Since Qin Shi Huang founded the feudal system, Chinese history has entered a cycle of chaos in the historical cycle, often a dynasty has made great efforts to govern in the beginning, and in the later period, it has begun to decay and decline, and finally decay and perish. The reasons for this situation are widely debated, but the author believes that one of the reasons is that moral etiquette has replaced the rule of law, resulting in the rigidity of the system and the loss of momentum for development.
In the feudal small-scale peasant society founded on agriculture, stability prevailed over everything, and as the saying goes, "the heavens do not change, the Tao does not change", new technologies and ideas are not only not adopted, but often stifled. Therefore, dai zi of the Qing Dynasty invented a machine gun with 28 consecutive rounds, which was not only not adopted by the Kangxi Emperor, but was wronged.
The foundation of this conformist feudal system lies in Confucianism, the core of Confucianism lies in morality and etiquette, and etiquette comes from morality, and the existence of etiquette is to maintain morality, which is an important link to maintain the life of ancient Chinese society, and it is also an important tool for feudal rulers to maintain systematic governance. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "deposed hundreds of families and exalted Confucianism alone", Confucianism has become the ethical basis of the ruling class.
Under the moral etiquette system formulated by Confucianism, a country is a family, the emperor is the head of the family, and the emperor treats his subjects as a father to his children, called "king's father", "under the whole world, he can not be the king's land, the coast of the land, and the king's subjects." Imperial power became the supreme power of the whole society, and the emperor had the power to dominate everything. The Emperor is the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven, and it is indeed providence. Providence must be manifested by the minds of thousands of subjects, and etiquette becomes an indispensable procedure. This authority is consolidated through a thousand prostrations, and the emperor often presides over the ceremony, representing his destiny.
The emperor is also bound to be constrained by moral etiquette, because the emperor wants to maintain his authority through etiquette, and naturally he must also abide by the norms of moral etiquette and set an example in the world. The ideal character created by Confucianism is naturally a "gentleman", and the emperor must be the greatest gentleman, called "the monarch". This is both his glory and his shackles, because if he does not do so, he will destroy the code of ethics, and if he is a king, he will perish the country and become a veritable king of the country. In history, the psychology of every Ming Jun teased a Hu Hai, Yang Guang, and Zhu Houzhao, taking it as a warning. But why can't even the emperor make great efforts to change this situation?
Because of the moral etiquette of Confucianism, his starting point is inequality, "the king and the subject, the father and the son, the king wants the subject to die, the subject has to die, the father wants the son to die, the son has to die" This kind of ethics and morality that violates human nature has become the core spirit of governing the world, then everyone is equal before the law, and this equal foundation is gone, and it is impossible to have a real law. In this case, the state is the emperor's home, and his efforts to govern are essentially to maintain his family, so how can he promote social progress?
Therefore, from the beginning of the feudal system, China could not have the rule of law. In the case that the rule of law cannot be implemented, the official rule by means of Confucian morality and etiquette has become a method of maintaining the empire, and the core of Confucian doctrine is "benevolence" and "filial piety", and when placed in the system, it becomes "loyal to the king and repays the country", "wen dies and dies in battle". Therefore, under the influence of this kind of thinking, the so-called absolute loyalty to the emperor has become the life goal of countless people with lofty ideals in ancient times.
From this point of view, moral etiquette has in fact become the spiritual shackles of feudal rule that governs the working people, on the one hand, severe punishment and harsh law, on the other hand, Confucian etiquette norms, which can be described as carrots and sticks, two-pronged. As Huang Renyu put it: "It is impossible to rule our vast country by severe punishment, and the secret lies in the use of ethical and moral power to make the inferior obey the superior, the woman obeys the men's command, and the uneducated fools take the literate as a model." ”
In the Song Dynasty, Confucianism reached its peak, and its representative was Zhu Xi's theory, which believed that reason is the basic principle of ethics and morality, and qi is the material that casts all things. Everything under the heavens is the product of the unity of reason and material. Every person and thing uses abstract reason and qi as the basis for its existence. From this, the three principles and five constants evolved, (three principles: the king is the subject, the father is the son, and the husband is the wife. The Five Constants: Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, Wisdom, and Faith. Pushing the inequality between people to the peak, and at the same time solidifying the feudal imperial power into an unchangeable "heavenly principle" for eternity, the idea of safeguarding the princely and imperial power is also safeguarding the "heavenly principle", and all the old etiquette of the three principles and five permanents is of course also unchanged.
Under this system of thought, the goal of all people with lofty ideals to study is the Heavenly Principle set by Zhu Xi, for the sake of Heavenly Reason, it is necessary to "save Heavenly Reason and remove human desires", and to know things, but to really go to The Things to Know is not to qualify the so-called Knowledge, that is, the so-called truth. Wang Yangming of the Ming Dynasty sat in front of bamboo for seven days and seven nights and could not find the truth, and turned to pioneering the mind.
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Because there is no detail of what the specific standard of the Heavenly Principle pursued by Theory is, the result is that people with lofty ideals are exhausted for the sake of the concept of nothingness, and the result is that they can never find where this Heavenly Principle is. This is actually the purpose of the ruler, which is actually the same as the imperial examination system, which is the means for the ruler to maintain his own rule, "the hero of the fishing world", so that the vast number of intellectuals are trapped in this ignorant ideological system all day long, and they are unable to search for the truth and explore the truth in order to achieve this ulterior motive.
Moreover, the moral standards of science are extremely high, and ordinary people cannot do it at all, even including Zhu Xi himself, who was also reported in his later years because of private life problems, which will not be elaborated here. Although theory of science is a castle in the air, ordinary people must learn this kind of ideological theory for the sake of fame and fortune, so in reality there is a phenomenon of hypocrites everywhere, "There is no one in the car, and everyone strives to be a car lifter." "Most of them use it as a knocking drill to satisfy their own selfish desires."
Moral decorum has replaced the rule of law, which in the long run will cause serious problems in the political system. For example, the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty wanted to abolish Chang LiYou, but because "abolishing Chang Li You" did not conform to Confucian moral etiquette, he was in trouble with the ministers and slackened the government, and he did not go to the dynasty for 40 years, which was rooted in the lack of laws in the feudal system. If the ming dynasty's legal system was perfect and stipulated the principle of establishing a prince, then the emperor and his ministers could act in accordance with the regulations through the law. It is precisely because of the lack of legal provisions that a seemingly simple thing has become an event that affects the fate of the entire Ming Dynasty. Historians believe that the Ming Dynasty actually died in Wanli, and the Chongzhen Emperor tried hard to rule but was unable to return to heaven, precisely because of the absurdity of his grandfather Wanli.
The more feudal society went on, the more chaotic it became, and there were many social contradictions. Because etiquette and morality have replaced the rule of law, law enforcement officials have based their judgments not on laws but on Confucian classics, and many violations have been disguised as loyalty and ignorance. For example, Xu Shuang of the Tang Dynasty was "killed" by the county lieutenant Zhao Shiyun for breaking the law, and his son Xu Yuanqing murdered Zhao Shiyun in revenge for his father. Logically, Xu Yuanqing should be sentenced to death, and Wu Zetian remembered his filial piety and wanted to pardon Xu Yuanqing's capital crime. However, Minister Chen Ziang believed that Xu Yuanqing's deliberate murder, the facts of the case were clear, and the death penalty should be imposed according to the law of the land. However, it was understandable to think that he was avenging his father, so it was suggested that after killing him, he should be praised with great fanfare. The case was only dealt with.
Human nature is selfish, absolute power is absolutely corrupt, and without institutional agreement, power will become an aphrodisiac, and eventually it will be exhausted. In a system where there is no standard law as a norm, can a group of moral hypocrites govern a society with Confucian classics without specific quantitative standards? Look at the ancient literary classics, such as "Water Margin", "Journey to the West", "Dream of the Red Chamber" reflected in the real society in a variety of oppression of the people, officials to rule corruption, unjust, false and wrong cases are too common, because of the lack of power constraint mechanism, in the later period, the entire social contradictions accumulated to the point of irreconcilability coupled with natural disasters, will force the people to rebel, bloody rain and wind after the change of dynasties, this tragic change often has to pay a huge price, the change of ancient Chinese feudal dynasty often loses more than 50%. A new dynasty was established, and another was formed, trapped in the cycle of chaos that fell into the law of the historical cycle.
In July 1945, Huang Yanpei went to Yan'an to investigate, and talked about "its rise and fall, and its death is also abrupt", saying that all dynasties and dynasties have not been able to jump out of the cycle of rise and fall. A generation of great men replied, "We have found a new way, and we can jump out of this cyclical law." This new path is democracy. Only by allowing the people to supervise power can power not be slackened. Only when everyone rises up and takes responsibility will no one die in politics. Facts have proved that only through the new democratic revolution, the introduction of democracy and the legal system to supervise power can break this situation of thousands of years, power can only be truly balanced, can it be eternal vitality, society can progress, sustainable development, and create a new historical situation