초록 열기/닫기 버튼

본서에서는 胡太后의 생활을 고찰하여 漢人 胡太后가 漢文化보다 胡俗에 익숙했음을 밝혔다. 胡太后는 어린 아들 孝明帝 대신 섭정(臨朝稱制)을 했다. 그러나 단순한 국정의 대리가 아니라 국가의 제사를 직접 주관하고 지방관의 上計를 직접 받는 의식을 거행하는 등 사실상 女主(여성황제)로 군림하였다. 일부 신하들이 胡太后의 태도에 간언했지만, 胡人支配層과 대부분의 漢人官僚들은 당연시하였다. 오히려 일부 胡人支配層은 元叉가 유폐한 胡太后의 정치 복귀를 시도하는 등 胡太后의 臨朝稱制에 긍정적인 태도를 보였다. 이는 孝文帝의 ‘한화정책’으로 남성 중심의 儒家思想이 胡人支配層에 침투한 것이 아니라 여전히 여성이 전쟁을 제외한 가정 생활을 모두 결정하는 烏桓․鮮卑의 전통이 여전히 지속되었음을 뜻한다. 이처럼 北魏洛陽時代 胡俗은 皇室에 남아 있었다. 따라서 胡太后의 儒家 의례의 무시, 난잡한 성생활, 외래 종교인 불교의 숭상도 北魏皇室에 胡俗이 남아 있었기 때문에 가능했다. 胡太后는 北魏皇室의 ‘漢化’를 선도한 것이 아니라 도리어 ‘胡化’된 한인 여성이었다.


The Empress Dowager Hu, the Chinese woman from Andingjun Linjingxian, was accustomed to a Xianbei-style nomadic culture and folkways, not Chinese culture. She became the Empress Dowager Regent after Emperor Xianwu died, performed ancestral rites in person, which violated Confucian ceremony and ethics, and performed the rites of receiving census registration and account books which was the male- emperors’ own privilege. So, her acting looked like Female emperor not the Empress Dowager Regent. A few conservative Chinese officials remonstrated her violation of the Confucian ceremony and ethics, but the Xianbei ruling class and Chinese officials agreed to her actions and regarded her as their ruler, which was reflected to Wuhuan and Xianbei’s tradition that Wuhwan and Xianbei wives decided everything domestically except for war. The Empress Dowager Hu had an indiscreet relationship with prince Chinghe Yuan Yi, her brother-in-law, which was not only unethical adultery but also a levirate form of the nomadic-style marriage customs. She had intimate relationships with the court favorites such as Zheng Yan(鄭儼), Li Shengui(李神軌), Yang Hua(楊華) which was not Confucian ethics avoiding the widows, especially Empress Dowager’s sexual relationships. Her non-Chinese and Xianbei-style manners and customs such as the reign as Female emperor, the violation of the Confucian ceremony and ethics, unethical adultery, levirate, belief in Buddhism, foreign religion imported from India were due to the Xianbei-style nomadic culture and folkways remained in BeiWei Imperial family and Xianbei-centered ruling class. She did not lead to the Sinicization of Xianbei and other foreign nomadic people but was Chinese symbol completely assimilated to Xianbei-style nomadic culture and folkways.