| This dissertation aims to study the gentry scholars in the early Ming Dynasty, which began from the first year of Hongwu’s reign and ended in the first year of Tianshun’s reign. Put in the evolving process of the early Ming’s political economics and culture, this study analyzes the political economics and culture, this study analyzes the political revolution whose focus is on the gentry scholars. From the aspects of the gentry scholars’political role and subject consciousness, the trend evolution of the relationship between the power of the gentry scholars and that of the emperor and the speech right of the gentry scholars in that period, this dissertation tries to summarize the fundamental features of the gentry scholars and their politics.Soon after the establishment of this dynasty, there appeared conflicts between Zhu Yuanzhang’s governing rules and the gentry scholars’Confucian rules. After the emperor’s political blow by putting some gentry scholars into prison, a political atmosphere was formed in Hongwu’s reign, in which the emperor exercised dictatorship and the country was controlled by strict laws. In Jianwen’s reign, the emperor completely changed the style of ruling the country by the strict laws, and the gentry scholars, with Fang Xiaoru being the typical representative, became the main leaders of the politics at that time, the result of which was that an intellectual ruling atmosphere formed gradually in Jianwen’s reign. The War of Jingnan(Jingnan zhi Yi) lashed against the intellectual ruling atmosphere and the power of the emperor was strengthened once again which led to the power of the gentry scholars’being enveloped by that of the emperor. In the reign of Renzong and Xuanzong, the relationship between the emperors and the gentry scholars was peaceful and harmonious, and thus the intellectual style called Taigeti became the representation of that period’s politics. The appearance of Sanyang Politics in the early reign of Zhengtong was a symbol that the gentry scholars’politics of the Ming Dynasty began to take shape.In the early Ming the shifting period of the imperial power was the key time for the gentry scholars to carry out their political adjustment, during which the leading status of the gentry scholars increased substantially and they actively put the Confucian ruling ideas and political pursuits into practice. The Testamentary Imperial Edicts and the Imperial Edicts declaring the emperor ascending the throne in the early Ming were all written by the gentry scholars, and the analysis on these Edicts in the aspects of their written background, the tones of their contexts and the revolution items proved the main line and ideas of the gentry scholars’political adjustments in the early Ming. These political adjustments stood for the political trend in the early Ming. Civilian doctrine was the spiritual purport existed in the gentry scholars’political adjustments in the early Ming.The cognitive conflict between the emperors and the gentry scholars in the early Ming dominated and influenced its political evolution. Ming Taizu and Ming Chengzu strengthened the imperial power, suppressed the power of the gentry scholars, and emphasized the autocracy and the dictatorship. Jianwen, Renzong and Xuanzong weakened the autocratic feature of the imperial power and laid stress on the gentry scholars’accessory function to the emperor. The main evolving trend of the gentry scholars’concept about the relationship between the emperor and his officials was as follows.From Hongwu to Jianwen, the emperor-official concept of the gentry scholars represented by Fang Xiaoru was centered around the idea that the emperor and his officials ruled the country together. From Yongle to the early reign of Zhengtong, the emperor-official concept of the gentry scholars represented by San Yangs was centered around the idea that the emperor was senior and the officials were low. From Tumu Accident to Duomen Accident, the emperor-official concept of the gentry scholars represented by Yu Qian and Li Xian gradually reflected the gentry scholars’subject consciousness. The gentry scholars’political subject status in the early Ming changed as the imperial power became weak or strong. Hongwu and Yongle were the dormant period, Jianwen was the bulging period, and the time from Renzong, Xuanzong to Tianshun was the restoring period.The country’s courteous treatments were the external strengthening symbol formed by the gentry scholars’subject consciousness in the early Ming. These courteous treatments such as granting rewards, conferring titles and so on brought the gentry scholars senses of honor and self-pride, realized the political functions of encouraging the officials and educating the society, and at the same time strengthened the gentry scholars’identification. Besides the courteous treatments, the gentry scholars also were supervised and controlled by the spy organizations such as Jinyi wei and Dongchang and were likely to suffer from imperial prison, court flogging and so on. This punishing system ruined the gentry scholars’health and body and at the same time gave strikes on the gentry scholars’moral dignity, which became the symbol of the imperial dictatorship. The gentry scholars suffered from these punishments could restore their political status and reputation in the same emperor’s reign or in the latter emperor’s reign, and the central court would once again confer title on them, make their descendants officials, decorate their mausoleums or send officials to offer sacrifices to them. Then the local officials and gentries would build ancestral temples to remember them and offer spring and autumn sacrifices to them, which also has the function of encouraging and educating people. The country’s courteous treatments, the suppression of the imperial power and the political rehabilitation consisted of the punishing and encouraging system in the early Ming.The political speech right was the key symbol that the gentry scholars brought their subject consciousness into play. The gentry scholars used the Confucian thought to educate and influence the emperor and the crown prince and tried to cut the root of the conflict between the imperial rule and the Confucian rule and establish the situation that the Confucian rule led the imperial rule. The gentry scholars used the speech right by giving words at the court meeting, offering their opinions according to the emperor’s edict, giving advice after the natural disasters and stating things in secret memorials to the emperor. The influencing power the gentry scholars showed in the princes being crowned during Yongle and Jingtai was the symbol that the gentry scholars used the speech right in the early Ming. The gentry scholars in the middle and late Ming Dynasty paid their main attention to the huge abnormal political change called Jingnan and Duomen Accidents when they appraised the emperors and their officials in the early Ming and the focus of their public opinions were the historical rehabilitations of Jianwen, Jingdi, Fang Xiaoru and Yu Qian.In short, , the gentry scholars in the early Ming constantly had the clear political self discipline and definite subject consciousness and their leading function and subject status kept changing as the imperial power became strong or weak. By analyzing the status and situation of the gentry scholars in the early Ming, this dissertation discloses the dynamic evolution of the political relationship between the imperial politics and the gentry scholars’politics. The gentry scholars’politics was constantly enveloped by the imperial politics. The natural disasters and the common people’s willingness were the two weapons that the gentry scholars’politics used to contend with the imperial politics and the civilian doctrine was the basic spirit in the gentry scholars’politics in the early Ming. |
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