The Wei and Jin dynasties, which were put together, can be seen as a period of great division in China. However, judging from people's feelings and historical evaluations, this period of history has been artificially divided into two parts, one part is the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the other is the Southern and Northern Dynasties. For the Wei and Jin Dynasties, people have studied a lot and are very popular, especially in the Three Kingdoms period, and the scholarly style in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In later generations, although the evaluation of Wei and Jin cannot be said to be how powerful the country was, the culture was extremely prosperous.
Another section of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, in the network, is full of blood and tears. It is known as the history of blood and tears of the Han people. In this era, the only person who can be called a hero is Ran Min. But in fact, he was no different from Shi Le and others, and even the "Order to Kill Hu", which was called the first Xiongwen, was forged, and there was no such article in history. People are reluctant to see this history, mostly because the Han people are so miserable that they are treated as "two-legged sheep" and used as food. The Han people are facing the danger of extinction. Some people even made a big fuss, saying that the Han nation had perished at this time. There were no more purebred Han Chinese.
A lot of history is recorded in the historical data, and no one can not believe it. This is unacceptable to many Han Chinese. Therefore, even if the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties are studied, the Three Kingdoms Period and the Eastern Jin Dynasty are also studied, and as for the Southern and Northern Dynasties, they are still reluctant to involve too much.
Map of the situation in the North and South Dynasties
But when we calm down, we will understand one thing. The Southern and Northern Dynasties were an inseparable part of China's history, and without the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there would be no Sui and Tang Dynasties as ever.
We all know the Tang Dynasty, and we all know the name of the Sheng Tang, many people will say that the Tang Dynasty inherited the legacy of the Sui Dynasty, and then what? No more then. So, who did the Sui Dynasty inherit? This chain of succession should continue to push forward, the Sui Dynasty inherited the Northern Zhou, and the Northern Zhou inherited the Northern Wei. That's a good inheritance chain. And the Northern Wei, unfortunately, the Northern Wei achieved the reunification of the north again, becoming a terminator, not a successor. The previous terminator was Later Qin, and the last was the Western Jin Dynasty.
So, what wealth did the Southern and Northern Dynasties bring to China?
The stability of the Central Plains has re-emerged
The emergence of the Northern Wei Dynasty gave northern China a century-long period of stability, and the Central Plains, because the Northern Wei moved the capital to Luoyang, once again became the center of political economy. This distinguishes the Central Plains from the Sixteen Kingdoms period, which led to serious economic damage, and the Central Plains are no longer the prosperous and powerful Central Plains. The Northern Wei dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang, which finally brought a stable political situation to the Central Plains. With the stabilization of the Central Plains regime, the population also continued to grow, and during the Northern Wei Dynasty, the population had reached 5 million households and a population of more than 30 million people. The increasing demographic dividend has restored the vitality and vitality of northern China.
Population growth is only a superficial phenomenon, because as long as the political situation is stable, the population is bound to grow. But another contribution, to a certain extent, has also given rise to the development of Chinese history. That is the transformation of the economic structure.
Tuoba Hong
Although the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty accepted Sinicization, Hu Feng was still serious, so under the premise of developing agriculture, animal husbandry and commerce also began to develop on a large scale. In terms of the traditional mode of thinking, this situation is not good, but this change in economic structure has transformed the single agricultural civilization that lasted for more than 400 years in the Han Dynasty into a pluralistic civilization, and the benefit of this diversified civilization is that people's way of life has changed, the mode of thinking has also changed, and even the composition of the food eaten has undergone tremendous changes. This change has given society enough vitality.
When we see the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, the vitality of society, and the openness and freedom of the social atmosphere of the Song Dynasty, in the final analysis, it is only because during the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the original small country and widowed agricultural economic structure was destroyed, and replaced by a national economic structure based on agriculture and diversified economic structures. This laid the groundwork for the open and free social atmosphere of the Tang and Song dynasties.
An unprecedented prosperity and richness of ideas
Another fortune was the emergence of Buddhism. Although Buddhism has entered China since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the period of real prosperity was during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The impact of the prosperity of Buddhism on the Chinese intellectual circles is no less than that of a hundred schools of thought. It can even be said that it has opened up a new path for china's ideological prosperity.
Buddhism, although it is a religion, is more of a philosophical thought. During the founding of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and other sub-disciplines also developed rapidly. But during the Han Dynasty, the development of Confucianism made Chinese thought relatively simple. This single, long-term constraint on people's minds. Breaking this shackle began during the Wei and Jin dynasties.
Talk
The rise of Taoism at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty allowed the development of Laozi's doctrine, and the consequent emergence of Eastern Jin Metaphysics and the emergence of Qing Tan was the second brainstorming since the pre-Qin Dynasty. The prosperity of Buddhism is also the product of this brainstorming, at this time, whether it is Confucianism, metaphysics, Taoism, have been greatly affected, and even many Taoist teachings have referenced the buddhist classics. The unity of the three religions has led to a rapid development of Chinese thought, and this development has a far-reaching impact.
The rise of Buddhism, Taoism, and metaphysics all impacted the dominance of Confucianism, and in this confrontation, some more advanced ideas emerged, among which Fan Zhen's "The Theory of Divine Annihilation" came out of nowhere, which also made the Chinese intellectual circles reach a new high.
From the restraint of thought and the single culture since the Han Dynasty, until the great explosion of ideas during the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, not only the localization of foreign civilizations, but also the enrichment of local civilizations.