.C. Emperor Hsüan
paid no attention to the government until after Ho Kuang's death. In recompense
for his services, Emperor Hsüan granted Ho Kuang a laudatory edict, ranked him
the same as Hsiao Ho, Emperor Kao's Chancellor of State, who had founded the
dynastic institutions, and gave his heirs the right to be exempt from the usual
inheritance tax, by which the estate of a noble was decreased one-fifth each
time it was transmitted from one generation to another. Ho Kuang's son, Ho Yü,
was made General of the Right; Ho Kuang's grand-nephew, Ho Shan, was made
Intendant of Affairs of the Masters of Writing; Ho Kuang's grand-daughter was
the Empress Dowager née Shang-kuan; his daughter was the Empress nee Ho; his
sons-in-law, grand-nephews, and other relatives were all given high
positions.
Thus the Ho clan seemed to be in firm control of
the court. But the train of events that was to bring about this clan's speedy
downfall and destruction had already begun.
Ho Kuang's first wife had no sons;
his son, Yü, was born of a slave-girl, Hsien. After his first wife had died, Ho
Kuang had accordingly made Hsien his wife. Her unscrupulous ambition destroyed
his house.
When Emperor Hsüan had been a commoner, with the
name Liu Ping-yi, he was at first not even allowed to be enregistered as a
member of the imperial house; consequently his friends found difficulty in
securing a wife for him. The eunuch Superintendent of the Lateral Courts (the
imperial harem) had been a follower of Heir-apparent Li, Liu Ping-yi's
grandfather. One of the Superintendent's subordinate eunuchs, Hsü Kuang-han,
had a daughter, P'ing-chün, who was in her fourteenth or fifteenth year. She
had been betrothed to a boy who had died and so it would be difficult to find a
husband for her. The Superintendent persuaded her father to marry her to Liu
Ping-yi, which was done in 75 B.C. Hsü Kuang-han had been a Gentleman to
Emperor Wu, but through sheer stupidity had been impeached for robbery when
accompanying the Emperor, a capital crime; his punishment had been commuted to
castration, and he had finally become Inspector of Fields in the Drying House,
the prison in the harem of the imperial palace, where was located the palace
laundry. Several months before Liu Ho(4b)'s deposition, P'ing-chün gave birth to
a boy, who later became Emperor Yüan.
After Liu Ping-yi became Emperor, P'ing-chün was
made a Favorite Beauty (the highest rank of imperial concubines). Ho Kuang had
a young daughter, and the officials began talking of appointing an Empress,
thinking naturally of this daughter. But Emperor Hsüan cared for P'ing-chün and
knew the Confucian principle that a wife married in poverty must not be cast
off in success, so told his officials that they should seek even for the swords
he had used before he had been ennobled. They took the hint, and suggested
P'ing-chün as Empress. She was appointed in 74 B.C.
Ho Kuang's wife, Ho Hsien, was now at her wits'
end, for she was ambitious to make her daughter the Empress. The next year, the
Empress nee Hsü was with child and fell ill. One of the imperial women
physicians was a favorite with the Ho family and came to ask Ho Hsien for a
favor in behalf of her husband, who was a guard in the palace harem. Ho Hsien
saw her opportunity, and persuaded this woman to poison the Empress. Medicines
given to imperial personages were always tested beforehand; this woman watched
her opportunity and mixed the extract from some poisonous shells with the great
pill of the Grand Physician. Before the Empress died in great agony (71 B.C.),
she asserted she had been poisoned. Ho Hsien did not dare to reward the woman
physician highly; the imperial physicians were all arrested and
questioned; Ho Hsien had to tell her husband what she had done. He said
nothing, but managed to have the woman physician released. Then Ho Hsien
prepared her daughter's marriage garments and sent her to the imperial palace.
A year after the Empress née Hsü's death, Ho Hsien's daughter became Empress.
She secured the sole affection of the Emperor.
Emperor Hsüan would not, however, allow affection
for a new wife to prevent him from doing his duty to the wife of his poverty. A
year after Ho Kuang died, the Emperor made Liu Shih, the son of his first wife,
his Heir-apparent, and made his first wife's father, Hsü Kuang-han, a marquis.
Ho Kuang had previously opposed such an enfeoffment, saying that it was not
proper for a criminal to be made a noble. Ho Hsien was now extremely angry, and
instructed her daughter to poison the Heir-apparent. The sudden death of the
Empress née Hsü had put people on their guard, and the child's nurse tasted all
food given the boy, even when it was offered by the new Empress, so that the
latter could not find any opportunity to poison the boy, even though she
summoned the boy several times and kept poison by her.
After the death of Ho Kuang in 68 B.C., the Grandee
Secretary Wei Hsiang and others pointed out to Emperor Hsüan the danger of
allowing one clan to monopolize the high positions in the court. The power of
Ho Kuang's grand-nephew, Ho Shan, was accordingly curtailed drastically by
enacting that memorials might be sealed before presentation and no duplicate
need be presented. Thus the Intendant of Affairs of the Masters of Writing no
longer knew beforehand what was being said to the throne and could not
completely control the government business. Wei Hsiang had long private talks
with the Emperor. About this time Emperor Hsüan heard the truth regarding the
assassination of his first Empress. He did not attempt to punish the Ho clan
immediately, for that clan and its relatives controlled the army. The Empress's
assassination was accordingly not investigated any further. Instead of that,
the members of the Ho faction were gradually displaced and their power taken
away. The generals in that faction were one by one given civil posts or sent
out into the provinces to be Grand Administrators of distant commanderies.
Their positions were given to members of the Shih or Hsü clans, to whom
belonged the maternal grandfather and the fatherin-law of the Emperor. Wei
Hsiang was made Lieutenant Chancellor in place of the incompetent Confucian
scholar who had been appointed through Ho Kuang's influence. Ho Yü was promoted
to be Commanderin-chief, but was denied the right to wear the regular hat of a
commanderin-chief or to carry the commander-in-chief's seal (whereby orders
were authenticated), and thus his troops were taken out of his control.
When the Ho clan thus saw their
power shorn away, they wept and blamed themselves. At last Ho Hsien told them
about the poisoning of the Empress née Hsü. They then saw that there was no
hope for their safety except by some desperate action. So they plotted to have
the Empress Dowager hold a feast to which Wei Hsiang and Hsü Kuang-han were to
be invited, at which the Empress Dowager was to issue an edict to behead these
two enemies of the Ho faction, dethrone Emperor Hsüan, and make Ho Yü the
Emperor. A messenger bearing news of this plot was intercepted by the imperial
officials, and the palace of the unsuspecting Empress Dowager was carefully
guarded, to prevent word of the plot being carried to her. At the same time, an
imperial edict commanded that there should be no more arrests, thereby
confounding the Ho faction. Their plot could not be carried out, because
persons essential to the plot were moved to positions away from the capital. Ho
Shan and his second cousin, Ho Yün, were dismissed from their positions for
disrespectful lack of attention to their duties. Then Ho Shan was arrested and
sentenced for having written secret letters. Ho Hsien offered to pay a thousand
head of horses and to turn over to the government her residence west of
Ch'ang-an, in order to ransom Ho Shan, but to no avail. He and Ho Yün then
committed suicide. Thereupon Ho Hsien, Ho Yü, and the other conspirators were
arrested and the whole Ho faction was exterminated. Altogether several thousand
families were executed and destroyed as accomplices; the only ones saved alive
were the two Empresses. The Empress Dowager seems to have known nothing about
the plot. The Empress nee Ho was dismissed and sent to a palace in Shang-lin
Park, outside the capital; eleven years later she was moved to a still meaner
place, whereupon she committed suicide. Thus the Ho clan, from having held the
dominating power in the government, fell into utter ruin and annihilation
within two years after the death of Ho Kuang. A more complete upset would
hardly be imagined. The skill with which power was gradually taken away from
this faction, its suspicions allayed by making no attempt to unearth evidence
against them, while they were yet pursued relentlessly, is worthy of note.
Rarely has such great power been so successfully withdrawn.
The kindly and generous rule of
Emperor Hsüan
Emperor Hsüan did not himself take over the rule
until after the death of Ho Kuang. As a youth he had been a commoner and had
come to know, by personal experience, how the government affected the common
people. He consequently had an infinitely better conception of the nature of a
desirable government than could have been secured by a youth who had grown up
in an imperial or a kingly palace, shielded from contacts with
a rough world. Emperor Wu had encouraged a severe government, with the result
that tyranny had come to be looked upon as a sign of an official's ability. Ho
Kuang had continued Emperor Wu's practises. Emperor Hsüan had himself seen the
sufferings of the people, and set about to make the administration kindly
disposed to the people. He rewarded those officials who were known to be
kindly, and degraded those who were harsh. Huang Pa, the Assistant Grand
Administrator of Ho-nan Commandery, had become known for generosity and
fairness in deciding law-cases; Emperor Hsüan had heard of this fact before he
came to the throne, and consequently gave Huang Pa a high position in the
office of the Commandant of Justice. Thus a beginning was made in doing away
with harshness in government.
The inevitable result was that officials took
advantage of the Emperor. Wang Ch'eng, who was Chancellor in the kingdom of
Chiao-tung, sent in a false report in which he magnified the benefits he had
conferred upon the people; Emperor Hsüan honored him with a noble title and
increased his salary. Before Wang Ch'eng could be summoned to the capital to
receive his rewards, he died. Then Emperor Hsüan discovered his deceit. The
Emperor, however, continued the practise of rewarding kindly officials,
permitting some vulgar officials to secure an empty fame for the sake of
encouraging kindliness among the other officials.
During the first part of Emperor Hsüan's reign, Ho
Kuang himself controlled the government and successively appointed as
Lieutenant Chancellor (the titular head of the government) two aged and
incompetent Confucian scholars who were famous for their learning and who had
been Emperor Chao's teachers. Both died in office. When Emperor Hsüan ruled in
person, his Lieutenant Chancellors were all Confucians, who had each made a
special study of some Confucian classic, but they were not primarily scholars.
All (except the last one) died in office; Emperor Hsüan did not execute his
officials as Emperor Wu had done. The first Lieutenant Chancellor, Wei Hsiang,
was stern and severe; he had previously been made Grandee Secretary by Ho
Kuang, which position was regularly the stepping-stone to the position of
Lieutenant Chancellor. Wei Hsiang advised Emperor Hsüan against the Ho clan.
When Ho Hsien's crimes became known, the government needed a stern and severe
hand, and so Emperor Hsüan dismissed the scholar who was Lieutenant Chancellor,
giving this office to Wei Hsiang. For the next Grandee Secretary, Emperor Hsüan
selected a very different sort of person, Ping Chi, a protégé of Ho Kuang who
was good-natured and liberal, and who sought no rewards for any of his own good
deeds. If an official committed a crime, Ping Chi would conceal
the matter and suggest to the official that he had better resign than be
punished. When he succeeded to the position of Lieutenant Chancellor, he
inaugurated the custom of not turning that office into a court for trying minor
officials. He was followed by Huang Pa, who did not show the ability as
Lieutenant Chancellor that he had shown as a commandery administrator. Emperor
Hsüan's last Lieutenant Chancellor was Yü Ting-kuo, a man who was kindly to
widows and, in doubtful cases, gave the accused the benefit of the doubt.
Emperor Hsüan was thus more successful in securing capable and good Lieutenant
Chancellors than any other emperor had been since Emperor Kao.
Emperor Hsüan took a personal interest in legal
cases. All cases of capital punishment had to be memorialized to the Emperor
and his consent secured for the execution. Most of the information in the
HS concerning various persons and even concerning
certain conversations undoubtedly comes from the statements and testimony found
in such memorials, which, because they had been approved by the emperor, became
imperial edicts and were preserved in the imperial archives. Few emperors had
devoted much time to reviewing law-cases; after Emperor Hsüan noticed the
hardships inflicted upon the people by legal means, he spent a great deal of
time in the yamen to which important legal decisions were sent for imperial
approval. He reformed legal procedure in various ways. He established special
judges to whom difficult cases could be referred (8: 9b) and who would be
competent to judge such cases, so that it would not be necessary to execute a
judge for having made a wrong decision, as had been done in the case of Hsü Jen
and Wang P'ing (cf. Glossary sub Tu Yen-ninea). Emperor Hsüan inaugurated the
practise that a son, grandson, or wife was not to be punished for concealing
his or her parents', grandparents', or husband's crimes. Parents, grandparents,
and husbands who shielded their sons, grandsons, or wives, were not however to
be thus exempted, but were to be given special imperial consideration (8: 9b).
He had special investigations made concerning persons who died in prison (8:
11a). He exempted the aged from punishment except for the most serious crimes
(8: 15a). He continued the practise of sending out messengers to search for and
report unjust trials (8: 20b).
In his treatment of his people, Emperor Hsüan was
kindly and generous. He rewarded capable officials and made large grants of
money to the sons of those capable officials who died poor (8: 15b, 17a).
Persons in mourning for their parents were exempted from required service (8:
9b) and festivities were allowed at marriages (8: 19a). The salaries of the
lowest officials were increased by half, in order that they
should not need to oppress the people (8: 17b) and the practise was abolished
that imperial messengers might exact their necessities from the people instead
of securing them from the government (8: 24a). Various economies were effected:
in time of drought the imperial table was reduced and officials were made to
take a temporary reduction in salaries (8: 6b). Military garrisons were
reduced. Useless palaces and lodges were not repaired. An unnecessary
commandery was abolished (8: 9a, b). Taxes were remitted in time of drought or
calamity (8: 6a, 7a, 13a) and the poll-money and poll-tax were reduced (8: 20a,
21b). Government land was loaned to the poor (8: 8b, 9a); government reservoirs
and preserves were opened to cultivation (8: 9a). The price of salt (a
government monopoly) was lowered (8: 11a). These reductions in government
levies were not only made possible by economies; there was also such a
succession of good harvests that in 62 B.C. the price of grain dropped to five
cash per picul (probably one-eighth of its normal price).
It is not surprising that, as a consequence of
these benefits, the people should have seen many portents from Heaven.
Phoenixes, supernatural birds, sweet dew, dragons, and other marvels appeared.
Upon each such report, Emperor Hsüan distributed favors---amnesties, noble
ranks, oxen and wine, silk. It is consequently natural that reports of of
portents should have been frequent. The people, who credited even the good
weather to the beneficent government, doubtless considered Emperor Hsüan worthy
of all these portents and more. He was the best ruler in the whole Former Han
period.
The submission of the Huns
In his relations with non-Chinese peoples, Emperor
Hsüan was especially fortunate, for a dispute over the succession to the Hun
throne induced one of its claimants to come to the Chinese court and
acknowledge Chinese overlordship; Chinese assistance then enabled this claimant
to establish himself firmly on the Hun throne and to drive his rival far away.
A Chinese expedition finally ended this rival's career.
The Huns (Hsiung-nu) were a race of nomads,
occupying the present inner and outer Mongolia, who were in the habit of making
annual raids upon the settled Chinese to the south when winter gave them
respite from the care of their flocks and herds. Pelliot (La haute Asie, p. 6)
remarks that the Hsiung-nu were identical with the Huns of the great European
invasions. In their raids, these Huns not only took Chinese animals and food,
but also captives to be sold as slaves. Capture for the slave-trade was
probably the most profitable feature of these raids. To protect
themselves, the Chinese built the Great Wall, and organized local militia for
its defense. This system proved effective against small bands of raiders.
Following the example of the Ch'in First Emperor, a Hun of the Lüan-ti clan,
with the given name Mao-tun or Moduk, however united the Hun tribes and
established himself as their emperor or Shan-Yü (the last word of a phrase
meaning, "Great Son of Heaven.") Thereafter it was possible for large bands of
Huns to gather and break through the Great Wall. Emperor Kao was almost
captured in a campaign to drive Lüan-ti Mao-tun out of Chinese territory.
Defeated Chinese rebels regularly fled to the Huns and were welcomed by them,
bringing with them Chinese mechanical and military skill. The Empress of
Emperor Kao made peace and friendship with the Huns, sending them a girl of the
imperial clan to be a wife of the Shan-Yü.
This arrangement did not, however, permanently stop
the Hun raids. In the time of Emperor Wen, the Huns raided almost within sight
of Ch'ang-an. Emperor Ching adopted the policy of encouraging Hun dissensions
by giving high noble rank to noble Hun rebels who surrendered to the Chinese.
Irritated by the constant Hun raids, Emperor Wu had sent army after army deep
into Hun territory, driving them out of inner Mongolia and defeating them
severely in outer Mongolia. At one time the Shan-Yü was actually surrounded by
an overwhelming Chinese force, but he succeeded in slipping away. The Chinese
emperors followed the policy of making large and valuable grants to barbarian
princes who came to pay homage; worn out by Emperor Wu's sledgehammer blows and
attracted by the prospect of Chinese gifts, in the time of Emperor Chao, the
Shan-Yü thought of coming to the Chinese court, in order to be allowed to
inhabit inner Mongolia. His envoy, unfortunately, became ill and died in
Ch'ang-an; hence suspicion and pride kept the Shan-Yü from taking any further
steps and led him to continue the Hun raids. In 71, at the appeal of the
Wu-sun, an Aryan tribe inhabiting the present Ili valley, Emperor Hsüan sent
five armies deep into Hun territory, but the Huns had withdrawn and could not
be found. The Wu-sun, however, achieved a signal victory over the Huns, for
which Emperor Hsüan rewarded the Chinese Colonel, Ch'ang Hui, who had been sent
to give them moral support. Thus the Chinese and Huns continued to oppose each
other.
In 60 B.C., Shan-Yü Hsü-lu-ch'üan-chü died. The
succession to the Hun throne was not fixed; the Hun kings were summoned to
select his successor, but, before they arrived, a Yen-chih or Hun empress
seated the deceased Shan-Yü's younger brother upon the vacant throne. He proved
tyrannical and cruel, dismissing the sons and brothers of his predecessor,
and offending some of his nobles. They consequently set up a
son of his predecessor as Shan-Yü Hu-han-hsieh, and defeated the other Shan-Yü,
who then committed suicide. Other claimants for the throne now appeared, until
in 57 B.C. there were five Shan-Yü. Civil war eliminated all but Shan-Yü
Hu-han-hsieh, whereupon three more claimants appeared, including Shan-Yü
Chih-chih, who was an elder brother, probably a half-brother of Shan-Yü
Hu-han-hsieh. Shan-Yü Chih-chih moreover succeeded in defeating Shan-Yü
Hu-han-hsieh and occupied the region of the Hun capital near the present Urga.
Shan-Yü Hu-han-hsieh now appealed to the Chinese for aid and sent his son to
the Chinese court to be an attendant upon the Emperor. Shan-Yü Chih-chih
countered by similarly sending one of his sons to the Chinese court. Shan-Yü
Hu-hanhsieh had now to find a more effective way of securing Chinese aid, so in
52 B.C., he requested permission to come in person to the grand court at the
first of the Chinese year, bring tribute, and pay homage to the Son of
Heaven.
Such an event had never happened before, that the
emperor of a powerful neighboring state should come to pay homage to a Chinese
emperor. It was hence necessary to determine how the Shan-Yü should be treated
and what rites should be used. The court officials urged that he be treated as
a vassal king and be ranked below the Chinese vassal kings. But Hsiao
Wang-chih, an independent-minded and learned Confucian, advised that the
Shan-Yü should be treated as a guest, i.e., an equal of the Emperor, since it
would be better to attach the barbarians by kindness and generosity than to
alienate them by harshness and humbling them. Since they were not settled
inhabitants, they could not be apprehended and subjugated. Therefore it would
be better to influence them by benevolence and righteousness, so that they
would be led to be trustful and yielding. Emperor Hsüan adopted this wise
advice, and had Shan-Yü Hu-han-hsieh treated as a guest. He was given an
imperial seal like that of the Chinese emperor (24 A: 21a). It was arranged
that the Shan-Yü's retinue should be given a view of the imperial cortege, and
he was entertained at a great banquet during which he was shown the imperial
treasures. He was given rich presents and sent back after a month or so.
Patriotic and proud Huns had opposed Shan-Yü
Hu-han-hsieh's personal submission to the Chinese, saying that it made them the
laughing-stock of the world. On Shan-Yü Hu-han-hsieh's return, the Chinese
supplied him with a large escort of Chinese cavalry, and allowed him to
establish himself in inner Mongolia and to take refuge in the Chinese
fortifications beyond the border. He was given large quantities of grain. The
second year after, Shan-Yü Hu-han-hsieh again came to the
Chinese court and received even greater presents. Shan-Yü Chih-chih had
expected that when Shan-Yü Hu-han-hsieh once went to the Chinese court, he
would not be able to return, but now he had not only returned but was greatly
enriched by Chinese presents and grain, so that the Huns flocked to him. As a
consequence, Shan-Yü Chih-chih gave up all hope of being able to conquer his
rival and moved to the west to carve himself out a kingdom there. In 36 B.C.,
during the reign of Emperor Yüan, a notable Chinese expedition pursued and
beheaded him. Thus Chinese support proved able to determine the succession to
the Hun throne, and the Huns at last became vassals of the Chinese.
The Chinese subjugation of the Huns by diplomacy
and gifts, after military conquest had failed to subjugate them, is quite
typical of the best Chinese foreign policy. Against settled towns, such as
those in the Tarim basin, military attacks could be permanently successful; but
against a nomadic people, who could move out of reach when an expedition
threatened them and could return to their steppes to attack the settled Chinese
at the opportune moment, massed military attacks could have little permanent
effect. Hence diplomacy and material assistance offered the best method of
dealing with the Huns.
The nature of Chinese external
vassalage
Ancient Chinese vassalage did not mean the same as
it did in European medieval practise. The Chinese emperor asserted he was the
Son of Heaven, and consequently the rightful overlord of all earthly rulers.
His territory ideally comprised the whole earth, "all within the four seas."
There grew up, however, a distinction between China proper and foreign lands.
The boundary between these two regions was marked, at the north, by the Chinese
fortifications built to keep out barbarian raids, which had been called, by the
Ch'in dynasty, the Great Wall (ch'ang-ch'eng), and in Han times, the Barrier
(sai). Within China proper there was sometimes also made a distinction between
the central states (chung-kuo 中國) and the border commanderies---at times the
central states were asked to provide the court with literary men and
administrators, while the border commanderies provided fighting men and
generals. Outside Chinese territory, the demands made upon vassal states
depended upon their distance from China as well as their size and importance.
This distinction was recognized in Chinese theory by the conception of the
various domains (fu). The imperial domain (tien-fu) was theoretically
surrounded successively by the feudal domain (hou-fu), the tranquillizing
domain (sui-fu), the domain of restraint (yao-fu), and the wild domain
(huang-fu). This arrangement is to be found in the "Tribute of
Yü" (Book of History, III, i, ii, iv; Legge, pp.
142-151), where different services are required of the vassal states in
different domains. In Han times, little more than a purely literary use was
made, however, of these "domains."
In practise, the Chinese court secured from
surrounding countries whatever homage it could conveniently get. Vassalage
always meant that:
(1) The vassal ruler must accept and use as a badge
of office a seal furnished him by the Chinese emperor.
(2) The vassal must appear at the Chinese court at
the great yearly reception on New Year's day, either in person or through an
envoy, and bring tribute, in return for which he received gifts from the
Chinese emperor (distant states were allowed to appear less often, but must
come at least once each reign). For the entertainment of these missions, there
was built at the imperial capital a Lodge for Barbarian Princes, just as there
were Lodges for the various feudal kingdoms and commanderies.
(3) Vassal rulers each sent a son to be reared at
the Chinese court at the expense of the Chinese emperor. Such a son was held by
the Chinese as a hostage and was indoctrinated with the might and civilization
of the Chinese.
(4) Vassal rulers were required to keep the peace,
in return for which, such a ruler might actually be given a regular subvention
from the Chinese. The latter was the case with Shan-Yü Hu-han-hsieh; the chief
purpose of the unusual treatment given him was to induce him to prevent the
continual border forays that had been made into Chinese territory by the Huns.
At the court of 51 B.C., besides other things, Shan-Yü Hu-hanhsieh was given 15
horses, 20 catties of actual gold, 200,000 cash, 77 suits of clothes, 8000
bolts of cloth, and 6000 catties of silk floss. After his return, he was at
various times also sent 34,000 hu of grain. Since he actually stopped the
border forays, the payments made him were less than the losses previously
suffered by the Chinese in the Hun raids.
(5) In the rare cases when a military expedition
was necessary, each vassal ruler was required, upon demand, to contribute
auxiliary troops, together with food and forage for the expedition. A set of
credentials (cf. HFHD I, 245, n. 2) were each divided in two lengthwise, and
the ruler was given the left half. The right half was retained in the imperial
capital and was, when necessary, given to an imperial envoy, who accordingly
had the right to command the vassal ruler. The genuineness of an envoy was
tested by matching the two halves of the credential. Hence an "envoy with
credentials" not only bore messages, but also wielded the
imperial authority for his special mission. Regular officials, such as the
Protector General of the Western Frontier Regions, had to secure the imperial
consent before calling out troops. Ch'en T'ang's expedition was composed mostly
of auxiliaries from the states in the Western Frontier Regions, with a core of
Chinese trained troops.
(6) With regard to their internal affairs, the
foreign vassal states were usually left alone. Distances were so great and
travel so slow that it was not usually worth while to interfere in the internal
affairs of vassal states. As long as they did not bother the Chinese, they were
allowed to go their own way. At the installation of a new king, an imperial
envoy usually played an important part, although the succession to the vassal
throne was not often interfered with by the Chinese. Imperial envoys were
constantly sent out to vassal states, to keep the Chinese court informed of
happenings in distant countries, to gage the loyalty of vassal states, to
maintain the semblance of Chinese overlordship, and to carry on trade. Envoys
were also sometimes sent to states outside of the Chinese orbit, bearing gold,
silks, etc., in order to induce those states to declare themselves Chinese
vassals. Since the annual tribute from these states was repaid by imperial
gifts worth more to these people than what they sent, it was really to their
own interests to submit. A Chinese military officer with his men might
sometimes be quartered at the capital of a troublesome state, for the purpose
of assuring the free passage of caravans and the maintenance of peace and
Chinese dominance in the internal affairs of that state. Occasionally, a
troublesome ruler might be dethroned and executed, whereupon a son more
favorable to the Chinese was enthroned in his place (cf. Glossary, sub Fu
Chieh-tzu).
There were thus various degrees of subservience
among foreign vassal states. Tribute missions easily became actual trading
expeditions. Since vassal rulers were benefited by paying tribute, it became a
deeper mark of homage for such a ruler to attend the Chinese court in person---
the various Hun Shan-Yü had been sending envoys, tribute, and sons as hostages
before Shan-Yü Hu-han-hsieh came to court in person. The Hun people evidently
considered the former actions quite in harmony with actual independence, so
that it was necessary for a Shan-Yü to bow before the Chinese emperor in person
before the Huns seemed to to have recognized that their independence had been
given up. Thus vassalage in China was different in spirit and in letter from
that in Europe.
As a special favor, Chinese imperial ladies were in
rare cases granted to rulers of foreign states to be their wives. At first
girls of the imperial clan (sometimes the daughter of a dismissed king) were
thus sent; later, when ladies of the imperial clan refused to
leave China, ladies of the imperial harem who had not seen the emperor, such as
the famous Wang Ch'iang, were sent. Thus foreign princes were attached to the
Chinese by marriage. The granting of an imperial lady for the harem of a
foreign ruler must, however, be considered a matter of diplomacy rather than
one of vassalage, for this practice began before foreign states admitted any
vassalage. Thus Emperor Kao sent a girl of the imperial clan (at first he had
planned to send his own daughter) to the Hun Shan-Yü Mao-tun's harem. The
granting of an imperial lady was considered to be so signal an act of imperial
favor, that it was extended only in rare cases, chiefly to the Huns and the
Wu-sun (the latter were traditional Chinese allies against the Huns). When such
alliance by marriage had been made, there naturally ensued intrigues to have
the sons by such Chinese women elevated to the foreign thrones, in order to
extend Chinese influence. Among the Huns, these attempts were usually
unsuccessful; the Wu-sun kings, however, became in this manner partly Chinese.
Thus there was opened the possibility for some barbarian invaders of China
during the early middle ages to assert that their ruler was the legitimate heir
to the Chinese imperial throne, since he was descended from a Chinese imperial
house whom the Chinese had dethroned.
The victory of Confucianism
The reign of Emperor Hsüan was the time when the
actual victory of Confucianism over its rivals occurred, although that victory
was not completed until the reign of Emperor Yüan. Emperor Kao had merely been
favorably inclined to Confucianism; Emperor Wen had been influenced greatly,
but was also interested in other schools, especially the Legalist attempt to
rectify penal terminology. He had hence kept both Confucian and non-Confucian
Erudits at his court. Emperor Wu had done away with non-Confucian Erudits, and
had established the Imperial University, whereby the civil service came to be
filled with Confucians and the children of good families were taught by
Confucians. Emperor Wu had, however, been greatly influenced by Legalism,
Taoism, and other non-Confucian philosophies.
Emperor Hsüan's own sincere, but not quite
whole-hearted, Confucianism was undoubtedly occasioned by the circumstance that
as a child he had been cared for by some of the lower officials in the
government service who thought affectionately of his grandfather, and who
consequently gave him a good Confucian education, including a careful study of
the Analects, the Classic of Filial
Piety, and the Book of
Odes. The first two of these books then probably
constituted the minimum curriculum for a well-educated Confucian. Emperor Chao
had also studied these books, together with the Book of
History (7: 4b). Emperor Hsüan's first edict in the first full year of his
reign mentions the Book of Odes. Thereafter he continued to choose Confucians
as his officials and advisors. He revived the study of the Ku-liang Commentary
on the Spring and Autumn. When calamities occurred, as at the earthquakes of 70
and 67 B.C., he sent for Confucians to advise him what could be done.
The study of the Ku-liang Commentary, which had
been the favorite of Emperor Hsüan's grandfather, brought attention to the
differences between it and the then authoritative Kung-yang Commentary (the
Tso-chuan was not yet popular or studied by important scholars), and then to
the differences between the various other classics. Emperor Hsüan summoned to
the capital the outstanding authorities on all the Confucian classics to
discuss these matters in the imperial presence. At the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion in
the imperial palace, these discussions were carried on for two years (cf. App.
II), under the presidency of Hsiao Wang-chih, with Emperor Hsüan acting as
final arbiter to decide matters on which agreement could not otherwise be
reached. The results of these discussions were then memorialized to the throne
and published, thus fixing the official interpretation of the classics. Other
interpretations were not proscribed; they are also listed among the books in
the imperial library, but the official interpretation was doubtless taught in
the Imperial University and learned by candidates for all official positions,
for use in replies to the imperial examinations. The candidates' replies were
graded by good Confucians, with the result that this official interpretation
monopolized men's minds in the same manner that Chu Hsi's interpretation of the
classics became dominant in recent centuries. At the same time, the number of
the Erudits and their Disciples, who were the teachers in the Imperial
University, was doubled.
In spite of Emperor Hsüan's personal reliance upon
Confucianism, he never accepted it exclusively or blindly in all respects, as
did his successors. He was a practical man who had lived among the common
people before he came to the throne, and knew the danger of idealistic
impracticality inherent in the interpretations made by Confucian scholars.
Hence he took as his standard not only Confucian interpretations of the
classics but also the conduct of practical statesmen in Spring and Autumn
times. In dealing with the Huns, he was quite ready to adopt "benevolence and
righteousness" as the method for treating the Shan-Yü, but he was far from
relying upon moral suasion in all cases, as Confucian idealists
urged. In addition to Confucianism, he was interested in penological
terminology as developed by the school of names and circumstances. He said that
the Han practices accorded only in part with the Confucian models; these
practises were also taken from the practises of the Lords Protector in Chou
times (considered to be anti-Confucian), who had adapted themselves to
circumstances, rather than following rigidly Confucian principles (9: 1b).
Although all his Lieutenant Chancellors were highly educated Confucians, they
were at the same time primarily experienced officials, and were chosen by him
with reference to their success as officials. Emperor Hsüan intended at one
time to make the great Confucian authority, Hsiao Wang-chih, his Lieutenant
Chancellor, but the conduct of the latter as Grandee Secretary showed that he
was not capable of holding the highest office, so he was dismissed. Thus
Emperor Hsüan was a sincere and convinced Confucian, but he was too wise and
too practical to accept everything the Confucian pedants said. While Emperor Wu
paved the way for the victory of Confucianism by putting it in control of the
curriculum through which officials entered the civil service, that victory did
not become complete until the time of Emperor Hsüan's successor, Emperor Yüan
(49-33 B.C.).
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