First, scholars can participate in political life there are many favorable conditions. The emperor of Confucianism, and Confucian scholars support is the most important conditions. In the context of autocratic monarchy, the emperor's support, any school, no one will be neutral in the country's political affairs is maintained feet. At the same time, due to the Qin Dynasty the loss of many ancient books, the Confucian finishing in the book, spread links to do better than other schools, so many ancient books of the Western Han Dynasty have been handed down are overtly or covertly reveal Confucianism. These ancient lofty status in the political life at this time, scholars of proficient so that they have an unparalleled advantage. Dynastic politics in China to the Western Han Dynasty, has been the development of more mature scholars can through a variety of the secularization ways to participate in the government, the Western Han government in order to maintain their rule, but also to some extent, allow the emergence of different voices. It is because of the existence of the above conditions, and Confucian scholars to participate in politics becomes possible.
This period scholars to participate in politics is a distinctive feature of which is determined both by the scholars of their own characteristics, but also by the impact of the social environment. Specifically, these features include the following four points: the scholars influence the political affairs of a variety of ways, the relationship between the scholars and the imperial dependence and confrontation coexist, the separatist tendency of scholars within groups are more and more obvious, scholars participate in politics, popular social thought. These features reflects the affairs of state and scholars, scholars and imperial power, scholars internal, and Confucian scholars and society all the links and contradictions. This period, scholars are in these relationships show a period different from the ideological tendency, acting style.
Scholars involved in politics, in fact scholars and political interaction, the results must be transformed scholars, affected the development of the political process. Scholars involved in the political impact, and also includes the following three aspects: the scholars, the Western Han dynasty and later. For scholars to participate in politics on the one hand making it to obtain glory and interests, would cause its vitality and decline; for the Western Han Dynasty, the dynasty, there is hope, the scholars then efforts to support it, slow down its decline and fall, but When the dynasty lost the revival of hope, and Confucian scholars quickly to invest in the opposite side of the dynasty, and even act as a "vanguard" of the dynasty; for future generations in terms of how to better control the scholars to be a problem, ask the scholars the firm's standing in the dynasty side, on the one hand, but also endowed with scholars, government supervision and the right to make recommendations to become the dynasty of the "relief valve".