The governing ideology of "Guan Zi" and its translation and dissemination
Speaker: Dong Xiaobo Speech Venue: Nanjing Normal University Speech Time: June 2021
From the perspective of history, although there were dynastic changes in ancient China, the main genes of the ancient national governance system have not been interrupted, and they have been continuously improved and developed in the long river of history. In the development of civilization for thousands of years, the Chinese nation has accumulated rich experience in governing the country, and many of its ideas and wisdom have been integrated into the cultural blood of the Chinese nation, becoming the intrinsic genes and distinctive logos of China's national governance system, passed down from generation to generation, lasting and renewing, showing strong vitality. There is a cloud in the "Augmented Sage Text": "It is advisable to look at the present and learn from the past, and there is no past and no present." Our lecture today is mainly to introduce the idea of governing the country in the book "Guanzi", one of the ancient classics of our country, and the translation and dissemination of "Guanzi".
Dong Xiaobo is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Foreign Chinese of Nanjing Normal University, a specially invited researcher of the China Academy of Rule of Law Modernization, the director and chief expert of the Jiangsu International Rule of Law Dynamic Research Center, the vice president of the Chinese Legal English Teaching and Testing Research Association, and the vice president of the Jiangsu Comparative Law Research Association. His research interests include the history of exchanges between Chinese and Western civilizations, legal linguistics, legal translation, language strategy and planning, and cross-cultural communication.
Guan Zhong and "The Pipe"
"Microtubule Zhong, I was sent to the left." This sentence is from the Analects of the Constitution and is Confucius's evaluation of Guan Zhong. "Duke Huan of Qi is hegemonic, the princes of the Nine Unions, the world of Kuang, and the conspiracy of Guan Zhong." This sentence is from the "History of Guan Yan Lie", which is the evaluation of Guan Zhong by the famous historian Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty.
Guan Zhong (c. 723 BC – 645 BC) was known as YiWu (夷吾), also known as Zhong. In the fifty-sixth year of the Duke of Qizhuang, Guan Zhong was born, and it is said that Guan Zhong's ancestors were descendants of King Mu of Zhou, who shared the same lineage as the Zhou royal family. His father, Guan Zhuang, was a doctor of the State of Qi, and later the decline of the family road led to Guan Zhong's poor life. In order to make a living, Guan Zhong and his friend Bao Shuya partnered to do business, but the business failed. Still in order to make a living, Guan Zhong worked as a businessman and traveled to many places, contacting all kinds of people and feasting on the world, thus accumulating rich social experience. Guan Zhong once had an unsatisfactory time, when he was defeated and fled in battle, and he was dismissed several times as an official. Later, the Duke of Qi of Qi died, the heir contradiction broke out, Bao Shushi Qi Gongzi Xiaobai, Guan Zhongshi Gongzi Correction, and finally Gongzi Xiaobai won the victory and became the Duke of Qi Huan, the Gongzi was killed, and Guan Zhong was imprisoned. Uncle Bao then entered Guan Zhong. Guan Zhong used both and appointed the government to Qi. The Duke of Qi Huan is hegemonic, the princes of Jiuhe, the world of Kuang, and the plot of Guan Zhong. "Liezi Li Feng" says: "Guan Zhong tasted and sighed: 'When I was poor, I tasted with Uncle Bao Jia, and I shared the wealth and profits with myself, and Uncle Bao did not think that I was greedy, and knew that I was poor. I tried to be poor for Uncle Bao, and Uncle Bao did not think of me as a fool, and he knew that the time was good and unfavorable. I tasted the three shi three sees to chase after the jun, Uncle Bao does not think that I am not shawn, know that I do not meet the time also. I tasted three battles and three norths, Uncle Bao did not think of me as timid, and knew that I had an old mother. Gongzi was defeated, summoned to death, my prisoner was humiliated, Uncle Bao did not think of me as shameless, knew that I was not ashamed of small sections and shame was not obvious to the world. The parents of those who gave birth to me, uncle Bao who knows me. The deep friendship between Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya, Guan Zhong's outstanding talent and Bao Shuya's understanding and talent have become a good story that has been passed down in ancient China for a long time.
"Pipe" book shadow information picture
According to the research of scholars, the book "Guan Zi" is not written by Guan Zi himself, but is a compilation of the speeches of various schools in the pre-Qin period, the content is very broad, classified according to the traditional sub-sub, it has both Confucianism, Taoism, Yin and Yang, Law, Ming, Ink, Bing, and Peasants; according to the classification of modern science, it includes various ideas such as politics, economy, philosophy, law, military, agriculture, geography, calendar, education, etc., so it is also regarded by later generations as a treasure trove of ideas in the pre-Qin period. The idea of the book "Guan Zi" is the great law of the Chinese pre-Qin dynasty politicians to govern the country and level the world. It has also been suggested that part of its content comes from Minoru Nobuki. The "History of Tian Jingzhong's Complete Family" records: "Xuanwang Xi literary lobbyists, such as Zou Yan, Chun Yu Jie, Tian Biao, Receiving, Cautious, huanyuan disciples seventy-six people, all gave the first, for the sake of the doctor, the rule of the rule of the seventy-six people. It is the revival of the Bachelor of Qi Ji, and hundreds of thousands of people. ”
According to the research of scholars, the writing experience of the book "Guanzi" is roughly as follows: due to the important historical status and influence of Guanzi, the Warring States and subsequent scholars, or record the words and deeds of Guanzi, or the name of the false trustee, expound their own ideological propositions, copy and accumulate, pass on for many years, and finally compile into the book "Guanzi". In the Song Dynasty, Ye Shi called it "The Pipe" is not a one-man pen, a book of the moment" In the 1930s, the scholar Luo Genze published the book "Guan Zi Exploring the Source", which examined the chronology and authorship of the various volumes of the Guan Zi, believing that these works were written in the middle of the Warring States period, the end of the Warring States period, the Qin and Han Dynasties until the time of the Han Dynasty Wenjing and even Wu Zhao, and their authors were either political thinkers, or Legalists, or Taoists, or Confucians, or Yin and Yang, or Miscellaneous, or Doctors, or Soldiers, but the mainstream of their thought was The Fa and Huang Lao Daoist thought, which was characterized by The Taoist, The organic combination of Legalist thought not only found a philosophical foundation for the rule of law, but also effectively implemented Taoist thought into social affairs. Sun Yat-sen believed that the book "Guan Zi" was the "indiscriminate pursuit" of Chinese economics, and pointed out that his economic theories mainly included the theory of rich countries and rich people, the theory of heavy agriculture and the theory of national rail. All in all, the title of "Guan Zi" comes from Guan Zhong, and the content involves huang lao Daoists, who not only put forward specific plans for ruling the country by law, but also attach importance to the basic role of moral education; both emphasize the political management system with the monarch as the core, and advocate people-oriented, and promote the balanced development of all industries of agriculture, industry and commerce; there are both majestic and hegemonic strategies and the ideal of upholding justice and benevolence; both avoid the tendency of the Three Jins lawyers to ignore the moral and human heart, and supplement the lack of practical political experience of ideal Confucians. It has an important position in the history of ancient Chinese political thought, and to some extent, it also reflects the basic ideas of Guan Zhong.
"Guan Zi" governing ideology: strengthen the country and enrich the people
The four words of "no worries about food and clothing" can be said to be the most true and simple wish of the working people in ancient times, and as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, the politician Guan Zhong put forward the idea of strengthening the country and enriching the people, and successfully practiced this idea in the forty years of the State of Qi, and finally helped the Duke of Qi Huan to "nine princes and one Kuang world" and become the first of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Photo by Cui Lilai, Guan Zhong Memorial Hall, Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong Province/ Guangming Photo
People-oriented: The View of governance of the Emperor
The "Pipe" is full of exhortations, and the object of its "persuasion" is the monarch. In ancient Chinese society, the power of the monarch was supreme, and the rise and fall of the world was one. Guan Zi realized that if the State of Qi is to stand out in the pattern of the Spring and Autumn Period, the supreme ruler of the State of Qi must fully understand the importance of putting the people first; only by establishing the monarch's "people-oriented" concept of governing the country can there be a foundation for a strong country and a rich people. Therefore, when Duke Huan of Qi asked how to achieve hegemony, Guan Zi put forward his point of view: "The people of the Qi state are also the foundation of the public. "Why is this?" The King of great powers, so His Holiness, why not? The monarch's authority comes from the people who support him; "where the government is prosperous, it is in the hearts of the people; where the government is abolished, it is against the people's hearts"; the rise and fall of the political power depends on the people's hearts and minds; "the civil peasants are reclaimed, the fields are more than the millet, and the millet is the wealth of the country", agriculture is the economic lifeblood of the country, and the people are the bearers of agricultural production; "the victory of the army must also be used by the people, and the soldier is victorious", and the victory or defeat of the army lies in whether the people obey the dispatch. Guan Zi reminds the monarch from the four aspects of monarchy, political power, economy, and military strength that we must always keep in mind the people as the source of strength.
The book "Guan Zi" proposes that by establishing a "people-oriented" concept of governing the country, the monarch will grasp the "way" of governing the country, and the "technique" of practicing this way is to "lead it to profit". Guan Zi believes that people are born to "see the benefits and do not avoid the harm", and one of the ways to gather people's hearts is to go along with their hearts and desires. "If the people are evil and worried, I am happy; the people are evil and poor, I am rich; the people are evil and dangerous, I am safe; the people are evil and extinct, and I give birth." If we can relieve the people's worries, enrich the people's wealth, protect the people's security, and cultivate the people's livelihood, and link the interests of the country with the interests of the people, the people will support the monarch and serve the country. That is to say, whether the people live well or not fundamentally determines the stability of the country, "if the people are rich, they will be safe and heavy," and if they are in peace, they will respect and fear sin, and if they respect and fear sin, it will be easy to cure it." In addition, guan zi also emphasizes that the satisfaction of the material level is the premise of the pursuit of the spiritual realm, just as the so-called "warehouse is realistic, then know the etiquette; enough food and clothing, then know honor and disgrace", and only when there is no worry about food and clothing can we pursue a higher level of spiritual self-discipline.
Giving in moderation: establishing a balanced view of governance
The "Middle Way" is the essence of China's ancient "and" culture, and it is a balanced way of dynamic development. The ancients emphasized "medium", pursued balance, and hoped that things could be in a "just right" state, part and whole, contradiction and unity coexist, neither lacking nor excessive. Influenced by this, Guan Zi put forward the concept of "giving and taking moderation" and exhorted the king to know how to hold the moderation and control the art of balance. If there is a degree of "taking", the people will not be vain. There is a cloud in the "Guan Zi Quan Xiu": "Sometimes the earth produces wealth, the people are tired of their efforts, and the desires of the people are endless." Sometimes with tiredness, nourishing the king of infinity, and the measure is not born in between, then the upper and lower diseases are also. "The output of land and the productive forces of the people are limited, and if the monarch wants to win the hearts and minds of the people, he must suppress his own desires and take them in moderation in order to stabilize the social order." If there is a degree of giving, the people's hearts will be gathered. There is a saying that "reward is poor, and punishment is abuse." Wealth is poor and abuse, so the lost people are also". The monarch should be cautious in dealing with the issue of rewards and punishments, paying attention to the balance between the two. If merit and punishment do not match, in the long run, the people will be resentful and the prestige of the monarch will be damaged. Therefore, Guan Zi believes that in the process of governance, the monarch of the Holy Ming should make good use of the way of balance, take it in moderation, and give it with moderation.
In Guan Zi's view, the wealth of the country is taken from the people, and the wealth of the people depends on the guarantee of the state, and the two are both interdependent and contradictory. How to reconcile this contradiction is a major problem that needs to be solved by the monarchy. Through a series of policies and systems, the pipe cleverly solves this problem and uses the art of balance to the fullest. Taking agricultural taxation as an example, Guan Zi put forward that "the land is based on real numbers", that is, according to the actual output value, barren mountains, swamps, hills, rivers, etc. are converted into cultivated land areas, and different types correspond to different conversion rates, so as to achieve the standardization and unification of land statistics; "the land and the government are weakened", the quality of land is taken as the consideration factor for taxation, and taxes are levied according to the land grade, stipulating that "the previous year's tithes take three, the middle-aged tithes take two, and the next year's tithes take one", flexibly reduce taxes and fees according to the annual land, ensure that the taxation is reasonable and reasonable, and achieve a dynamic balance between land and taxation "Endowing the land with millet and taxing the fields" determined that the people could pay taxes and fees in kind to save them from the suffering of labor, and at the same time proposed to levy land taxes on the unit of "mu" and unify the units of taxation, such a move stimulated the peasants' enthusiasm for production under the economic conditions at that time, and thus partially liberated the productive forces.
Photo by Cui Lilai of Qi Culture Museum in Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong Province/ Guangming Photo
Governing the country by law: the institutional view of building a strong country
If the monarch realizes the importance of the people in his thinking and knows how to use the art of balance in the process of governance, can he achieve the desire to strengthen the country and enrich the people? The answer to the tube is still no. In guanzi's system of governance ideology, if the first two are "gentle" policies, then the institutional concept of "ruling the country by law" is the "hard means" of governing the country. The book "Pipe" makes many definitions of "law". Among them, the "Forbidden Treasure" points out: "The Dharma, the instrument of the world, so it is decided to doubt and know right from wrong." The "Seven Laws" define the "Law" with six measurement tools of "size", "rope ink", "rules", "weighing stones", "buckets", and "angles", which can be seen that in the thinking of the pipe, "law" is a means of distinguishing between right and wrong, measuring merits and rewards and punishments. Guan Zi believes that the role of the "law" is to "rejuvenate merit and fear violence", "set points and stop disputes", and "make people governors", that is, the code of conduct that all monarchs and people should follow. Guan Zi proposed to use the coercive power of the law to ensure the orderly development of the measures to enrich the people, and lay a solid institutional foundation for strengthening the country and enriching the people.
Of the 86 articles in the Pipe, almost one-fifth of the 76 extant articles on the law. The laws and regulations discussed involve civil, administrative, criminal punishment, taxation, economy, military and political affairs, water conservancy, environmental protection and other aspects, which can be described as an important classic of pre-Qin legal research. Historical experience tells us that the economy and the rule of law complement each other. First, economic development and resource allocation are becoming more and more refined, and laws are needed to guide, regulate and guarantee. Second, a stable environment is a necessary condition for economic development, and laws are needed to establish and maintain order. As the saying goes, "there are no rules, no squares", "Guan Zi" is rich in perfect legal content, advocating internal restraint on members of society and preventing arbitrary abuse of power externally, providing rich ideological nourishment for ancient justice.
In order to make good use of the "law", which is the important instrument of the country, Guan Zi implemented the concept of "ruling the country by law" into the procedure, proposing that "everything that will be done, the order must be out first." The number of rewards and punishments will be known first. Those who make a deed shall obey the order to carry out rewards and punishments, and the orders of the counting of the matter shall be rewarded and punished, and the rewards and penalties shall be repeated. Those who do not conform to the order, although they have utilitarianism, are called despotic, and their sins and deaths are not forgiven. The first thing is laid out, and then it can be lifted." Guan Zi believes that it needs to be clear that the law must be strictly observed at all stages of preparation, implementation, inspection, and reporting. In this way, in the production and life of the people, there are rules for stopping and sitting, sitting and lying down; when the state governs the people, the choices and choices are all in order. There are laws to follow, and orders to follow.
As an excellent national cultural heritage, "Pipe" has a broad and profound connotation, adapts to the needs of the time, and has a more enlightening reference effect on today's society.
Translation and dissemination of The Pipe
According to scholars, the Guan Zi was transmitted to Japan at the latest in the early Nara period (710 AD - 794 AD), that is, in the early years of the Tang Xuanzong Kaiyuan (713 AD - 741 AD). After the introduction of the Pipe to Japan, it was included in the "Catalogue of The Books of the Japanese Kunimi". The Bibliography of Nihon Kunimi Nosukeyo was compiled by the Heian dynasty scholar Fujiwara Nosukeyo (847 AD – 898 AD), and is generally believed to have been written in the third year of Emperor Uda's reign (891 AD), and some scholars believe that the book was compiled between the last year of Emperor Yōsei's Sadakan (876 AD) and the first year of Keiyō (884 AD)." The book contains more than 1,500 Japanese Chinese texts and more than 17,000 volumes in the early Heian period. These Han chinese texts were "almost all imported from the era of the Tang Dynasty." During the Asuka period and the Nara period, Japan sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty many times. When envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty returned to China, they often carried a large number of Chinese classics, "obtaining tin books, writing all the books in the city, and returning from the sea" (Old Book of Tang). In this context, the Guan Zi was sent to Japan by the Tang envoys along with other books and documents. In the Edo period, with the development of Japan's commercial economy at that time, the monopoly of culture in the past by nobles and monks was broken, and gradually shifted to the common people. The expansion of the cultural class increased the demand for books, and a large number of Chinese books were introduced to Japan with the commercial trade, including the Pipe. The large number of Chinese versions of the Pipe and the appearance of a large number of Japanese copies of the Pipe formed a situation in which the Pipe was widely circulated in Japan during the Edo period.
China is connected to the mountains and rivers of the Korean Peninsula, and the book "Pipe" was transmitted to the Korean Peninsula very early. Because ancient Korea was a traditional Confucian society, believing in the Zhuzi doctrine, the Four Books and Five Classics were widely circulated, and the Guan zi, which emphasized the practical use of the scriptures, was snubbed, so in the ancient Korean Peninsula, the Guan Zi was long circulated in Chinese text. Since modern times, Korean social and academic thought has undergone tremendous changes, and the Guan Zi has been valued together with the Analects and Mencius, and the Korean translation of the Guan Zi has emerged. The translation of "Guan Zi" in Korea was first selected and then fully translated. The earliest selected translation was the 1969 Korean Liberal Education Promotion Society, which was included in the Complete Works of World Classics. Subsequently, the 1972 Dayang Book Publishing House and the 1977 Genyan Society Edition also appeared in the form of a series of books. It was not until 1985, when Mingwentang's "New Translation of Guanzi" was published, that the first one-line selected translation of "Guanzi" appeared. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea in 1992, cultural exchanges between the two countries have become increasingly frequent, and all walks of life in South Korea have paid more and more attention to "The Pipe". Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has made major achievements. "Pipe" advocates pragmatic change, which is in line with the spirit of the times of China's reform and opening up, which also invisibly promotes the study of "Pipe" in South Korea. From the perspective of South Korea, China is an important partnership country, in the past, South Korea to understand China, need to study Confucius and Mengmeng, but now people think that it is necessary to understand China through the "pipe". In this context, in 2006, the first full Korean translation of The Pipe was published in the Pine Edition.
As early as the end of the 19th century, Western scholars began to study and translate the Pipe, but the systematic translation of the Pipe did not become a meteorological situation until about the middle of the 20th century. From the end of the 19th century to the 1920s, the main purpose of the review of the "Pipe" by German and French sinologists was to introduce the main ideas of the "Pipe" to the West, but there was a lack of systematic research, and the translation work done showed very superficial and fragmented characteristics. Gabelentz, a professor and sinologist at the University of Leipzig in Germany, published in French in 1886 the Philosophical Works of the Pipe, which briefly introduced the book "The Pipe". By 1896, the French sinologist Halrez published "A Chinese Prime Minister in the Seventh Century BC: A Book of Pipes and < Pipes of the State of Qi> in The Asian Magazine. In the late 1920s, the basic research motivation and translation orientation of "Guan Zi" were mainly in the field of personal interests, and the translation methods were mainly selected translations and excerpts, which were not ideal in terms of quantity and quality, but the accumulated translated texts provided a data basis for larger-scale translations in the later period. By the 1950s, the study and translation of The Pipe had gone further. In 1952, in his work "On the Circulation of the Pipe" (see bulletin published in the United Kingdom in 1952, Vol. II, No. 41), the Cambridge University scholar Piet Van Delon used the philological method to carefully examine the authenticity of the book, circulation and edition of the Pipe from the perspective of linguistics and philosophical thought, and the article involved the linguistic interpretation of many contents of the Pipe, which in a certain sense inspired and referenced the way of thinking and learning the translation of the Pipe. It also has a certain impact on follow-up studies. Since the 1980s, academic research and cultural exchanges have been continuously promoted, which has made the research of the translation of "Guan Zi" enter a mature period, and the main motivation of translation and introduction has been changed to the purpose of academic research and cultural exchange. During this period, the representative who specialized in the study and translation of "The Pipe" was Allyn Rickett, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Li Ke was published by Princeton University Press in 1985 and 1998 by the first and second volumes of "Pipe", and since then Western countries have finally produced a complete English translation of "Pipe", which marks that the translation of "Pipe" in the West has leapt to a new height. The publication of this full translation enabled the "Pipe" to move from a partial fragmentary translation to a comprehensive and systematic translation in the Western world, which completely changed the situation that the "Pipe" had not paid enough attention to the Western world and the English-speaking world for a long time, and improved the situation that the great value of the "Pipe" classics and the influence of external dissemination had not been commensurate.
In 1995, China officially launched the "Greater China Library (Chinese-English Comparison)" project, which is the first time in China's history to systematically and comprehensively launch a foreign language version of Chinese cultural classics to the world, which has laid a solid foundation for the development of foreign translation of Chinese classics. The English translation of "Pipe" was completed by Professor Zhai Jiangyue of Ludong University and first published by Guangxi Normal University in 2005. This is the first complete translation of Guan Zi independently completed by a local Chinese translator, which is of great significance to the global promotion of Guan Zi thought and Qilu culture.
brief summary
"Guan Zi" is an excellent representative of traditional Chinese culture, its thinking on governing the country is extremely rich, and it has unique features in legislation, law enforcement, judiciary and law abiding, and has important historical value. At the same time, actively carrying out research on the translation and dissemination of traditional cultural classics such as "GuanZi" is conducive to inheriting Chinese cultural genes and enhancing cultural self-confidence on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also conducive to strengthening dialogue among civilizations, telling Chinese stories well, and enhancing the influence of Chinese culture.
Guangming Daily (2021-08-21 10th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily