If you want to ask what the foundation of the country is, it must be the people and the will of the people. People-oriented as the basic means of traditional Chinese governance has a long history.
People-oriented ideas can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty
In the Confucian classic "Song of the Five Sons of Shangshu", it is recorded that "Min Wei Bang Ben, Ben Gu Bang Ning". The Song of the Five Sons was composed by the five younger brothers of the Xia Dynasty king Tai Kang to follow dayu's admonition, which further illustrates the long history of people-oriented thinking.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the people-oriented ideology was further supplemented and developed.
In the "Pipe", it is recorded that "people-oriented, the original principle is solid, and the chaos is the national danger." "In the final analysis, the root of a country is the people, and only when the people are rich can we achieve a rich country and a strong country." In the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong, through a series of strategies to enrich the people, assisted the Duke of Qi Huan to achieve a rich people and a strong country, and finally achieved the Spring and Autumn Hegemony. The proverb "The people are close, not down" is to enlighten the incumbent to be close to the people, and the decline of any feudal dynasty in history began with the alienation of the people.
"Meaning is higher than loving the people, and doing more than lemin" comes from "Yanzi Spring and Autumn", which tells us that loving the people and enjoying the people is the noblest character and behavior.
In the Fourteenth Year of The Duke of Xianggong, zuo chuan, it is recorded that "raising the people is like a son, covering it like heaven, and allowing it to be like the earth", in order to warn the rulers to be close to the people and love the people, to have a tolerant attitude, and to protect the safety of the people. "The prosperity of the nation is also a blessing for the people to be wounded." Its demise is also its calamity, taking the people as the soil mustard. "If a country wants to be rich and prosperous, it must treat the people kindly and sympathize with the people.
The long river of history is rushing unceasingly, and the people-oriented thinking has also continued to develop in the wind and rain, and has lasted for a long time.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Jia Yi's "New Book and Great Politics" contains "the husband and the people, the foundation of all the worlds", indicating the weight of the people in the rule of the world. Li Shimin, the monarch of the Tang Dynasty, also often used the power of the people to compare the people's water, "water can carry boats, but also can overturn boats" shows that the people are the main force for the rise and fall of the country.
"Those who are good for the country, love the people like their parents' sons, brothers love their brothers, smell their hunger and cold, and see their hardships and sorrows" Quotes from the Western Han Dynasty Liu Xiang's "Saying Garden", enlightening the rulers in governing the country, they must persist in loving the people and the people, treat the people as their own relatives and friends, and worry about the people's worries.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Zongxi pointed out in the "Records of Ming Yi To Be Visited" that "the world is the guest of the lord" and "the rule of chaos under the world, and the happiness of all the people", directly pointing out the difference between "family world" and "public world", and pushing the people to a new height.
From this point of view, the people-oriented as a traditional Chinese governance ideology has been enshrined as a guideline by the wise men of successive dynasties and dynasties, and has been continuously supplemented and developed.
Interested readers can read the ancient texts on their own, for extended reading, very much recommend Huang Zongxi's "Ming Yi to be visited", many lines in the divine drama Daming Dynasty can be found from it, you can see the original author's love for Huang Zongxi's thought.