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4.2: From Commoner to Emperor

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    135114
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    Most immediately, however, Liu Bang (now Emperor Gaozu) had a problem: his supporters. First, they wanted rewards. Liu Bang gave about 850 of his relatives and supporters lands and titles. Some were even called “kings” and governed fiefs on the old feudal model. Fearing a return to warfare, the central government later retook some kingdoms by force. It used the crimes of about half of the other nobles as an excuse for removing them, demoting some to commoners, while others served terms as convict laborers. Another 170 were stripped of their titles for no crime, and the rest simply failed to produce heirs. On average, the noble families lasted just over two generations, so not a single descendent of those Liu Bang had ennobled still held a title by 86 BC. The Han dynasty had embraced and completed the Qin destruction of aristocracy.

    There was a second problem with Liu Bang’s followers. Before Han, every single lord or ruler had been born an aristocrat. Only a few of the Zhou aristocratic families survived into Han, but the idea that only people born to old, high-ranking families deserved reverence was still powerful. Liu Bang could claim no noble lineage whatsoever. In fact, he could not remember his father’s name and labelled his ancestral temple “Tai gong,” which is just a respectful term for an old man. Liu used stories of supernatural events to create a sense that Heaven’s Mandate could close that social gap (such as a case of clouds indicating his presence when his followers were looking for him), but his generals saw themselves as his comrades and equals, if not his betters. Sima Qian tells us:

    Liu Bang’s followers were given to drinking and brawling over which of them had accomplished the most in the conquest. When in their cups, some would shout wildly and others would draw their swords and hack at the pillars of the palace. Liu Bang became distressed over their behavior.

    Sensing an opportunity, a Confucian, Shusun Tong, suggested that he and others from Confucius’s home state of Lu design some court rituals to tame the generals. Liu Bang hesitated. He already had advisors who were fiscal experts, military experts, engineering experts, experts in interpreting omens, experts in health, experts in calendrical calculations of lucky and unlucky days, and so on. These were practical skills. Confucians, on the other hand, were known as eccentrics who wore antique clothing and practiced ancient rituals. A follower of Mozi described them this way:

    They bedeck themselves with elaborate dress… They strum and sing and beat out dance rhythms to gather disciples. They proliferate rites… to display their decorum. They labor over the niceties of ceremonial gaits and flapping gestures to impress people.

    Another writer records that even when Liu Bang had surrounded Lu and was about to capture Xiang Yu, “the Confucians in the state continued to discourse upon the Way, to chant their lessons and practice the rites. The sounds of their strumming and singing never stopped [throughout the battle].”1

    So Liu Bang hesitated. He asked, “Can you make the rituals not too difficult?” Shusun Tong reassured him (taking a leaf out of the Legalists’ book): “The five emperors of antiquity all had different types of court music and dance; the three founders of the Shang, Zhou and Xia dynasties did not follow the same ritual… They did not merely copy their predecessors. I intend to pick a number of ancient rituals and some Qin ceremonies, to make a combination of these.”

    “Well, see what you can do!” said the emperor. “But make it easy to learn! Keep in mind that it must be the sort of thing I can handle.”

    Shusun and thirty scholars from Lu worked out some rituals and practiced for a month. Then they called the emperor in to watch. “I can do that all right!” said Liu Bang. He and all the generals and officials practiced their roles. At the New Year formal audience, every man trembled with awe and reverence; during the feast, no-one dared to quarrel or misbehave. Liu Bang declared “Today, for the first time, I know how exalted a thing it is to be an emperor.” Confucian scholars had made a bargain with Legalist imperial power and won a toehold at court – a toehold, not much more. The Han court never endorsed Confucians’ interpretation of the classics as the state orthodoxy, but allowed them to design many rituals exalting the emperor.

    Architecture, ritual, and clothing differentiated the emperor from other humans in every sphere of life. He lived in the inmost part of a large walled palace in the capital, with his consorts and family. Eunuchs and palace women served them. Special gateways and towers symbolized his power, and isolated him; officials could visit only the outer part of the palace. Specialists prepared his food and he ate alone, solemnly served with many more dishes than he needed, in a set order. Even his sexual relations were ritualized and overseen by eunuchs and officials. The emperor’s clothing was unique to him; he had to wear certain robes at certain times of year and for particular ceremonies, and the robes were of ritually prescribed cloth and color, with embroidered symbols. He spent much of his time as cosmic intermediary, preparing for or carrying out sacrifices to Heaven (after about 40 BC), Earth, Soil and Grain, stars, weather forces, imperial ancestors, etc. Emperor and Empress together carried out purifying rituals, fertility rituals, cosmological rituals, and ceremonies of investing officials with authority. Sometimes they traveled to sacred sites to worship important mountains.


    This page titled 4.2: From Commoner to Emperor is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Sarah Schneewind (eScholarship) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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