A Probe into the Etiquette System concerning “Son as the Emperor and Father as a Minister”

The phenomenon of “the son as the emperor and his father as a minister” was a special relationship between father and son in traditional Chinese society. In this society, people worshiped the concept of the son's absolute obedience to his father. In an imperial clan, the throne was mostly inherited from father. This balanced the relationship between the emperor and his minister(s)and that between father and his son. The phenomenon of “the son as the emperor and his father as a minister” was caused by the fact that the throne was obtained not through inheritance. People dealt with such phenomenon with different ways in different dynasties. In late Qing Dynasty, because a member of the imperial clan mounted to the throne, such phenomenon became even more striking. Compared with the previous generation, the most notable change was how a father as a minister faced his son who was his emperor. To cope with such problem, the dynasty took a method which weakened the relationship between the emperor and his father and that between the emperor and his ministers in an attempt to deal with such special relationship between father and his son.