The Debates on the Classics and Imperial Ceremonies in the Han Era: Towards the Establishment of the Festival in Honor of Confucius

This paper investigates the debates on the classics that were held at the court in the presence of emperor during the Han era and makes clear that these debates had the character of ritual rather than of a purely academic discussion. I also examine the process by which the debates were incorporated into the system of imperial ceremonies. In the Han era, the debates on the Confucian classics were sometimes held at the court in the presence of the emperor ; preeminent examples of which are the debate held at the Stone Culvert Pavilion (Shiquge 石渠閣) during the Former Han era and that at the White Tiger Pavilion (Baihuguan 白虎觀) in the Later Han era. These debates had the character of a ritual, and were also a sort of amusement. After the Bright Hall (Mingtang 明堂), the Royal House of Music (Biyong 辟雍), the Spiritual Terrace (Lingtai 靈臺) and the Imperial Academy (Taixue 太學) were established in the southern outskirts of Luoyang, debates on the classics were also held when the emperor visited the Royal House of Music or the Imperial Academy. Emperor Ming, the second emperor of the Later Han, performed the Grand Shooting Ceremony (dasheli 大射禮) for the first time at the Royal House of Music, and participated in the debates on classics himself. This behavior fulfilled the Royal House of Musicʼs function of spreading the virtue of the Son of Heaven throughout the empire, and embodied the apotheosis of the Confucian Son of Heaven. The debates on the classics performed by emperors themselves on the occasion of imperial ceremonies were the precedent for the debates held by young emperors or crown princes on the occasion of the festival in honor of Confucius (shidianli 釋奠禮), which was established in the Six Dynasties era, and demonstrated the ideal of Confucian rule in which the Confucian Son of Heaven edifies the empire