本文嘗試以古代中國與日本的敬禮比較為契機，探討儒學經典詮釋與政治秩序的關係。從本文的探討可發現，漢唐間的皇權努力藉由儒家經典詮釋以獨占一些禮儀符號，甚至是符號蘊涵的意義與語言。而獨占的企圖是為了彰顯在任何情境與脈絡中，君臣關係都具有優先性，君臣間的身分等差與隸屬關係都必須首先被強調。就拜禮而論，先秦的拜禮作為一種敬禮，在禮經中並不限定為卑者禮敬尊者之儀節，主要用於賓主間。但漢代以後，拜禮愈被視為尊卑上下間人身關係的禮儀符號，故無君拜臣之禮。換言之，拜禮從一種情境式的禮儀符號，轉換為人身關係的象徵。通過這類的經典詮釋，儒家禮制的目的在藉由禮儀符號以凸顯君臣身分的差異，並表現官僚制度中的身分位階。在六朝時期有關敬禮的辯論中，各方不明言的理論預設都是君臣尊卑秩序的優先性的政治秩序的原理，而此預設並不是直接來自於當時的儒學傳統。而就此類中國古代的所謂政治詮釋學而言，儒者是在經典中，舉證其可運用的語言符號以證成己說。儒學傳統當然是政治人物政治理念的知識來源，此不必否認，更十分重要，但也是政治理論的資料庫，儒者可以透過類似今日關鍵字檢索的方式，找尋符合己身理想的經文。

This essay focuses on the ceremonial salutations, such as kowtow and standing as respect, for further understanding of the relationship between political order and hermeneutics of canons in ancient China, and figuring out the characteristics of so-called Chinese hermeneutics. I would like to discuss how the ancient Chinese Emperorship made efforts to monopolize the ritual symbols, including their languages and meanings. The end of such an action was to create the priority of the prince-minister relationship among all human relations in any situation and context. In this essay, I discuss how the meanings of ceremonial salutations were transformed because of Confucians’ discourses. In pre-Chin, kowtow was not considered as a kind of salutation performed by the subordinates. The performance of kowtow happened between hosts and guests. After the Han age, kowtow was interpreted as a salutation for expressing humble feeling and obedience to superiors, for reproducing the difference of status. Therefore, in the Confucian theories, it was not allowed that the lords kowtow to their subordinates. In other words, the meaning of kowtow was transformed from a situational salutation to relational one, symbolizing differences of status. In the debate of ceremonial salutations in the Six-Dynasty age, all debaters presumed the priority of the superiority of the lords, we could call this principle a kind of ‘tacit knowing’, which did not result directly from the Confucian canons. The Confucian agents followed the present institutions, choosing the necessary canonical languages in canons to construct their ideal political discourses.