Han Dynasty Filial Piety

Based on the fact that it is during Western Han Dynasty that filial piety is publicized for the first time, this paper takes the filial piety of Western Han Dynasty as the object of study. The rulers of Western Han Dynasty inherited and reconstructed the Confucian filial piety culture of pre-Qin dynasty, gradually formalized and simplified the implementation of filial piety, and finally raised the filial piety to the political ethic level, ruled the country with filial piety for the first time in our history. Filial piety, as the political guideline of Western Han Dynasty, not only played an important role to maintain the stability of society that time, but also had a profound effect on later generations. Therefore, to study the spread, popularization and evolution of filial piety during Western Han Dynasty and to analyze its advantages and disadvantages has great significance to carry forward the filial piety culture correctly.The first part of this paper discussed the historical background of filial piety during Western Han Dynasty, elaborated the Confucian filial piety and gave the economic, political and social reasons why rulers of Western Han Dynasty paid great attention to filial piety. The second part of this paper discussed the main characteristics of filial piety of Western Han Dynasty from three aspects:theoretical form, theoretical core and theologization of filial piety. The third part of this paper discussed the detailed implementation of filial piety and focused on the expansion of its contents, the evolution of its concept and the strength of parental rights. The last part of this paper discussed the historical effect and apocalypse of the filial piety of Western Han Dynasty, analyzed both the positive effect on later generations and its limitations, pointed out the practical significance to reconstruct the filial piety, and also tried to propose some suggestions to do this.