西漢之丞相－讀史劄（言巳）一則

The Prime Minister of Western Han

孫國棟(Sun Kuo-tong)

《新亞學報》 16卷(下) (1993/01) Pp. 81-97+ap3

並列摘要

The prime minister was the highest ranking official in Western Han. He got hold of much responsibilities and duties from the emperor; yet he was the one to be much isolated. Therefore the possibilities for the shaking and changing of his sphere of power and influence turned greater. Although the prime minister was the 'head' of all government officials, only a few or none of them would help the prime minister to balance or to resist the 'pressure' from the emperor. Yü shi tai fu (御史大夫) was actually the one who would take over the prime minister's place in Western Han. So he was also the one to compete with the prime minister to gain the necessary power to exercise his political influence. Besides, the Legal System of Western Han was not quite perfect. The power and influence of the P.M. were much accumulated and centralized in the process of dynastic consolidation. Occasions abounded for various conflicts with his monarchial ruler as well as the challenges from other statesmen or officials of lower ranks. There were no 'buffer state' for either parties; the inevitable tension thus increased, endangering and eventually overturning the power of the P.M. This was quite different in T'ang Dynasty. The P.M. or Chief Councilor in T'ang was actually the leader of the two departments of zhong hsu mün hsia (中書門下), viz. the jian yin (諫言) and the gai shi zhong (給事中). Advice was given to the emperor by jian yin if he mishaved. A wrong order would be deterred or detained by gai shi zhong. Different opinions would be presented between the emperor and his statesmen often with respect to the recruitment of successful candidates for officialdom. The Legal System in the T'ang was more preferable than its counterpart in the Han. Officials under wu pin (五品) were recruited by the Ministry of Labour (吏部), while those above wu pin were all recommended by councilors of zhong hsu mün hsia. It was not easy for the emperor to alter their decisions. As a result, to be a prime minister was indeed much more difficult in Western Han than in the T'ang. In general, it appears that being a P.M. in Western Han was actually not easy. The sphere of power and influence depended a lot on one's own education, social status, and reputation. The P.M. had also to seek for monopolizing the chances for social ascent of his own prefectures. It was thus inevitable that he needed to be congruent with the character and ideology of the monarch. The conclusion is that there were a lot of changes in the political power and social influence of the 44 prime ministers within the 214 years' reign of the Western Han Dynasty. It is the purpose of this paper to explicate from a wider perspective the 6 different stages of the transfer and changes of power of the prime ministers.