The historical limitations of monarchies

Over the past 40 years, there has been a common misconception in popular textbooks and other books that thousands of years of regimes before the founding of the Republic of China were monarchical, even cruel, authoritarian and dark. This is patently wrong. Attacking the monarchy before and after the revolution in this tone is certainly an appropriate tactic, but since the monarchy has long been a historical relic, we should not denigrate the ancients and calmly restore it to its original appearance.

The form of government of the past two thousand years, led by the monarch (emperor), is a monarchy in modern terms, which is good, but it is not entirely absolute monarchy. At least except for the last six hundred years of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the previous monarchs were not all autocratic in normalcy. The harsh, dictatorial, and dark ages, although not exhaustive in history, can be said to be perverted and abnormal phenomena. As far as the form of government is concerned, apart from the actions of a few unusual monarchs, in general, the monarchy of fourteen hundred years has limited power, and the monarch who can be restricted is loved by the people. On the contrary, he will inevitably be overthrown, his family will be destroyed, and the people will suffer with him.

As far as the individual knows about the historical form of government, there are at least five points that can explain the limitations of the monarchy in the past, the first is the system of deliberation, the second is the system of refutation, the third is the tradition of abiding by the law, the fourth is the system of consultation, and the fifth is the belief in respecting the heavens and the ancestors.

The great cause of state ownership, which relies on collective discussion, has been a consistent system for thousands of years. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zichan came to power for Zheng Guo and did a lot of things. People don't understand. Everyone was talking about it in the school in town. It was suggested that the children destroy the town's schools. The child said, no, let them talk there. Their criticism can serve as a reference for the current administration. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, deliberation has become the main method for the government to solve major matters, and when there are major state-owned matters, the monarch does not first have prejudices, but entrusts this matter to the court. The members of the court included high-ranking government authorities such as the Chancellor of the Imperial Household and the Secretary of State, The Prince of 2,000 Stones, as well as lower officials such as Dr. Yi lang and Xianliang Literature. Anyone can express an opinion, even if it happens to be the opposite of the authorities, and can be debated repeatedly, even if the words are said against the authorities. At the end of the debate, the most well-reasoned vote was won by all or a majority (even opponents) and became a resolution, which the Government routinely adopted as a policy of governance. For example, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the policy of salt, iron and iron and so on, government authorities such as The Imperial Master Sang Hongyang and Xiang Xiang all advocated continuing to monopolize, and the people all opposed it, and Emperor Zhao ordered the county to raise up virtuous and literary scholars, asking the people what they were suffering and educating. All are right, may the salt and iron and the iron and the anhydride all lose the official, and there is no competition with the world for profit. Therefore, the government authorities, with Sang Hongyang as the main and xianliang literature, criticized each other, and the arguments surged up, and the authorities were almost subjugated by the virtuous literature, so they ordered the dismissal of the iron officials of the county state and the Guannei iron officials. During the reign of Emperor Xuan, Huan Kuan deduced his proposal into sixteen articles of the Treatise on Salt and Iron. Another example is that when emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty rebelled against Zhuya County, Emperor Yuan and the authorities had agreed to send a large army to requisition, and to wait for Zhao Jia to donate to the county, thinking that it was time to strike the county, and there was no need to send an army. After the performance, the emperor asked the minister Yushi Dafu, who thought that it should be stopped, and the imperial master thought it should be hit, and the emperor used the donation proposal to strike Zhuya County. Another example is that whenever there was a major event in the Song Dynasty, the two systems of attendants were ordered to assemble, the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, the six ministries of the Cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, the six branches of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Council of Ministers, the Kings of the Qing Dynasty, although the restrictions on the number of people to be discussed and the qualifications of the various dynasties were not the same, but the monarch did not judge the major affairs of the country by private opinions or prejudices, but it was consistent in successive dynasties.