A Study on Wang Mang's Standardized Reforms to Create a "New" Empire Using Excavated Articles and Characters

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03133
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of Asia and Africa
• Research Institution: Yamaguchi University
• Principal Investigator: MA Biao 山口大学, 大学院東アジア研究科, 教授 (20346539)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 王莽 / 新帝国 / 改革 / 標準化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Successive historians have given negative evaluations to Wang Mang, the Emperor of the "New" Empire (9-23), for the failure of the "Wang Mang Reform" to reform the evils of the former Han Empire, but this researcher has been After examining the excavated materials and conducting the integration verification, (1)Wang Mang's reform was based on the reform that he performed in the latter half of the Han Dynasty. (2) Great remodeling of Metropolitan Chang'an is the start of Wang Mang reform. (3) Wang Mang's enthronement space He expressed the characteristics of the "Zen Jo" administration. (4)His metrology reform was a model that was standardized to the later Chinese dynasties. (5)The establishment of his "Kana" fame was a pioneer in later times. It can be said that Wang Mang's reform was unsuccessful, but in fact he concluded that his reform was found to have been continued by Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of Oita After Han.

Free Research Field

東洋史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来の王莽改革に関する研究には、政治・経済・文化・外交の専門分野における事例研究にとどまっている。これと異なり、本研究構想は、第一に王莽が前代帝国の制度的な破綻に対して制度的な「標準化」しようという斬新な視点としてなされた改革であるということ、第二に現代的研究分野と違い、都・封建国・祭祀施設・華夷階級などの改造項目を構築したこと、つまり王莽が古典の国家理想像に真似て制度改革してみた傾向を検証しようとしたものであること、第三に単なる古典文献でなく出土した文物を融合させており多面的な調査研究・検証が可能であることを特徴とした。このように、実学的な検証によって従来の研究に貢献をした意義がある。