This paper explores the complex relationship between the ideas and practices of reclusion and Confucian thought in the Han dynasty. It traces the PreQin's theories on reclusion and points out the different foci of Taoist, Confucian and Legalist reclusionism. In addition , the writer of this paper divides reclusion of the Han dynasty into three types, thereby concentrating on the historical implications of evaluating recluses in terms of reputation since the Han dynasty and analyzing specifically the paradoxical relationship between reclusion and reputation. The evaluation of recluses in terms of reputation on one hand demonstrates that the ideas and practices of reclusion in the Han dynasty originated from Confucianism. On the other hand, it reveals the signs of conflicts between reclusion and political power, thus providing a clue to unerstanding the changes of reclusion in the Wei and Jin dynasties.