A Research On The Traditional Chinese Political Theoretical System Of The Early Empire Based On Thorough Interpretation Of The Original Text Xinyu (新语)

The upsurge of the Chinese people in the 21st century depends on the condition that China as a nation should have her own special cultural system, and that the Chinese people should recognize and identify her historic tradition. But the reconstruction of this traditional system means giving up the "Western-centralism", and returning to the Chinese special integrate thinking, to the traditionally self-sufficient system and to the historic text knowledge system, i.e. to begin with the Chinese logic system, so as to reconstruct the pre-Qin and/or Qin-Han Empire cultural system. For only with a true understanding of the logical development of the Chinese history can one explain the Chinese history creatively, realize the idiomatically and typically Chinese "ancient wisdoms", and can it be possible to make the past serve the present. This dissertation, based on this conception, discusses the logic system of Chinese traditional political theory in the early time of the Chinese Empire, by dissecting and perusing a classic work Xinyu (新语) thoroughly and wholly.Why is Chinese traditional political theory taken up as the topic? Why is the work Xinyu (新语) is chosen to be dissected and perused? The reason is that politics is the center and the "world order" of the Chinese history. It is the axis to the Chinese history wheel. The word "politics" in Chinese culture covers a wider range than that in Western cultures. The Chinese history as a whole has two obviously different developing stages: the feudal time before Qin Dynasty and the empire time rear Qin Dynasty. In these two stages the different politic theoretical systems were built. Xinyu (新语) , the work by Lujia (陆贾),was the transition between the two systems, which laid a firm foundation for the empire theoretical system carried on for over two thousand years. Because of this, an entire and systematic understanding Xinyu (新语) indicates a thorough understanding of the political system of the early empire, and the characteristics of the Chinese traditional politic system.This dissertation contains two major parts. The first part concentrates on the survey of the theoretical structure establishment and its application in political practice in the early time of Han Dynasty, and then goes on to the far-reaching influence on the construction of the theoretical system through Han Dynasty. The second part focuses on interpreting Xinyu (新语) systematically, regarding this political text as a whole. All the conclusions made in the first part are based on the thorough textual interpreting in the second part. This dissertation boils down to the following points:1. The seventy years in Chinese history from Qin to the early Han Dynasty is viewed as the time of experimentation of empire politics. In the whole course of development, the construction and application of political theory plays a key role in keeping the empire political system just and making all the members identify with the system. Lujia was the founder of this system. His work Xinyu (新语) was not written as an academic work, but especially for establishing the empire political system; it was written for "enlightening the empire leaders in politics", not as was supposed to "transmit culture". In this aspect, Lujia should be first of all a statesman, then a thinker, literary artist .... Therefore, Xinyu (新语) should not be taken as philosophical work, as many scholars maintain today, but as a matter of fact, it was written from the view of building and maintaining the empire order, and consciously for the benefit of the ruling class. Lujia shared the same political viewpoints with the empire leaders, so the political system established in his work Xinyu (新语) could be easily accepted and adopted by the ruling class. On this point, we can say Lujia was the first to lay a foundation for the empire political system construction, and his work Xinyu (新语) was the first empire political system planned in the empire time.2. The political strategy "flexibility" ,i.e., adopting a certain political theory flexibly and skillfully according to specific time and place, brought forth by Xinyu (新语) is the political guideline that were actually adopted by the empire leaders in early Han Dynasty. The new political system, whose distilment is "flexibility" , was vividly embodied in the political practice, the political actions of the emperor and the strategic decisions of the central government in that period. It can also explain the reason why the leaders allowed hundreds of schools of thoughts to strive during their despotic ruling. Lujia (陆贾) 's Xinyu (新语) , serving as the tutorial of the empire political system, contributes a lot in the political practice in Early Han. Moreover, it opens the door to the advances in the constructing of the empire political system in the whole Han Dynasty and is respected as its cornerstone. Showing us the connotation and structure of the basic model of the Chinese traditional political theory, the theoretical system of "New Politics" is helpful for us to undertake further study of this issue.3. The train of the logic in the political theoretical system in Xinyu (新语) is a reversion to the traditional Taoism and reconstruction and integrating of political views of various schools of thoughts. Without precedent in the history, it makes summary and exposition for the basic theory and categories of Chinese traditional political theoretical system. Furthermore, the reversion to the tradition is the reasonable approach for reconstructing the global, especially the Chinese, political theory. For this reason, the study of the Lujia's political theoretical system and the succeeding Chinese traditional political theory construction is practically meaningful for the recognition and reconstruction of modern politics.4. Regarding the structure, Xinyu (新语) , with the arguments "flexibility" and "governing" as its main plots, is a progressive theoretical system designed from practice to ideal. It furnishes the Han Empire with a two-step strategy, which gears with the political condition with multilayer political entities and provides forward-looking notion for the political unification in the following period. As for the basic elements constituting the political theoretical system, Xinyu (新语) regards the way of heaven, humanity ,and the way of governing as the integrants of the whole Taoism and lists "order", "harmony" , "governing", "punishment" as the basic four categories of the way of ruling. On the basis of the abuse of punishment in Qin Dynasty and its negative impact, Lujia mainly concerned himself with the governing approaches with "order" and "harmony". When it comes to specific political actions, the approach means the emperor -centered virtue and morality. In essence, it is theoretical issue concerning political justice. Its basic principles in the political form are inaction, moralization and ruling by law.5. The political theory of Xinyu (新语) is a political justice theory whose core is the emperors' behaviors and a revised theory to compensate for the loss of justice in Qin Dynasty and justify the politics in early Han Dynasty. Lujia's political ideal, "the world of kindness and virtue" is a kind of theoretical reconstructing on the premise of reselecting the political elements in various schools of thoughts rather than mechanically inheriting one of them.6. Regarding the contents, all the twelve articles reflect the essence of the very six parts: the outline of the political theoretical system, political course, political action, political idealism, political essentialism and political decision These articles are not only embodying the general properties of the Chinese traditional political theoretical system, but also showing proficient contemporary characteristics in making theoretical system for the political practice in the early Han dynasty. More importantly, they are great ideas out of the practical considerations of "judging according to the reality", laying one of the cornerstones for the immortal Chinese traditional theories.