ABSTRACT
If the mood of those who stood around waiting for the cere mony to begin on the day of the winter solstice in 105 b c 1 had been one of loyalty, pride and hope, it may be asked what was the dominant feeling of those who attended the ceremonies of court in a d 9, when solemn acts of state signified the inaugura tion of the Hsin dynasty of Wang Mang.2 It may be surmised that some at least of the courtiers and officials who had wit nessed the decay of the house of Liu in the previous decades and the collapse of the loyalties that it had commanded for over two centuries were filled with unease, disillusion or bewilder ment. Others perhaps were ready to accept that in the prevail ing weakness and dynastic failure of the Han Empire a new dispensation would be better fitted to maintain the principles of a traditional order and to cherish those values that formed the essential element of the rule of the son of Heaven.
