Many dynasties in history, in order to succeed to the throne, will choose an orthodox dynasty that they inherited, such as the Han Dynasty with the Qin Dynasty as the orthodox, the Tang Dynasty with the Sui Dynasty as the orthodox, the Song Dynasty with the Tang Dynasty as the orthodox, the Yuan Dynasty and the Song Dynasty as the orthodox, and the Ming Dynasty with the Yuan Dynasty as the orthodox, these are all things that have been determined and cannot be changed.
According to this situation, the Qing Dynasty should take the Ming Dynasty as the orthodoxy in order to legitimately inherit the throne, but in the first stage of the Qing Dynasty, it was necessary to take the Jin Dynasty as the orthodoxy, and it was not until later that it was changed to the Song Dynasty as the orthodox.
The Qing Dynasty began with the Jin Dynasty as its orthodoxy
The Qing Dynasty was a dynasty established by the ethnic minority Manchus, and the Manchus were actually a branch of the Jin people in the very beginning, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jin State had developed rapidly, and finally directly destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty, and after the Southern Song Dynasty, the Han people hated the Jin Dynasty to the bone, and the Southern Song Dynasty has been waiting for the opportunity to clean up the Jin Kingdom.
Finally, later, the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia together destroyed the Jin Kingdom, and it was when the Jin Kingdom was destroyed, a lot of special things happened, although the Jin State was destroyed at that time, but the Jin people were not completely destroyed, and some of the Jin people fled to guanwai in order to escape the pursuit and killing of the Southern Song Dynasty and mongolia, and it was this part of the people who became the inheritors of the ancestors of the later Qing Dynasty.
In other words, the Manchus of the Qing Dynasty, in fact, were the Jin people at the beginning, and then became Manchus after the continuous development of history, and integrated into the life circle of the Han people, such as the founder of the Qing Dynasty, Nurhaci, who had become an official of the Ming Dynasty, indicating that the Manchus had been sinicized.
Relying on Nurhaci's continuous efforts, and finally established Houjin, simply from the name houjin, it is enough to see the meaning of Nurhaci, obviously at this time, Nurhaci is based on the Jin Dynasty as the orthodox, wants to inherit the great cause of the Jin Dynasty, continue to honor the ancestors, perhaps in the very beginning, Nurhaci did not think that one day the Manchus could enter the Central Plains to establish a unified dynasty.
After Nurhaci's death, his son Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, and Huang Taiji was also a more powerful person, that is, after Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, he changed Houjin to Qing, which shows that Huang Taiji's ambitions are greater than Nurhaci's. Although the name of the country was changed, during the Imperial Taiji period, the Jin Dynasty was still orthodox.
After the death of Emperor Taiji, Shunzhi succeeded to the throne, and later appointed Dorgon to continue to complete the great cause of unification, with the help of Wu Sangui, Dorgon brought the Qing army into the customs and officially entered the Central Plains, and then the Manchus established a new unified dynasty, which is also known as the Qing Dynasty.
Judging from the establishment process of the Qing Dynasty and the relationship between the Manchus and the Jin people, it is actually relatively easy for us to understand the orthodox concept of the Jin Dynasty in the early Qing Dynasty, which can be said to be the belief of the Manchus, in order to complete the great cause of the ancestors and restore the glory of the past, that is, under the support of this belief, the Manchus can establish the Qing Dynasty like chicken blood.
In the early days of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, whether it was Shunzhi or the later Kangxi Emperor, in fact, it was still the Jin Dynasty as the orthodox, in their view, they were the descendants of the Jin people, so they should respect the Jin Dynasty as the orthodox, in order to be worthy of the ancestors, this idea has no problem, but with the rapid development of history, this concept seems to be somewhat incompatible with the times.
Why did Qianlong change the Song Dynasty to orthodoxy?
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, only the emperors of the Jin Dynasty were enshrined in the Zongmiao Temple, but by the Yongzheng Period, the number of emperors enshrined in the Zongmiao Temple had increased to 143, and in the Qianlong Period, this number increased to 188, and the increase in the number of emperors was, in a sense, even if it was an increase in the imperial pattern of the Qing Dynasty, it was also considered that the Qing Dynasty gradually recognized some practical problems in order to stabilize the Country.
That is, during the Qianlong period, he began to express dissatisfaction with some deliberate deletion of the "Orthodox Debate", and directly criticized that this was an act without pattern and mind, which shows that Qianlong himself's pattern and thinking have undergone a certain change, why does this change occur?
In my opinion, there are two main reasons, the first is that the Qing Dynasty is already a unified dynasty, in order to stabilize the throne, Qianlong must broaden his horizons, after all, the dynasties before the Qing Dynasty have already determined that the Song Dynasty is an orthodox dynasty, if the Qing Dynasty denies this view, it will inevitably cause an uproar, and it will be easy to be attacked by people for being unjust in their position, so that it will not be worth the loss.
Looking at the dynasties in history, even the Yuan Dynasty, the dynasty established by ethnic minorities, actually clearly stated that the Song Dynasty dominated by the Han People was orthodox, and even the official documents and historical records of the Yuan Dynasty period were recorded in Chinese characters, which is the profound meaning of orthodoxy.
In the same way, although the Qing Dynasty was a dynasty established by ethnic minorities, most of the people under the rule of the Qing Dynasty were still Han Chinese, if the Qing Rulers continued to take the Jin Dynasty as the orthodox and ignored the needs of the Han people, then sorry, it is very likely that the status of the Qing Dynasty royal family is not guaranteed, many people are worried about not finding the opportunity to rebel, the Qing Dynasty continues to respect the Jin Dynasty as orthodox, which is a good excuse for others to rebel, so Qianlong has to pay attention to these problems.
The second reason is that Qianlong's own thinking and pattern have gradually opened up while receiving new education, and the original Manchus have received their own education, and after entering the Central Plains, what they have received is naturally a more advanced Central Plains education.
In fact, not only Qianlong, even if it is replaced by most ordinary people, it is the same, good education can promote a person's thinking and pattern to undergo great changes, bad education can easily destroy a person.
After the pattern of Qianlong is opened, the whole person's thinking is different, whether it is for the stability of his own throne, or for the future development of the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong needs to change the original narrow concept, that is, in this historical background, Qianlong will change the behavior of the previous ZunJin Dynasty as orthodox, change it to Zun Song Dynasty as orthodox, that is, to announce to the outside world that the Qing Dynasty is also the same as the other Great Unification Dynasties.
epilogue
In the first stage of the Qing Dynasty, in fact, there was no respect for the Song Dynasty as orthodox, after all, at that time, the pattern of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty had not yet been opened, nor did they realize the insecurity factors of the stability of the imperial throne, until the Qianlong period, Qianlong realized these problems, so he began to change it, changing it to respect the Song Dynasty as orthodox, back on track!
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