The Donglin Party, as an important political force at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Some people believe that it dominated the social trend of thought at that time, led the social atmosphere, and allowed ordinary people to regain traditional morality in a subtle way, and then build a good social order. Some people also believe that it misled the country by empty talk, which eventually led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Whether it is beneficial to the country or unfavorable to the country, it is undeniable that the Donglin Party is an important force in the country. But the irony is that the Donglin Party, which is powerful enough to influence the temple, has not been able to save the Ming Dynasty from danger.
Freedom of speech, the prototype of the modern opposition
The rise of the Donglin Party was closely related to the social environment at that time. During the Wanli years, under the blow of Zhang Juzheng's high-pressure remarks, the whole country seemed to be dead, and the literati and intellectuals did not dare to argue about the government. The Donglin sect, represented by Gu Xiancheng, began to fight for freedom of speech and put forward some suggestions contrary to Zhang Juzheng. During this period, the Donglin Party had not yet become a climate, and later, after Gu Xiancheng was deposed and returned to his hometown, he began to use lectures as a sustenance to form a public opinion outside the imperial court to influence the government.
According to the "Beginning and End of Donglin", "Xian Cheng returned to who and taught in Donglin, so Yang Shi Academy also." Sun Piyang, Zou Yuanbiao, Zhao Nanxing and the like were conceited and conceited, and they were always in agreement with the government. There are also people who have been attached to the consistent way, and Xian Cheng lectures, the world tends to do it, always holds the right to win, and the deposed person goes away and has a high reputation. This Donglin and Zhejiang Party Offices have also been from the beginning." From this record, it is not difficult to see that the Donglin Party at this time opened the so-called "Donglin Academy" and began to discuss and grasp the political discourse in the name of the practice of learning and academic style. With the addition of more and more scholars, a powerful political force was gradually formed, comparable to the opposition parties in modern countries.
The reason why the Donglin Party was able to possess the rudiments of the opposition party in modern society is closely related to its guiding ideology. The Donglin Party advocates honesty and honesty in performing official duties, revitalizing the rule of officials, opening up the way of speech, eliminating the accumulated shortcomings of the government and the opposition, and so on. In particular, the pursuit of freedom of speech was the Donglin Party that brought a glimmer of light to that dark society.
It is precisely because it has a certain guiding ideology that the Donglin Party is no longer just a simple "friend party", and at the moment its nature is between the traditional Chinese friend party and the modern political party in the West. However, it is still a "friend party", and it is its identity as a "friend party" that intensified the party struggle of the Ming Dynasty and led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
The partisan party, which can never be rid of, intensified the party struggle for the demise of the Ming Dynasty
There is such a passage in the "Han Feizi": "The lord's interests are enabled by Haojie, and the subjects' interests are used in the friends' party, and the private wealth is based on the cutting of the country's land, and the lord is inferior and the ministers are heavy, so the lord loses his power and the subjects win the country, and the lord is called a vassal." In Han Feizi's view, the partisan party is an act of courtiers forming parties for personal gain and violating discipline, which is not conducive to the rule of the monarchy. The ming dynasty's friends were different from the past and were divided by geography.
The earliest recorded friend party in the Ming Dynasty was the "Chu Party" headed by Zhang Juzheng and dominated by the Huguang bureaucracy. After the fall of Zhang Juzheng, the "Chu Party" declined, and in this case, other local groups rose up, and the Donglin Party was one of them. Although there are many non-Nanzhi members of the Donglin Party, its initiators and main figures are from the Nanzhili region (especially in the present-day southern Jiangsu region).
The opposite of the Donglin Party is the relatively weak Qi Party, Chu Party and Zhejiang Party. Under the strong oppression of the Donglin Party, these three parties were helplessly annexed to the castration party. The entire Ming Dynasty formed two major confrontation camps, the two sides were seriously antagonistic, and after the Three Parties of Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang gained power, "Donglin has been expelled by the three parties of Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang", which is obviously a vent of private anger, and such a political ecology is unfavorable to the national society.
The incessant party struggle and internal friction made the Chongzhen Emperor exhausted, which led to the Chongzhen Emperor's fear of hands and feet when he was in power, and when he used people, he looked forward and looked back, and the Chongzhen Emperor sighed before hanging himself: "The Chongzhen Emperor despised the virtues, and the heavens were blamed, but all the ministers were mistaken."
Moreover, with the continuous growth of the Donglin Party, the recruiters are also various, both sages and unscrupulous people. As Lu Chengyuan, head of the Chongzhen Dynasty's Ministry of Works, commented, "Therefore, the sages still used lecturing as a way to invent the Tao, and instead of Using Donglin to control the official palace, strip the small people, remotely hold the handle of the dynasty, and shelter bandits." What virtue can such a mixed political force have to save daming from water and fire?