后妃吏化与天子之制——汉代后妃建制探微

Towards Bureaucracy:the Inner Palace Imperial Order of the Han Dynasty

汉代的后妃建制,表现为两种形态:一是《春秋》经传描绘的“姪娣媵系统”,该系统以帝、后婚礼为前提;二是以《礼记·昏义》为蓝本的“五班次系统”,“比视”是其核心。武帝、元帝时期改革后妃建制,在嫔妃等级与爵秩序列之间建立起“比视”关系。帝、后等齐至上的政治身份序列随之形成,汉帝妾群全面吏化,“五班次系统”得到初步实践。王莽秉政期间的两场聘后礼,及随之而立的两种后妃建制,既涤清了秦制影响、建立起“汉家”新传统,又表明汉帝国对“姪娣媵”和“五班次”的取舍。汉家追求的“天子之制”要求皇帝至上无匹,而消解帝、后等齐伦理依据最有效的手段是放弃“聘后”。因对帝、后婚礼的硬性要求,“姪娣媵”最终无缘东汉的制度实践。“五班次”却因不要求帝、后婚礼,不限制后妃姓氏、身份,及“比视”在调节政治身份序列中的便利等,获得汉帝国青睐,并成为后世后妃建制的经典模本。随着后妃比视对象被调整,“册妾为后”成为定制,东汉皇后彻底成为皇帝臣妾,皇帝至上无匹的政治身份序列正式形成。汉家在实践“天子之制”的道路上又进一步。

There were two kinds of organizational systems of the Empresses and imperial concubines in the Han Dynasty.One was the“Zhi-di-ying system”(姪娣媵系统)based on the text and commentaries of the Spring and Autumn.Another was the“Five grades system”(五班次系统)based on other ritual books.Along with the development of the supreme position of the Emperors,the marital rites were changed for the reduction of the originally considered equal position of the empresses against the emperors.In this progress,the five grades system became the main regulation by the late Han period,mainly because that in this system,the royal ceremony of marriage and the family background of the empresses and royal concubines were not strictly regulated.The absolute supreme of the emperors was finally established within the palace in the Eastern Han dynasty.