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| "Imperial Preceptor" and "Imperial Adviser": Zhang Liang's Image and Political Practice in Early Southern and Northern Dynasties |
| Guo Shuo |
| School of History and Culture, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China |
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Abstract Historical figures not only exist in history books but are often “reborn” as certain historical images in a given period, and consequently affect real politics. Zhang Liang is a political figure who has been repeatedly interpreted and utilized since the early Han Dynasty. In the long historical process, Zhang Liang’s image has evolved constantly, from an advisor assisting the Emperor of the Han Dynasty to a historical idol integrating the Mandate of Heaven and celestial being. In the early days of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the opposing regimes of Liu Song Dynasty and Northern Wei, almost at the same time, utilized Zhang Liang’s ideal of “Imperial Preceptor” and his identity of “Imperial Advisor” through the Way of the Celestial Masters, and reformed and exerted them from different orientations, intending to weave the proofs of Mandate of Heaven that met these two regimes’ respective needs. As a historical figure, Zhang Liang was deeply embedded in real politics, and being utilized and reshaped by the two regimes also enabled Zhang Liang’s image to take on a new look.At the turn of the Jin and Song Dynasties, Liu Yu tried to fabricate the pedigree of “Liu, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty is a descendant of the Han Dynasty”, with the aim of regaining the Han Dynasty’s Mandate of Heaven through this identity. In the Way of the Celestial Masters, the kinship between Zhang Liang and Zhang Daoling was constructed to match Liu Yu’s identity as the descendant of the Han Dynasty, thus creating the auspicious fortune for Liu Song Dynasty’s “becoming attached to Tao”. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the divination of “Zhang (Liang) holding the prophetic book and giving the Han Dynasty the Mandate of Heaven” was widely spread. The Way of the Celestial Masters tried to repeat the divination of Zhang Liang in Liu Yu, and mix the auspicious fortune concocted by Buddhists into Taoist theories, so as to achieve the dual purposes of facilitating preaching and influencing politics. Liu Yu repaired the Zhang Liang Temple to commemorate Zhang Liang on the eve of dynasty substitution, and such an action was also related to showing his intention of replacing the Jin Dynasty and might have a certain connection with the Way of the Celestial Masters’ construction of an “Imperial Advisor” in which Zhang Liang was taken as a medium.Close to the time of replacement between the Jin and Song Dynasties, but later, Zhang Liang’s image loomed up again in the political and religious activities of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Kou Qianzhi utilized Cui Hao’s behavior of “comparing himself to Zhang Liang” to create a theory of “passing on the Mandate of Heaven to the Emperor through fulu (the Daoist incantations)”, and put it into practice. To a certain extent, his pattern of utilization is also a transformation of Zhang Liang’s “giving Han Dynasty the Mandate of Heaven” since the Han Dynasty. The combination of Cui Hao and Kou Qianzhi integrated Zhang Liang’s identity of “Imperial Preceptor” at the secular level and “Taoist Master” in Taoism, and their utilization, as well as transformation of Zhang Liang’s image, is quite different from that of the Liu Song Dynasty. Kou Qianzhi opposed the opinion that “the son inherits all the privileges after the father’s death” in the “False Norms of Zhang Daoling, Zhang Heng and Zhang Lu”, and emphasized that “Heaven has no partiality for anyone but sides with the person of virtue”, which was exactly in line with the requirement that Cui Hao could continue Zhang Liang’s achievements although he had no kinship with Zhang Liang. It could also provide a reasonable explanation for Tuoba’s requirement of inheriting Chinese orthodoxy as Northern barbarian tribes by giving the Mandate of Heaven to the Northern Wei Dynasty through fulu.Separately, the Liu Song Dynasty in the south and Northern Wei Dynasty in the north, utilized Zhang Liang and his story of “giving the Han Dynasty the Mandate of Heaven”, which were two interrelated but different cases in which historical knowledge enters and influences real politics. The Way of the Celestial Masters made use of Zhang Liang’s image which is far from the historical prototype, to get involved in the political activities of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Though Zhang Liang’s image was combined with completely different political backgrounds, the internal logic was quite consistent and shaped the longstanding yet uncertain common cultural consciousness of the divided northern and southern regimes. This cultural consciousness also maintained the common political language and historical memory of the northern and southern regimes, promoting the divided regimes to move forward towards a common cultural goal.
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Received: 12 November 2021
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2022, Vol. 52 
