皇帝制度是中國歷史上重大且鉅大的歷史現象，本文嘗試探討在其形成的過程中(主要指戰國秦漢)的一個面向，即皇帝制度國家如何定義自己是「天下」政體，進而創造「天──天下──天子──民」的關係架構。若我們要理解皇帝制度(尤其是前期)的國體型態，此當為關鍵之一。而在皇帝制度的形成過程中，「天下」政體建構的困境在於「君民」關係。本文的重點在探討戰國以至漢代的儒家如何藉由經典詮釋創造君民結合的理論，並在當時的環境中，君民結合的事實需要有更高的理據，即透過祭祀制度所展現的宇宙秩序。筆者也從這個角度再次考察西漢郊祀禮的成立，說明此國家祭祀制度的功能之一是藉由宗教機制以確立天子與民的關係。此「天下」政體當是皇帝制度的特色，或許可以作為世界史研究的比較王權之資。

The Emperorship was absolutely central to Chinese history. This essay explores one dimension of the imperial polity. The Chinese Emperorship defined itself as ‘t’ien-hsia’ (literally, “all under the Heaven”). This essay argues that t’ien-hsia is a type of polity and that we can interpret the characteristics of the Chinese Emperorship by analyzing the concepts that comprise t’ien-hsia. The key concept of t’ien-hsia is that the Son of the Heaven receives Heaven’s mandate to rule the t’ien-hsia, and thereby the min (people) can earn a meaningful and comfortable livelihood. In the transition from the pre-Ch’in feudal system to the new polity of t’ien-hsia, the Chinese Emperorship needed to create a new type of relationship between the Emperor and the people. This essay discusses how Confucian scholars and officials created a new theory of the Emperor-people relationship through interpretation of the Confucian canon. In the context of the Ch’in-Han period, the relationship between the Emperor and people should be understood in terms of its religious dimension, or as a higher fact reflecting the cosmological order. The function of the Chiao ceremony (state sacrifice in the suburb of the Capital) was precisely to create the Emperor-people relationship through its religious mechanism.

All-under-Heaven; Chiao ceremony; Chinese Emperorship; lord-subordinate relationship; Emperor-people relationship; East Asian kingship