汉代上封事考论

On memorial to the emperor of the Han Dynasty

封事,即秘密章奏,是汉代朝臣上呈给皇帝的一种特殊的上行官文书,在汉代的文献中,它有多种称法,如密奏、密疏等。汉代朝臣上封事有如下特点:汉代臣民上封事是十分普遍的;西汉时并没有对臣民上封事的资格给予限定,而到了东汉时开始对臣民的上封事资格进行了规定;汉代臣民上封事的时机还与天象等偶然性因素相联系;汉代臣民上封事的保密性不强。这些特点是与汉代政治的发展相联系的。

The memorial to the emperor, namely the secret memorial to the throne, was one kind of special up offi- cial document which feudal officials of the Han Dynasty submitted to emperor. In the Han Dynasty＇ s literature, it had the many kinds of names, like the secret memorial to the throne, secretly submitting an appeal and so on. The memorial to the emperor of feudal officials have following characteristics in the Han Dynasty ： it was extremely universal that officials and subjects presented a memorial to the emperor ; it has not given the definition to qualification of officials and subjects presenting a memorial to the emperor in the Western Han Dynasty, hut the Eastern Han Dynasty started to carry on the stipulation to qualification; the opportunity of memorial to the emperor in the Han Dynasty also had connection with the accidental factor, such as celestial phenomenon ; the secrecy of memorial to the emperor was not strong in the Han Dynasty. These characteristics were related with politics development of the Han Dynasty.