중국전통시대의 서술에서 정통의 문제

The Orthodoxy in Historical Description of Chinese History

In Chinese history, innumerable dynasties have gone through rises and falls. Whenever a new dynasty was established, it proclaimed it's orthodoxy based on the legitimacy of its succession of the throne. This so-called ‘orthodoxy’claim served as a political agenda to gain control over the people. The reasoning behind its claim comes from the ‘principal of abdication’ by the former dynasty, stating that only the competent shall succeed to the throne. There also exists the ‘principal of wuxing(五行)’ that refers the succession of throne through the provision of nature. The legitimacy was sometimes backed by the claim that the new dynasty shares the same ancestry with the former dynasty. Some argued their legitimacy with its possession of a territory, and others reasoned with their ethics. Many people who established the dynasty claimed that the dynasty they built had legitimacy. The question whether a dynasty was legitimate or not left to historians to work out the many theories. However, even the historians had different thoughts and opinions; some justified and others criticized the dynasty. After observing that the historians greatly influenced the legitimacy of adynasty, the government dominated the historians to write a history. This led to a problem that the theory of legitimacy of a dynasty was determined by the people who had power. However, it was limited to situations only if the possibly controlable territories were secured. Therefore, it has come to the understanding that the theory of legitimacy of establishment of a dynasty is not a theory that can be applied to all periods, but a theory that has been developed to suit the spirit of a certain period.