preface
The book burning of Qin Shi Huang in the Chinese calendar and the literary prison of the Qing Dynasty were a special political phenomenon under the absolute feudal monarchy, which had a profound impact on the politics, economy and culture of that time and later.
Although thousands of years have passed, these two events have left traces in the history of China that future generations cannot forget.
Whether it is the Qin Dynasty's book-burning pit Confucianism or the Qing Dynasty's "literary prison", these are the policies of cultural suppression implemented by the feudal dynasty at different times, which have had a certain degree of impact on the development of the present and future generations.
One. Nature-wise
From the point of view of purpose, Qin Shi Huang's book burning pit Confucianism and the Qing Dynasty's literary prison were all because of the feudal rulers' fear of literati and Confucianism.
The reason why Lees put forward the reason for burning books and punishing Confucianism is:
"The ancients are scattered in the world, and they are not able to do one, they are all princes and princes, they all talk about the past to harm the present, they are false words to harm the truth, people are good at what they learn privately, and they are established with what is not superior."
In other words, literati are harms outside of ancient and modern times, and the scourge of false words, and their private academic works are the cancer that divides the world, and they must be eliminated.
If Qin Shi Huang burned Confucianism because of "Confucian heresy", then the Qing court's literary prison was not so pure.
Although some people say: "The three emperors Kang, Yong and Qian, promoted the prison of letters, in order to enhance imperial power, strengthen dictatorship, and consolidate the Qing Dynasty."
This is the same reason why the Qin Dynasty burned books and confucianism, both in order to implement grammatical autocracy through this policy of repression, and in this respect both were strategies for consolidating and feudal rule.
However, at the beginning of the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, the concept of the state and national consciousness had not yet taken shape, and the first priority of the rulers was unification.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchurian aristocracy was dominated by a small number of people, so the Qing rulers had to suppress the rebellion of the Han people in addition to completing the great cause of the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, it must be suppressed ideologically and culturally, so there is a literal hell.
Therefore, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty also had another purpose in the prison of letters, that is, to suppress the anti-Manchu view and national integrity of the Han scholars.
"Qing Dynasty Character Prison Files" contains various texts of Qing Dynasty Character Prison, with a total of more than 80 classics.
According to historical data, there are striking similarities in the four aspects of cause, method, nature, and impact, but upon closer inspection, there are differences.
Compared with Qin Shi Huang's book burning and pit Confucianism, the Qing Dynasty's literary prison was not just a means of consolidation and establishment, it was also a high-pressure policy of the nation.
Two. way
Whether it was the Qin Dynasty's book-burning pit Confucianism or the Qing Dynasty's literary prison, they were suppressed with blood.
After Qin Shi Huang approved Li Si's request for advice, he ordered the book to be burned and destroyed. In addition to the history books of Qin Ji, only the books of Qin Ji, medicine, and plants remain.
If you want to learn the teachings, you must "take the officials as teachers." This not only burned a lot of precious literature, but also put a lot of pressure on education.
Later, after listening to the accusations and deception of the Confucians, Qin Shi Huang was even more furious:
"I have received the books of the world before and exhausted those who have not used them." Xi summoned literary Fang Warlock and even Song, wanted to prosper Taiping, Fang Shi wanted to practice in order to seek miracle medicine, and now when he heard that Han Zi would not report it, Xu Shi and others spent tens of thousands of dollars, he could not afford to take medicine, and he told each other about it in vain
"I am very kind to Lu Sheng and others, but now they want to slander me, which is belittling me and disrespecting me. His protégés and disciples who are in Xianyang, I will send people to inquire, and if they want to rebel, take all their first ranks."
So there was the later Xianyang Disaster, which everyone knew to warn future generations, in addition to this, many people were also exiled to the frontier.
More than four hundred and sixty readers were killed because of the "slander" of a warlock, and such methods were really cruel.
But in terms of cruelty, the Qing Dynasty's literary prison is no less than the Qin Dynasty's book-burning pits.
In the Qing Dynasty literary prison, the most famous is the "Ming History Case".
After compiling the Ming History Compendium, Zhuang was slandered as "anti-Qing" and was bloodily suppressed by the Qing court, leading to the outbreak of the first literary prison incident.
At that time, Gu Yanwu recorded this incident in "The Second Zi of Shupan Wu":
"The four ministers were angry and sent people to Hangzhou, and Zhuangsheng's father, together with his brother Ding Yu and ten of his brothers, were all killed."
"The book he inscribed, and the recommendation of the county, and nothing heard, also sat down. Excavate Tingzhang's tomb, burn his books and bones, and confiscate his property. The same is true of Wu and Pan. ”
More than 2,000 people were implicated, all of whom were imprisoned.
Since then, more than 80 literary prisons in the Qing Dynasty have been concocted by law.
Compared with the book burning and destruction in the Qin Dynasty, the number of literary prisons in the Qing Dynasty, the scale of the large-scale and the degree of cruelty are really incomparable.
Three. Impact
The book burning pit of the Qin Dynasty and the literary prison of the Qing Dynasty were both cultural high-pressure policies, and the use of this method had a profound impact on the society of the time and future generations.
First of all, from the point of view of the classics, whether it is the burning of the Qin Dynasty or the ban on "reactionary speech" works of the Qing Dynasty, it has caused great losses to the current Chinese culture, especially the classics.
The Qin Dynasty burned books, leaving only a few books such as Qin Ji and medicine, and the rest were burned, and it is conceivable that the number of many classics at that time was huge, especially the poems, scriptures, and history books before Qin, basically all left.
The Qing Dynasty's literary prison also made some classics incomplete, such as the Ming History case, which not only destroyed the "Ming History Compendium" compiled by Zhuang Tingding, but also seriously damaged the tradition of literati historians writing history books privately, and hindered the development of historiography to a certain extent.
Second, both of these methods use iron-blooded means to create panic in society and suppress people's hearts. The "Old Book of Tang and Classics" recorded: "The Ying clan pit burned, with foolishness."
That is to say, the Qin Dynasty burned the readers, so that the people lost the opportunity to learn the law, and the Confucians did not dare to move the court, and in the end, making them stupid was the goal, because after becoming stupid, no one would resist, which could consolidate the rule of the Qin Dynasty.
And the hundred schools of thought in the Spring and Autumn Warring States also declined, replaced by the ruthlessness of the Legalists.
Similarly, someone else said: "(Qing Dynasty Character Prison) In the text, there are words that are not precise, quotes improperly, or have the intention of complaining and suppressing." ”
Therefore, at that time, all intellectuals were cautious, afraid that if something was wrong, they would be caught by the handle, and they would be imprisoned for improper use of words and words.
Gong Zizhen of the late Qing Dynasty wrote in a poem "History of Yong": "Shun the seat and fear the prison of words, and write books only for Daoliang." ”
These two poems refer to the embarrassing feelings of those in the know at that time, and it can be seen that the Qing Dynasty's literal prison really bound the minds of the intellectuals at that time.
Finally, although both effectively achieved grammatical autocracy and short-term feudal rule in a relatively short period of time, in the long run, they had a certain hindrance to the development of history.
Qin Shi Huang's book burning pit Confucianism, although it has a shocking effect, but it can not stop everyone, just as the so-called "the mouth of the defense is better than the defense of the river", the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, in the uprising, was finally overthrown.
Jia Yi pointed out in "The Theory of Guo Qin" that the main reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty were: "The King of Qin was insatiable, clever, did not believe in meritorious people, did not get close to the people, abolished the royal way, established private rights, banned documents and strictly punished the law, and ruled the world with brutality instead of benevolence and righteousness."
Jia Yi believes that Qin Shi Huang's book burning was also one of the important reasons for the rapid demise of the Qin Dynasty.
It can be seen that the burning of books to destroy Confucianism not only did not consolidate the rule of the Qin Dynasty, but also caused panic among the people of the Qin State, which also accelerated the demise of the Qin Dynasty.
Similarly, through the text hell we can also see:
This measure suppressed the national ideology and national integrity of the Han scholars at that time, although it dealt a blow to the fellows that posed a threat to the imperial power and strengthened the authoritarian rule in the field of culture and thought, but this effect was only temporary.
In essence, this pressure did not weaken the cultural spirit of the Han people at that time.
On the contrary, the brutality against the Han people further stimulated the anti-Manchu sentiment of the Han people, so during the reign of the dynasty, anti-Qing and Ming movements emerged one after another, even in the late Qing period.
The League led by Sun Yat-sen put forward a 16-character general program of "expelling the Tatars, restoring China, founding the Republic of China, and equalizing land rights."
In addition, the restraint of the Korean Literary Prison caused intellectuals at that time to dare not innovate, hindering the opening and development of Qing Dynasty society.
Judging from the Qin Dynasty's book-burning pit Confucianism and the Qing Dynasty's text prison, these two have a certain regression in history to a certain extent, but compared with it, the Qing Dynasty's text prison is so huge, so terrifying, and so shocking.
IV. Summary
Whether it was the book burning pit of the Qin Dynasty or the literary prison of the Qing Dynasty, it was a "high pressure" policy on culture implemented by feudals at different times.
Due to different social backgrounds, the two have their own characteristics in nature, mode and influence.
In essence: Qin Shi Huang's book burning pit Confucianism was just a simple autocratic rule, while the Qing government's literary prison was not only an oppression of the feudal system, but also an oppressive policy against the Han people at that time.
From the perspective of method: compared with the Qin Dynasty's book burning pits, the Qing Dynasty's literary prison is larger and more cruel;
In terms of impact: the Qing Dynasty's literary prison had a relatively greater negative impact due to its large number and cruel methods.
However, the implementation of these two policies had a certain impact on the time and hindered the progress and development of society to a certain extent.
The development of a society is not only embodied in economic, social, military, political and other aspects, but also in ideological and cultural freedom.
Whether it is Qin Shi Huang's book burning pit Confucianism or the Qing Dynasty's literary prison, we will serve as a wake-up call for policies that hinder the development of literati and cultural progress at that time.
[References]
[1] Sima Qian. Shiji Qin Shi Huang Benji. Zhonghua Bookstore,1959.
[2] Guo Chengkang, Lin Tiejun, Qing Dynasty Literary Prison, Qunzhen Publishing House, 1990:
[3] Gu Yanwu, Gu Ting, Lin Poetry Collection, Book, Pan Wu, Erzi, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1983.
[4] Liu Xu et al., Old Tang Shu Jingzhi, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1975.