#历史开讲 #
In the vast river of world history, many civilizations have been born, and these civilizations have had a short period of glory, but most of them have disappeared like meteors in the long river of history, and only the Chinese civilization has been passed down to this day. Since the Qin unified China, the Chinese civilization has entered a period of rapid development, thus leading the world and influencing the world. By the peak of the Sui and Tang dynasties, it became an existence that could not be surpassed. The pace of subsequent development, although slowed down, has maintained a pace of world leadership. Until the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese civilization seemed to have suddenly broken and fallen, caught up and surpassed by Western European civilization, and pulled farther and farther, until the eighties of the last century, we slowly narrowed the distance with Western European civilization. Why is the development rate of Chinese civilization weakening? What is the root cause of being surpassed?
It should be said that answering this question is very difficult, and it is worth writing a special book. I personally summarized the following seven reasons and learned them with my friends.
First, climatic reasons, the Xiaoice River period, grain production decreased, northern invasion and civil unrest
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, affected by the climate of the Xiaoice River, grain production in northern China decreased in a large area, and grain harvests in Shandong, Henan and Shaanxi, the major grain-producing provinces, experienced a phenomenon of grain failure. As the Ming government was trapped in the gentry's enclosure in Jiangnan and the tax revenue was reduced, the war in northern Liaodong continued to lose blood and was unable to save more and more victims, which eventually led to the civil revolt. It was precisely because of the poor rescue of the victims that the number of displaced people increased, and the rebel army led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong could easily recruit soldiers, and it revived many times, and finally captured Beijing and forced Chongzhen to commit suicide.
The decline in grain production was also a fatal threat to the Mongol tribes in the north and the Manchu Jin dynasty, because of the actual social division of labor, the Mongol tribes and the Manchu dynasty needed to exchange grain, iron, silk cotton and other necessities with the Ming dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, due to a large reduction in grain production, there were many displaced people, and the commodities available for exchange plummeted, and prices soared, driving the northern peoples to invade the Great Wall and loot. The damage caused by war to civilization is enormous, not only the loss of population, but also the economic setback, the rupture of cultural inheritance, the decline of social and moral standards, and the regression of political civilization.
Second, ideological rigidity and resistance to innovation. The ancestral system cannot be changed, and those who violate the ancestral system are not allowed
At the beginning of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, whether it was political thought, social thought, or cultural thought, it got rid of some of the imprisonment given to the Han people by the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, and there was great development and innovation. However, after the Ming Dynasty, the emperors of the past became rigid in their thinking, stuck to the immutability of the Taizu Law, violated the ancestral system, and missed the opportunity for change and innovation again and again. And in the Qing Chengming system, this rigid and rigid thinking has not changed. This situation is similar to today's Peking Opera, at the beginning of the emergence of Peking Opera, Bocai Kunqu Opera, Pingju Opera, Hebei Bangzi, Shaanxi Qin and other operas made bold innovations, won the love of most people in the north and south of the river, and was known as the national essence. In modern times, Peking Opera practitioners stick to the singing tone of the sect and do not want to forge ahead, and the singing method that is inconsistent with the school is not allowed, and the performance form different from the school must be cracked down. Completely forgetting that the original intention of Peking Opera was to please the audience and serve the audience. As a result, fewer and fewer people like Peking Opera. The same is true of the rigid thinking of the Ming and Qing dynasties to the destruction of civilization.
Third, depose hundreds of schools of thought and respect Confucianism.
Since the Han Dynasty, the deposition of hundreds of schools of thought and exclusive respect for Confucianism has its positive significance for the development of civilization. After all, Confucianism has its own initiative and advanced nature. However, the fact that other knowledge is not respected and promoted by society seriously affects the sustainability of civilization development and has a great impact on the foundation of civilization development. In particular, in the process of selecting officials, simply using the eight shares to obtain the ranks, although the eight shares are selected has a certain degree of advancedness, and intellectuals who have a thorough understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics can be quickly selected. But political civilization is more than four books and five classics and poetry and songs, and it is hard to imagine that an official who knows nothing about agriculture, commerce, and economics would make great achievements for the development of a region. Therefore, the standard for the assessment of officials in the Ming and Qing dynasties is honesty and how much taxes are paid, and these two items can often be manipulated. The consequences of the Confucianism of selecting officials have caused the entire official system to be led by laymen and insiders, squeezing and attacking each other, resulting in stagnant political, spiritual and social civilizations.
Fourth, technical leakage and economic damage.
The Chinese civilization developed to the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and the level of science and production art was greatly ahead of the world. However, due to the influence of Confucianism, they have long been arrogant and self-centered, and do not know how to protect science and technology, process manufacturing processes, intellectual property rights, etc. With the rise of shipping countries such as the Netherlands and Spain, China's ceramics, tea, silk, paper, sugar, iron pots and other products entered the European market and were robbed. Merchants, missionaries, and some unscrupulous craftsmen who followed merchant ships were driven by profit to steal some craft technology to Europe.
For example, papermaking, although it spread to Europe through the Middle East as early as the Song and Yuan Dynasties, its technological level has not improved, the paper produced is brittle and hard, lacks flexibility, and is not easy to preserve, so its painting can only be done on oilcloth. Another example is iron technology, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, Foshan area has been able to cast oversized iron pots for sugar and other food processing industries, while Europeans are limited by this technology, and their food processing, including sugar refining, has not improved. It is important to say more about the importance of craftsmanship, during World War I, the Russians were trapped in glassmaking technology, and finally paid a million francs to buy the secret of the production process, only two words "stirring".
Fifth, population driven, large population, solved by manpower, small population in Europe, drive innovation
One factor driving scientific and technological progress is the driving role of population. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, a relatively lenient policy has been implemented, and the population has grown rapidly. By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the national population was about 100 million (although the last statistics of the Ming Dynasty were more than 50 million, and there were many untouchables who did not have statistics), and the population increased, the cost of using manpower was very low, and the drive to replace manpower by machinery was very weak. In Europe, however, mechanization is particularly driven due to its small population. There is also plenty of motivation to innovate.
6. Manchu killing, slavery rule
The peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the killings carried out by the Manchu Qing Dynasty also greatly damaged civilization, directly leading to a period of regression of civilization. On the one hand, the killing has caused a decline in population and a sharp decline in social morality, and on the other hand, because the killing has destroyed social stability, the original science and technology have been destroyed or even extinct. In addition, the servile rule practiced by the Manchus also hindered the further development of civilization, and a nation that had just broken away from drinking blood could not care about the progress of civilization and the development of science and technology, especially the servile rule it practiced, which directly brought the Chinese spiritual civilization to a new low.
7. Since the Ming Dynasty, the contempt for craftsmen and the craftsman system
The artisan system practiced since the Ming Dynasty and the contempt for artisans have also affected the development of science and technology to a certain extent. Under the Ming Chengyuan system, a pariah system was implemented for artisans, that is, artisans could only be artisans for generations, and could not be officials, farmers, or relocate and move at will. And because the craftsmen were pariahs and engaged in heavy labor, they were paid for barely subsistence, and they were despised by others in terms of personality. It is not easy for craftsmen to survive, who has the mind to promote the progress of science and technology? The Qing Dynasty also inherited the Ming system of craftsmen.