Confucian Scholars and the Trend of Social Criticism during the Middle and Late West Han Dynasty

As Emperor Wu's rein was approaching to an end, the political crisis surfaced in the country. The revealing of the comprehensive critical review towards Emperor Wu' s policies pushed the Confucian scholars in power to be more concerned with the changing of political situations and launch forceful critical attacks towards various social problems of that age. And this eventually served as an effective catalysis in forming an influential 100-year lasting ideological thought of criticism. The main targets of the criticism were Emperor Wu' s wrong policy decisions, the eunuch' s autocracy of Emperor Yuan' s time, the outsiders' controlling of the imperial power in Emperor Cheng and Emperor Ai's time, Ministers' intoxication with women's charms, and the ferocity of the Official Ruling System. These critical movements presented some distinct characteristics of the era and played important political roles.