Review
It is said that the general trend of the world will be united for a long time, and it will be divided for a long time. Such a simple sentence encapsulates how many times in Chinese history there have been cycles of division and unification.
In 221 BC, the Qin Dynasty established a unified centralized state, and since then, with the change of dynasties, Chinese history has experienced two eras of long-term divisions.
The first was the Wei and Jin Dynasties, which lasted for 360 years from the Cao Wei Dynasty han to the Sui Dynasty. The second time was the 370-year period of the Song-Liao-Jinxia Succession, which was finally established by the Mongols, and the Yuan Dynasty, which was founded by the Mongols, achieved large-scale unification.
Some people believe that during this period, China failed to move toward a single nation-state, the Han dynasty in the Central Plains was replaced by a dynasty established by the Mongols, and Chinese history also took a detour.
Others feel that China's current vast geographical territory is due to the unification of the Yuan Dynasty.
So what kind of far-reaching impact did the great unification of the Yuan Dynasty have on China?
Is the unification of the Yuan Dynasty a detour in history?
In 1267 AD, the Yuan Dynasty established by the Mongols destroyed the Song Dynasty established by the Han regime, and a regime established by an ethnic minority unified China, which was the first time in Chinese history that it was groundbreaking, making many Han people feel that this was not a good thing.
Many people feel that after the Mongol Yuan destroyed the Song Dynasty, China ceased to exist, and the song dynasty was conquered by the Yuan Dynasty, which was a kind of historical regression because Chinese civilization was dragged back by backward civilization.
Many scholars in the Republic of China blamed China's century-old humiliation on the rule of the Qing Dynasty established by the Manchus, who believed that the conquest of the Han nationality by ethnic minorities and the establishment of a regime after the unification of the minority regime could not be called "China", but one of the reasons why China was backward and beaten in modern times.
In fact, this view is not only completely wrong, but also hinders us from correctly understanding our own history and traditional culture. Because of the historical regression and humiliation that those scholars say, it was not because it was the minority nationalities that completed the unification, but because the social system of China at that time was a feudal system, and the backwardness and pedantry of this system determined that China was abandoned by the times in modern times and became a backward country.
In other words, even if the Qing Dynasty were a Han-dominated country founded by the Han chinese, the backward feudal system would still lead the country to ruin. The backwardness of modern China is essentially the backwardness of the system and has nothing to do with national integration.
The establishment and rise of the Northern Dynasty
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the ethnic minorities around Chang'an, under the cultivation of the Sheng Tang culture, the level of civilization was improved and they established their own countries independently. That is to say, although the later Song Dynasty ended the turmoil of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, it did not complete the true unification of China like the Han and Tang Dynasties.
At this time, in the north of the Song Dynasty, there was the Liao state established by the Khitan ethnic group, the western Xia state established by the Dangxiang ethnic group in the northwest, and Dali and other countries in the south. The Song Dynasty, which unified the Central Plains, is only one of many countries in China today.
The Liao state, founded by the Khitans, faced off against the Northern Song Dynasty for a century and a half. In 1004 AD, the Liao state launched a major attack on the Northern Song Dynasty, and signed an alliance with the Northern Song Dynasty, and from then on, the two countries were called the Son of Heaven, demarcated the borders, and sent emissaries to live with each other.
Although the Liao state was later destroyed by the Song and Jin dynasties, for more than two hundred years, the Song and Jin states, the Song kingdom and the Mongolian state all followed the example of the alliance of the Liaoyuan.
At this time, the minority regime in the north was very different from the Xianbei regime in the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, they had a conscious and strong sense of nationality, and attached great importance to the cultural traditions of their own nation, emphasizing the cultural characteristics and advantages of their own nation, they all created their own scripts, and translated a large number of Confucian classics and historical books from the Central Plains into the language of the country to improve and develop the cultural level of their own nation.
Among them, jin shizong of the Jin Dynasty is a good example, the Northern Song Dynasty destroyed the country, after the Southern Song Dynasty moved south, the Jin State occupied the land of the Central Plains, this Jin Shizong during his reign, actively learned Confucian culture, maintained the peace situation, reduced the burden of the people, the people of the Central Plains also affectionately called him Xiao Yao Shun.
While getting along with the Han people in the Central Plains, Jin Shizong also advocated the protection of the Cultural Traditions of the Jurchen Nation and the maintenance of the Jurchen people's bravery and loyalty.
Jin Shizong's governing philosophy is the epitome of the successful ruling concept of the Northern Dynasty, they are not one-way assimilated by the Han nationality, they learn to accept the Central Plains culture at the same time, but also maintain their own cultural traditions, the Central Plains Han cultural traditions and the culture of the northern nationalities have been skillfully integrated, thus changing the face of Chinese culture.
Since then, Chinese culture is no longer a single Han culture, central plains culture, but integrated into the rich and colorful culture of the northern ethnic minorities, and the personality of Chinese can not only be modest and introverted, but also enthusiastic. It was under such a political strategy that the Northern Dynasty developed and flourished.
What is the real "Chinese culture"
Since the Southern Song Dynasty, there have been scholars and literati who believe that the two-way rendering and integration of Han culture and northern nomadic culture is very frightening, in their view, which means that the Central Plains culture has become a degenerate, tampered with, polluted "Chinese culture", and will confuse or even replace the real Chinese culture.
If we look at it from the standpoint of Han centrism, we do have the same cognition as them. But when we look more broadly, we will see that Chinese culture has injected new factors and new contents, gained new life, new blood, and has great enrichment and development.
At this time, we will realize that Chinese culture is not a narrow Central Plains culture, but a collection of cultures that encompass all kinds of rivers and rivers.
The great unification of the Yuan Dynasty has realized the transformation of the Central Plains culture to Chinese culture, the Yuan Dynasty, as the ultimate victor of the Northern Dynasty, has well continued the cultural ruling concept of the Northern Dynasty, while absorbing and learning the Culture of the Han Central Plains while maintaining its own culture, the Yuan Dynasty did not lose itself in the one-way implementation of Sinicization like the Xianbei people in the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, but gave a new definition of Chinese culture in a two-way way.
Comprehensive innovation of the political system
After the unification of the Yuan Dynasty, it accepted the political system of the Han nationality and transformed it, and carried out a series of institutional innovations. One of the most significant innovations was the development of the political system of the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains into a new pluralistic unified system, that is to say, this political system could not only allow the Han people to live and work in peace and contentment, but also take care of the customs and habits of the people of other ethnic minorities.
The Yuan Dynasty was not a country with only Mongols, and with so many ethnic groups, how could it achieve unification? The previous solution was to unify The Chinese.
Taking the Northern Wei regime established by the Xianbei as an example, Emperor Xiaowen's reform was a reform of full Sinicization, while the Yuan Dynasty, unlike the Yuan Dynasty, implemented a pluralistic political system, and the southern and northern officials, and the northern officials were responsible for managing the affairs of ethnic minorities and various nomadic peoples.
The southern officials were responsible for the affairs of the Han region, and the legal system of the Yuan Dynasty was also diversified. The implementation of different systems for people of different nationalities is unprecedented in Chinese history.
During this period, the vast frontier areas were developed, and the economic, political, and cultural ties between the Great Wall and beyond developed unprecedentedly, thus laying the foundation for a unified multi-ethnic state in Huayi.
The unification of the Yuan Dynasty in Chinese history is undoubtedly epoch-making, different from the unification of the Qin Dynasty. Today's China is the inheritance and development of the great unification of the Yuan Dynasty.
At the same time, it has also formed a different concept of "China" in the past, before we said "China", referring only to the farming culture within the Great Wall, now when we say "China", it includes both inside and outside the Great Wall, compatible with the Central Plains Jiangnan and grasslands, pluralistic and integrated, and different.
This is where the great unification of the Yuan Dynasty differs from the great unification of the Qin State, and the previous unification was often to end the war and restore peaceful reunification, and the cultural and political system was a comprehensive innovation and upgrading of China.
The great unification of the Yuan Dynasty enabled a comprehensive innovation in China's political system, creating a national model of one country, two systems and one country and multiple systems.