И.Ф. Попова
Политическая практика и идеология раннетанского Китая.
// М.: «Восточная литература». 1999. 280 с. ISBN 5-02-018027-0
[ аннотация: ]
Книга посвящена изучению принципов политической жизни и особенностей официальной идеологии Китая первой половины VII в. — периода формирования и расцвета государства Тан (618-907). На основе китайских источников (исторических документов, императорских указов, докладов трону и др.) рассматриваются вопросы, связанные с механизмом верховной власти, социальной структурой, государственным строительством, взаимоотношениями центра и периферии, военной и внешней политикой раннетанского Китая.
Книга снабжена указателями.
Содержание
Введение. — 3
Глава I. Политическая жизнь раннетанского Китая. — 10
Тайюаньское восстание 617 г. — 10
Правление Гао-цзу (618-626). — 24
Великие достижения периода Чжэнь-гуань (627-649). — 41
Глава II. Представления о верховной власти. — 55
«Ди фань» («Правила императоров») — политическое завещание Тай-цзуна. — 55
Противоречия между верховной властью и оппозицией в подходе к официальной ритуальной практике. — 73
Глава III. Взаимоотношения государя и бюрократии. — 83
Совещательная деятельность раннетанских сановников. — 83
О принципах подбора на должности в период Чжэнь-гуань. — 98
Глава IV. Правящий дом и аристократия. — 114
Дискуссии об удельных пожалованиях. — 114
Создание общегосударственного генеалогического свода. — 140
Глава V. Государь и народ. — 148
О методах воздействия правителя на народ. — 148
Налоговая политика раннетанского Китая. — 159
Глава VI. Военная политика. — 170
Военно-политическая доктрина раннетанского Китая. — 170
Создание административно-территориальных структур цзими. — 187
Заключение. — 207
Примечания. — 210
Список использованных источников и литературы. — 237
Список сокращений. — 252
Указатель имён. — 253
Указатель географических названий. — 261
Указатель должностей и ведомств. — 267
Summary. ^
The reign of the T’ang dynasty (618-907) became one of highest points in the Chinese history, the great epoch, which had a deep influence upon the following history of many states of the Far East region. The best achievements of Chinese civilization spread over the neighboring countries and became known in the remote cultural centers of the Near and Middle East. The main signs of that brilliant period were the heyday of the imperial power, the optimum organization of the society and state (the highly-developed administrative, taxation, educational, military systems) and the remarkable achievements in the sphere of culture, arts, literature, sciences.
The important historical achievement of the T’ang epoch became the creation of the official political doctrine, which provided the viability of the bureaucratic empire and was suitable to represent the interests of the mam political powers of traditional China — of monarchy, implemented in the person of emperor (the ruling power) and bureaucracy (the opponent power). The whole complicated and many-sided process of reorganization of the T’ang society was proceeded primarily as a result of an interaction of these two quite autonomous political powers.
The concrete historical situation, which was formed in China up to the VIIth century, urged the strengthening of the super power and concentrating the real (not only ritual) governing functions in the hands of the emperor. The ruling T’ang house could achieve these overwhelming aims only by taking to the account all the changes, which had taken place in the Chinese society since the collapse of the Han state (206 B.C. — 220 A.D.). The first T’ang emperors united the country after the long period of disintegration. Decentralization, instability, the frequent succession of the dynasties caused the contradictory political goals; on the one hand, the provincial aristocracy and gentry became rather mobile in creating of their political units for attaining the concrete political purposes; on another hand, some bureaucrats were dissatisfied with the practical government activities and paid their main attention to the unofficial life. The opposite sentiments in the society became stronger, the significance of the personality and family grew and the contrast between the weak ruler and talented Confucian statesmen looked profound. So, the T’ang rulers had not only to win the gifted literati on their
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side, but also to demonstrate the attitude to them as to an equal political partner.
The political ideology of the traditional China included an idea of the absolute, unlimited emperor’s power and at the same time represented some logical, historical and moral rules, which the super power was traditionally obliged to correspond to. The talented and high-educated chancellors (who traditionally considered themselves the main creators of the government strategies) always discussed with an emperor at the court the various aspects of politics and morality.
At the beginning of the T’ang era the literati, who, in society opinion, cultivated the pure Han intellectual tradition, looked with some scorn ever at the T’ang ruling house, which was of mixed North-Chinese «barbarian» heritage. At the same time T’ang founders Kao-tsu (618-626) and T’ai-tsung (627-649) demonstrated a keen interest in the Confucian ideas of government and both utilized chancellors-Confucians in important administrative and advisory capacities. Discussing the essence of super power these chancellors insisted on the moral character of it, on the evident ethical validity of the ruler’s actions, and believed that the success of the government depended on the emperor’s virtues. In political views of the Confucians the ethical dominated over the political realm. The Confucian view on the political principles of early T’ang period was implemented in the classical work «The Essence of Policy during the Chen-kuan Period» (Chen-kuan cheng yao) finished by Wu Ching (670-749) in 705. The main idea of this work consisted in the declaration that all the brilliant results of T’ai-tsung’s reign were achieved due to the aiding function of his chancellors and their participation in the policy-making.
Nevertheless, in reality the first T’ang emperors were the true creators of the state political course and served as the nucleus of the T’ang administration. They understood clearly that the ruler, whose power was in theory absolute, in practice was quite susceptible to being influenced or even controlled by his chancellors. So, the emperor in his turn always had at his disposal a vast arsenal of time-tested strategies, by which he brought pressure on his subordinates. In particular T’ai-tsung was a great master of political tactics, he was characterized by a keen understanding of the political balance at the court and the way of manipulating the interests of his subordinates. The political situation in early T’ang period influenced deeply state standards, administrative practice, political ideology of the early T’ang China. In 648 T’ai-tsung presented his Heir Apparent
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(the future emperor Kao-tsung) his political will «The Rules for Emperors» («Ti-fan»), which represented a compendium of the 12 rules. «These rules will help you to govern your state and to improve youself», said the emperor to his son / «Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government» (Tzu-chih t’ung-chien). Comp. by Ssu-ma Kuang. Beijing, 1956, chuan 198, p. 6251/.
In his will T’ai-tsung tried to revise the priorities of the official orthodox ideology and to teach his son the pragmatic ideas of government. Formulating the rules, he based firstly on reality, not on the abstract ethics, in his view the morality had to serve the attaining of the concrete political tasks. He also declared that the might and the duration of the reign of the Tang dynasty depended primarily on the personal talents and the participation of the emperor in the practical governing. T’ai-tsung stressed the social functions of the ruler: «The ruler gives responsibilities, issues the edicts, with the help of the governing methods (shu) rules the people» [«The Rules for Emperors» (Ti-fan). Comp. by T’ang T’ai-tsung. Tsung-shu chi-ch’eng ed. Shanghai, 1936, chuan 1.2, p. 7]. In accordance with the Chinese tradition, T’ai-tsung maintained that the ruler must always depend on the reliable assistants, the gentlemen (chun-zhi), but if the tradition considered the chancellors and the gifted subordinates as the most trustworthy allies of the ruler, T’ai-tsung in his turn thought, that the real unflagging support for the emperor would be provided by his relatives, representatives of the ruling clan.
Emperor T’ai-tsung’s pragmatic views, which he demonstrated in his political will and the Confucian outlook of Wu Ching’s work represented the two different tensions in the official state ideology in the early T’ang period, and were connected with political interaction of the monarch and bureaucracy.
The stability of the T’ang state depended on the regulative function of the emperor, who turned to be able in keeping the political balance and checking the ambitions of the ruling elite. The ruler himself hold his steady position due to the traditional idea of the absolute and invulnerable authority of the emperor and of the implicit submission of the subordinates’ lives to their ruler. Simultaneously the political opposition has the strategies for the protection of their own values and the corporate interests. They stressed the restrictive tendencies in the doctrine of the super power: the idea of deprivation of the Mandate given to the ruler by the Heaven, the traditional norms of the ethical legitimacy of the super power (the emperor’s debt to implement the concrete moral virtues), the ruler’s
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dependence on the Heaven signs, strictly preserved official regulation of the ritual-sacrificing activities, court life and audiences procedure. According to the traditional political culture the main decisions of the emperor had to absorb the wisdom of the high officials, to answer the most urgent concern of the people and to depend on the support and the approval of the population.
The main mechanism for reaching the consensus in the ruling class was the decision-making policy at the early T’ang court. The regular audiences for the officials of the highest ranks acted as the deliberative and decision-making bodies. The periodicity and the number of the participants of these audiences were set up by the emperor, who thus could implement the flexible official policy and check the power of the high bureaucracy. At the same time the officials also could thwart the emperor’s will by presenting their own thoughts and taking part in resolving of the political questions. The strict formal control and the elaborate legislative machinery of the court decision-making practice (the particular formal way of the court discussions, the permanent staff of the secretaries attending, the system of examination and the approval of imperial edicts) gave to the emperor and to the bureaucracy the opportunity to exert influence upon each other. The elaborate decision-making practice answered the purposes of the main political powers in early T’ang China, because it guaranteed the social stability and objectively improved the quality of the state governance. The great accomplishments in economical, social and military spheres were owed not exclusively to the energy and wisdom of the Kao-tsu and T’ai-tsung, but also to the efforts of their talented chancellors and generals.
In accordance with the mainstream of the Confucian opinion, T’ang T’ai-tsung implemented the most important quality of the ideal ruler: he demonstrated the great skill to interact with the bureaucracy and to accept the councels [counsels] of his ministers. At the same time his indisputable merit, which influenced deeply the official policy in the early T’ang period — the actuation of the practical approaches to the governing of the state — was underestimated by the traditional Chinese ideology.
The political balance in the ruling class in the early T’ang centralization period provided the reliable functioning of the bureaucratic systems and institutions, which were formed mainly in the Northern Chou and the Sui periods and were improved by the first T’ang emperors. Some menace to them was brought by T’ai-tsung’s attempts to enfeoff the representatives of the ruling clan,
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to strengthen the monarch’s authority and to make his administrative functions more concrete. T’ai-tsung did not succeed because of the insuperable resistance of the opponent powers (new bureaucracy and old aristocracy, which preserved its might and influence). At the same time the acuteness of many contradictions in the government was minimized owing to the court decision-making activities.
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