Peculiarities of the description of the participation of noble families in the political struggle in the early period of Western Han history (202–195 B.C.)

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of the description of the participation of representatives of noble families in the political struggle during the reign of Han Gaozu, Liu Bang (202-195 B.C.), in the second part of the first chapter of Han shu (漢書 “History of Han”). The analysis of the content of “historical-literary” texts from this chapter, adjacent to historical texts, makes it possible to study the peculiarities of the struggle for power between the emperor and representatives of various elite groups of hereditary nobility. An open and direct designation of the circumstances of this struggle was apparently not always possible due to the long-lasting influence of the political forces involved. Therefore, historiographers limited themselves to mentioning various personalities, which indirectly indicates the involvement of particular political groups of the hereditary aristocracy of early imperial China in the struggle for power.

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