嫡庶之辨為禮制的核心部分，牽涉層面十分廣泛，影響亦極深遠，后妃身分的認定為其重要基礎。本文欲就喪葬部分，結合經史二層面進行探究。有關史的部分，主要就漢代后妃喪葬狀況、與喪葬相關的論述、政令等部分進行研究。至於經的部分，以禮書經記、《春秋》經傳及經生對相關問題注解詮釋為主。本文主要由三個部分進行探討，第一部分：兩漢后妃實際的喪葬狀況及所引生的爭議。以合葬與否、陪葬狀況及有罪、被廢箏狀況進行探究。第二部分，由前部分后妃喪葬的分析，進一步探討士人相關禮制的主張，及經學上的爭議。如妾子為君狀況下的嫡母與生母身分之別。皇后早亡再立新后狀況下的女君死攝女君等爭議。由旁支入繼大統所導致的國君能否因顯貴而封爵其生母；以及由廢后問題而導致國君能否因有罪而廢黜其母箏爭議。第三部分，禮制的主張與實際狀況之間往往有落差，本部分由執政者的角度探討帝王在政治上所面臨的拉攏外戚及限制外戚勢力的兩難狀況；並由喪葬、安撫魂靈的角度，呈現帝王顧念「私親」及對獲罪的祖母或生母等追尊、改葬、立廟的糾結心理和矛盾舉措。

The distinction between the legitimate heir (di) and non-succeeding sons (shu) is the core of the ritual system. Fundamental to this distinction is the identification of the empress and the concubines. This paper explores these issues by examining the funeral and burial situations of the empresses and concubines in the Han dynasty as reflected in the histories as well as related discourses and government edicts. It also studies these questions through the prism of the various Confucian classics and their commentaries. The paper is divided into three aspects: It explores the circumstances and disputes of Han dynasty funerals and burials of empresses and concubines: whether or not to bury them together, the decisions about burial accommodations, and what to do with those individuals who had committed crimes or had been disowned by the court. Based on the above analysis, it then proceeds to examine Confucian assertions and disputes about the ritual systems, such as those over the statuses of the official wife and the birth mother when a ruler was the son of a concubine. When the queen died young and a new queen was installed, there could be a dispute about the treatment of the deceased lady and the replacement lady. Other disputes included whether a ruler brought in from a collateral line to succeed the main line could elevate his mother to an eminent rank; or whether a ruler could demote his mother because she had been accused of a crime. The paper then examines contradictions between the claims of the ritual system and the actual situation: How the dead were treated in funerals, burials, and rituals pacifying the souls differed markedly according to who the dead person was, and thus reveal aspects of the relationship between the emperor and his affinal relatives, who tried to control him while he tried to limit them. Also, funerals and burials, as well as rites to appease the dead, and cases such as the memorials, re-burial and temple construction for a ruler's grandmother accused of a crime, or for his own mother, show signs of psychological and political contradictions on the part of the ruler.