| Under pressure from within and without, the heirless Kao-tsung, in his early 20's, adopted Hsiao-tsung and Prince Hsin as contending candidates for the throne. Hsiao-tsung's filial piety made him the winner, but it also subordinated him as emperor to Kao-tsung's supreme emperorship. His independence was compromised and his aspirations dampened. However, the father and the son were similar in their preoccupation with enlarging imperial power.;Most of the time, Hsiao-tsung seems to have regarded his officials as being peevish, impractical, and cliquish. Consequently, he strove to exercise administrative power himself, reducing his state councilors to the mere role of executive assistants. His shadow loomed large over military affairs, over fiscal management, over personnel appointments at nearly all levels, and over policy towards the Chin. He seldom accepted counsel or changed decisions even in the face of strong opposition.;His favoritism toward his personal attendants sparked confrontations with the opinion officials, whose duty it was to speak out against such a misplacement of imperial trust and delegation of power. Promoted to less contentious positions, demoted, or even dismissed, the opinion officials soon lapsed into a kind of censorial reticence.;Aware of the prevailing institutional impotence vis-a-vis imperial power, Chin Hsi tried a moralistic approach. Chu strongly advocated self-cultivation and ethocracy, the ideals of the Ch'eng school of Neo-Confucianism he espoused. However, while the emperor adroitly resisted his guidance, Chu's uncompromising thought and behavior alienated him from the conventional scholar-officials. By virtue of a wily policy of accommodation, Hsiao-tsung minimized the effects of the struggle occurring between Chu Hsi and his opponents. However, as scholar-officials who were willing to compromise their Confucian values prevailed at the expense of idealistic Confucians, the government sank deeper into the mire of bureaucraticism. |
