On the afternoon of May 29, 2026, a special lecture titled Folk Public Opinion and Political Interaction in Ancient China: Centered on the Pre-Qin, Han and Wei Periods (中国古代的民间舆论与政治互动：以先秦汉魏为中心) was held in Room 111, Building 400, Suiyuan Campus of Nanjing Normal University.
The keynote speaker was Mr. Bu Xianqun, a member of the Academic Division of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a researcher at the Institute of Ancient History, a professor in the Department of History at the Graduate School of the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and a Hongguo Chair Professor at Nanjing Normal University. The lecture was chaired by Professor Jin Wen from the Department of History. Professor Wang Jian, Dean of the School of History and Culture & Museology at Nanjing Normal University, Associate Professor Wu Hao from the College of Humanities and Social Development at Nanjing Agricultural University, along with dozens of faculty members and students from inside and outside the university, attended the event.
Professor Bu first outlined the origins and development of the interaction between folk public opinion and politics in the pre-Qin period. As early as the time of Yao, Shun, and Yu, folk opinion already influenced politics. The account in the Records of the Grand Historian (《史记·五帝本纪》) of Yao recommending Shun reflects elements of primitive military democracy. During the Western Zhou period, this interaction gradually became institutionalized. The Zhou Li stipulated that the state must consult public opinion on major affairs, and the Book of Documents (《尚书》) records the phrase mou ji shuren (谋及庶人), although “shuren” here mainly referred to “guoren” (国人 — the people of the capital and states).
The lecture cited famous cases such as “guoren bang wang” (国人谤王) during the reign of King Li of Zhou, and Duke Shao’s warning that “fang min zhi kou, shen yu fang chuan” (防民之口，甚于防川 — blocking the mouths of the people is more dangerous than blocking a river). It also discussed historical facts from the Spring and Autumn period, such as Zichan’s decision not to destroy the village schools and Shi Kuang of Jin advising the ruler to listen to the opinions of the common people. These examples illustrate the remnants of primitive democracy preserved within the aristocratic political system of the Zhou dynasty.
Pre-Qin thinkers such as Confucius and Mencius also offered profound discussions on the standards for evaluating public opinion. This tradition continued into the Warring States period, as seen in Zou Ji’s satirical remonstration urging the King of Qi to accept criticism. However, measures to suppress critics also emerged, such as during Shang Yang’s reforms in Qin.
Moving into the Qin dynasty, Professor Bu analyzed the public opinion control policies under the dominance of Legalist thought. Qin took “guan wu si lun, shi wu si yi, min wu si shuo” (官无私论，士无私议，民无私说 — officials shall have no private discussions, scholars shall have no private opinions, and the people shall have no private sayings) as its guiding principle. After unification, the Qin established crimes such as “wild talk” (妄言罪), “evil talk” (妖言罪), and “slander” (诽谤罪) to strictly control folk opinion. This high-pressure policy led to opposition between folk and official opinion. Prophecies such as “shihuangdi si er di fen” (始皇帝死而地分 — when the First Emperor dies, the empire will split) spread widely and became a significant factor in the rapid fall of the Qin dynasty.
After the establishment of the Western Han, rulers learned from the lessons of Qin’s collapse. During the reigns of Emperor Hui and Empress Lü, the relevant speech prohibitions were abolished, and folk opinion was actively accepted. Emperor Wen of Han promoted worthy and upright men who spoke frankly and remonstrated strongly. Emperor Wu of Han perfected the recommendation system (察举制), combining evaluations from local public opinion with official selection, while guiding folk opinion with Confucian standards. However, in the early Western Han, folk opinion still largely favored utilitarianism and differed from the mainstream ideology. It was only in the middle and later periods that Confucian thought gradually transformed the public opinion environment in the countryside.
During the Eastern Han period, the mechanism of interaction between politics and folk opinion truly matured. Professor Bu pointed out that biographies in the Book of the Later Han (《后汉书》) placed special emphasis on individuals’ conduct in their hometowns; those who adhered to Confucian ethics were more likely to receive favorable evaluations and enter officialdom. This was the result of nearly a century of institutional implementation of Confucian thought since Emperor Wu’s reign. The lecture also analyzed the phenomenon of fabricated public opinion and the trend in the late Eastern Han where powerful aristocratic clans used public opinion to interfere in politics. Public opinion gradually became organized, transcended prefectural boundaries, shifted from moral to political coloring, and ultimately triggered the Disaster of the Partisan Prohibitions (党锢之祸).
From the end of the Han to the Cao Wei period, Cao Cao and Cao Pi reincorporated folk opinion into the orbit of centralization through character evaluation (调品人物) and the implementation of the Nine-Rank System (九品中正制). During the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, local public opinion (乡论) merged with the great gentry clans. After the rise of the imperial examination system, the role of folk opinion in official selection weakened, but it continued to influence evaluations of court politics.
In the Q&A session, Wu Zhihui, a student from Nanjing Agricultural University, observed that from the Western Han to the Eastern Han, the state gradually institutionalized public opinion to achieve guidance. Professor Bu affirmed this view and emphasized that the state must guide public opinion while aligning it with mainstream ideology. Pan Zeyue, a PhD student from Nanjing Normal University, raised questions about judging the nature of public opinion given the scarcity of Qin-Han historical materials compared to the abundance of Ming dynasty materials. Professor Bu responded that moral and political evaluations existed in all periods, and the key lies in grasping their fundamental attributes rather than relying solely on the quantity of materials.
At the end of the lecture, Dean Wang Jian expressed gratitude to Professor Bu for his long-term support of Nanjing Normal University’s history discipline construction and talent cultivation. He noted that the lecture topic was novel, the methodology solid, and the accumulation and use of historical sources particularly worthy of study and emulation by young scholars. It offered important insights for broadening academic horizons. He emphasized that attending a lecture is not only about acquiring knowledge but also about learning research methods and applying them to one’s own field.
Host Professor Jin Wen concluded that the lecture successfully combined micro-level textual research with macro-level vision, and theoretical analysis with practical relevance, providing much inspiration and educational value to the faculty and students. The entire lecture concluded successfully amid warm academic exchange and applause.

（Text: LI Xinyi）