Abstract: Excellent traditional Chinese culture has provided profound historical nourishment for the socialist system with Chinese
characteristics and the national governance system. The formation of the state systems and governance systems of successive dynasties
not only reflects the will and thoughts of the supreme rulers, but also reflects the governance thoughts and ideas of government
officials, especially senior officials. Taking the expostulation system recorded in History as a Mirror as the main object of investigation
and referring to the relevant records in The History of the Han Dynasty, the present study analyzes the national governance thoughts
contained in the government officials expostulations in the Western Han Dynasty, and discusses the importance and contemporary
significance of the construction of the four aspects of ritual governance, talents, successors, and ideology.

Key words: national?governance, ?Western?Han?Dynasty, ?History?as?a?Mirror, ?expostulation, ?enlightenment