▲ Emperor - Liu Bang (Illustrator, Author Yu Yue)
Half a step away
The author | Yi Zhongtian
Excerpt from | Destiny and Choice
(Yi Zhongtian Chinese History Volume 24)
Published | Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House
December 2021 1st Edition |
The source | network
After Ming's death, Huang Zongxi was in pain.
In fact, at least since Jia Yi's "On Passing the Qin", there has been no shortage of people in ancient China who reflect on the rise and fall of the world, but unfortunately most of them are on the facts. It is rare to be able to think about the system like Liu Zongyuan. Huang Zongxi, on the other hand, has to go back to the fundamentals, and his question is expressed in modern Chinese: Why should human beings establish public power?
The answer is: because there are public affairs.
In his words, it is called "promoting public interests" and "eliminating public nuisance."
Huang Zongxi believes that this is a thankless thing, and it is not in line with people's common feelings. People are selfish and lazy, but they must pay a million times more industrious than the people of the world, but they cannot profit a million times. Therefore, even Yao Shun gave up halfway, and Dayu reluctantly reluctantly reluctantly gave up on it.
So, why did so many people want to be emperors after that?
Because the relationship between the world and the monarch is reversed.
Huang Zongxi said that the leaders of the ethnic groups in ancient times were all servants who served the people; but the emperors of later generations regarded the world as their own property. Since it is an industry, of course, it can be disposed of as it can be done, and of course it can be passed on to its descendants and benefit endlessly. This is not only a million times the profit, but also a generation of unearned gains. Such a huge profit, who does not covet and flock to it?
The result is harm to others and to oneself. Monopolizing social resources and distribution channels so that people in the world do not dare to be selfish and dare not be self-interested, which is harmful to the people. As a result, the masses of the people hate it to the bone, regard it as a vendetta, and call it a single husband, which is harmful to themselves. Moreover, if you want to have an industry, people have the same heart. With one's own intelligence, where can you deal with so many people who are ready to take advantage of it? Maybe one day the country will change masters, and the children will not be able to escape the disaster of blood and light along with the king of the subjugated country, which will harm the descendants.
Therefore, it is said that for the greatest evil of the world, it is only a king.
This is really deafening and shocking.
There is no doubt that Huang Zongxi is not an anarchist, nor does he really want to abolish the monarchy, but he advocates clarifying the boundaries of power and setting the right position, especially it must be clear that the monarch is the guest secretary of the world, and cannot be anti-guest. The duty of the king is to promote the interests and eliminate the harm of the people of the world, rather than to regard the world as its own bank, but also to lend usury, and to exploit the people and enslave others for their own sexual pleasures, saying "the flower interest of my property."
After reversing the reversed master-slave relationship, a series of conclusions are logical. Since the world is not the private property of the monarch, public power cannot be granted privately, and officials are not shepherds of private farms. The reason why people need people and subjects is only because the world is too big for one person to be busy. Therefore, the best relationship between a subject and a king is to be a teacher and a friend, and even if he is not a teacher, he is also an assistant, not a slave.
The same goes for the law. The laws spoken of here, including but not limited to laws, should be understood as institutions and policies. Systems and policies should be the law of the world, not the law of the emperor. The law of the world, the benefits of the mountains do not have to be exhausted, the right to punish is not suspected of being on the side, the noble is not in the imperial court, and the lowly are not reckless. The law of the family is the means by which the emperor guards against thieves, but the result is invincible. And the more carefully guarded, the more chaotic it becomes, because the "illegal law" itself is the source of chaos.
The cycle of chaos and the change of dynasties cannot be avoided.
Continuing to change the law according to the established policy will not help, but will make it worse. Because things are not broken by later people, the root cause is illegal in their laws. The illegality of systems and policies has been extreme in Qin, and the Yuan has intensified. After these two changes, the tradition of compassion and love for others has disappeared, and the suffering of ordinary people has no end. If you can't get to the bottom of it, what's the point of making some self-deceptive little repairs?
It should be admitted that Huang Zongxi was quite sensitive, and he saw that Qin and Yuan were a major turning point in Chinese history. In fact, this is also true: the former changes decentralization into centralization, and the latter changes centralization into despotism. The general trend is that the emperor increasingly regards the world as private property, regards state affairs as household affairs, and is not even willing to separate people and discuss things.
This is the opposite of Liu Zongyuan's view. Liu Zongyuan said that although Qin Shi Huang had selfish intentions, the imperial system he founded was the greatest of the public, and the end of the public world also began in Qin. Huang Zongxi pointedly pointed out that it was precisely this kind of illegal law that made the supreme ruler think that the interests and harms of the world were all up to me, so that he could justifiably and boldly reap the benefits of the world and avoid them, and did not allow the small people to seek their own welfare.
May I ask, can this also be called Zhigong?
No, it should be called: With my great selfishness, for the great duke of the world.
hehe! It is not only selfish, but also hypocritical.
Huang Zongxi also asked: Is this the original intention of human beings to establish public power and set up leaders? That's better than nothing. If there is no monarch, the people can still enjoy property rights and rely on their own efforts for profit - to make no monarch, each man has to be selfish, and every man has to be selfish.
There is no doubt that this is just an outrage. The protection of everyone's life and property from encroachment should also have been seen as one of the purposes for which public power was established. In fact, Huang Zongxi did not intend to deny everything, his solution was to limit the power of the monarch, and the most urgent thing was to restore the system of prime ministers. If the prime minister cannot be hereditary, he can choose the best and the most powerful. Therefore, even if the hereditary Tianzi is not worthy of the throne, there are also sages who are able to remedy it.
So, how to ensure that the prime minister is reliable?
Reform of the school system. Schools should not only be talent training bases, but also deliberative institutions. But all the major national events that are undecided are put into public discussion in schools. Why in school? Probably because there, everyone was a student of the kings and saints, and they could speak freely without having to look ahead. In this way, the government affairs are actually open, and it is possible to build a reliable cadre team.
More importantly, over time, if you develop a habit, there will be magnanimity in the court. Of course, officials do not have to be the head of the Son of Heaven, and the Son of Heaven does not dare to act arbitrarily and arbitrarily, and the unhealthy atmosphere of "arrogance and courtesy" has been swept away. Although this may not cure the root cause, at least it can cure the symptoms, and the situation will get better.
Huang Zongxi's plan is no harm in calling it the "new official rule."
The new official rule creates a new world. The new world recognizes and protects the right of all people to subsistence and development, so that each person can be selfish and each person can be self-interested. The Son of Heaven does not regard the world as a private property, and the courtiers do not employ the emperor with their posts. Between them, there is a different division of labor in partnership. The chancellor and the emperor could compete with each other, and might even wish to "virtualize the reality" as Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang advocated. This is the law of the world.
This seems to be only half a step away from modern politics.
▲ Huang Zongxi (1610~1695), thinker and philosopher of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The character Taichong, no. Nanlei, Zhejiang Yuyao people
Unfortunately, except for Gu Yanwu, who proposed the plan of "alluding feudal meaning in counties and counties", not many people could really read Huang Zongxi, and the Kangxi Emperor, who had repeatedly recruited Huang Zongxi into the dynasty, would not adopt his suggestion. On the contrary, the weight of the Qing Dynasty's monarchy far exceeded that of the Ming, and its political reform direction was exactly contrary to Huang Zongxi's ideas.
If the old man were to die again, he really didn't know how to feel.
The trouble is that the Qing Empire is qualified to think that they are right. Compared with previous dynasties, the Qing dynasty had the largest territory and the largest population, but had the fewest problems and loopholes. After Aobai, there were no powerful subjects, and after Yongzheng, there was no rebellion of the king, foreign relatives usurping power, eunuchs chaotic government and local divisions, ethnic relations and people's livelihood status are not the worst in history, and the coexistence of multiple dynasties is no longer possible after the Yuan Dynasty.
So why did they change their ways?
However, it seems that there is no problem, it is a problem in itself. If there is no problem to be solved, whether it is civilization or system, it will lose its vitality. This is also the problem of the Great Qing: dullness, and the sinking and erosion in the Ten Thousand Horses. Unfortunately, this is not enough to provoke change. If it weren't for the great changes that had not occurred in three thousand years, who would have thought that after the qi and the abolition of Zen and Qin merged the world, there would be another institutional revolution?
The history of mankind has involuntarily become the history of the world and the history of modern times.
No one can deny modern civilization, although there is not necessarily only one model and one road to modernity. Different peoples can and should have different choices, and only their own choices are true and reliable. But it is also undeniable that modern civilization and classical civilization are not in the same dimension. Chinese civilization not only directly transitioned from the primitive era, but also continued for thousands of years without interruption. This is unique in human history. So, how can such a civilization rise to dimension? What is the state after the ascension? Which should remain, which should change, and how can we not only stand on our own feet among the nations of the world, but also continue to contribute to human civilization?
Can people at that time answer these questions?
If not, we can only hope for the practice that follows.
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