Original Cui Yunfei
After ruling out the irregular hereditary lineage from the Yellow Emperor to the Yu Emperor, Xia Qi was the first monarch to adopt a hereditary system. The hereditary system refers to the political development of succession from father to son within a regime. The monarch passed on the "political unity" through the hereditary system of succession from father to son. The "Historical Records" said: "Since ancient times, the emperor and the king who succeeded the body and kept the text were not only Nedmao, but also had the help of relatives. The annotation is "It is the son of the son who succeeded the body of the first emperor and established it." The successor is the successor. This is equivalent to gaining historical legitimacy.
"Spring and Autumn: The Legend of the Ram" has an excellent discussion of this. "The Legend of the Ram" says: "What is the first year of the king?" What is the beginning of the spring? Who is the king? The king of the prophet and the king of the first month of the first month. What can be said about Wang Zhengyue? Why does the public not take the throne? What is the meaning of the public? The public will be peaceful and the opposite will be the opposite. Huan is young and noble, hidden and humble, and it is humble and humble, and the people do not know. Hidden and virtuous, the doctors are hidden and stand. If you resign from the office, you don't know that Huan will be established. And if Huan stands, then I am afraid that the doctors will not be able to get along, so all hidden ones will be Huan Li. Why is it not appropriate to stand up for the long and virtuous, and the son is not long for the noble. Why is Huan expensive? If the mother is noble, why is the son valuable? The son is more expensive than the mother, and the mother is more expensive than the son. Here, "Lishi is based on longevity rather than virtuousness, and Lizi is noble rather than virtuous" was enshrined as a benchmark by later generations and became the standard of inheritance in China. The succession system is also reduced to the primogeniture system. Even when the eldest son died, he even had to appoint a grandson. The Book of Rites records:
The funeral of the middle son of the public ceremony, the sandalwood bow is exempted. Zhongzi gave up his grandson and set up his son, and Tan Gong said: "Where do you live? "Tend to obey the son on the right side of the door, and say: "Zhongzi gave up his grandson and set up his son, why not?" The uncle said: "Zhongzi also follows the ancient way." In the past, King Wen Sheboyi was examined and established as King Wu, Weizi gave up his grandson and established Yanye, and Fu Zhongzi also followed the ancient way. Ziyou asked Confucius, and Confucius said, "No! ”
This is an over-reflection of Confucianism's opposition to the elder brother and the murder of the king. Lisun's situation was practiced by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the results proved not ideal. Problems with the hereditary system are particularly frequent. In the Qin Dynasty, there was a rivalry between Huhai and Fusu. Liu Bang also wanted to abolish the crown prince, and finally reluctantly accepted Liu Ying's status as the crown prince. Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty abolished the crown prince Liu Rong and established Liu Yu. In the later period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Jiang Chong launched the scourge of witchcraft, killed the crown prince Liu Ju, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established Liu Fuling. Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty abolished the crown prince Liu Qiang and established Liu Zhuang. The cause of this incident was Liu Xiu's abolition of the queen. Liu Qiang took the initiative to ask to resign as the crown prince without fault. Liu Xiu and Liu Zhuang both courteously treated Liu Qiang and performed a good story. Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty abolished Liu Qing and established Liu Zhao. Liu Qing even assisted Liu Zhao (Emperor He of the Han Dynasty) in eradicating Dou's relatives. Emperor Wen of Sui abolished Yang Yong and established Yang Guang. The most famous sibling contest for the throne was the Xuanwumen Change. Li Shimin killed Li Jiancheng, became the crown prince and succeeded him as emperor. Tang Taizong abolished Li Chengqian and established Li Zhi. And Tang Gaozong abolished Li Zhong, Li Hong, and Li Xian, and finally Li Xian succeeded him. Wu Zetian abolished Tang Zhongzong Li Xian, and even established Li Dan. After Wu Zetian's death, Zhongzong Li Xian was reinstated and killed by Empress Wei. His son Li Chongmao ascended the throne, followed by a coup d'état in Tanglong. Li Longji united with Princess Taiping to kill Empress Wei and supported Li Dan to restore the throne. Li Longji staged another coup d'état to kill Princess Taiping. Tang Xuanzong "killed three sons in one day", including the crown prince Li Ying. The Tang Dynasty has been plagued by coups d'état. Since the Tang Dynasty, the abolition of the crown prince has been said to "shake the country's foundation". The royal family could not easily depose the crown prince. Zhu Changluo was born to Emperor Wanli and his palace maid. Wanli and Zheng Guifei gave birth to Zhu Changxun. It was not until the twenty-ninth year of Wanli that Wanli made Zhu Changluo the crown prince. The Qing Dynasty learned a lesson and implemented a secret system of establishing a prince, thereby strengthening the education of the prince and ensuring the quality of the prince.
But in general, the system of succession has many drawbacks.
First, the clear inheritance system often leads to the loss of a normal environment for the son-in-law to grow up, and falls into conspiracy, which in turn makes the son-in-law lose the happiness and security of ordinary people, and also lose the possibility of receiving general education.
Second, the clear succession system of concubines makes the inheritance system lack competitive flexibility, and there is often a distinction between the virtuous and the foolish. A stupid son-in-law will put the stability of the regime to the test.
Third, the concubine is accompanied by the battle of the harem, and there is the possibility of seizing the heir. The succession has become a major event second only to the competition for the world. The position of the concubine as the prince is not secure. There have been many times in history when it was abolished.
Fourth, sons-in-law tend to ascend the throne at an early age. This creates instability for the regime. Young lords are prone to usurper ministers.
Fifth, there are often disagreements between the emperor and the prince, which leads to conflict. For example, King Zhao Wuling has such entanglements. He wanted to do the abolition of the establishment, and eventually starved himself to death. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the crown prince Liu Ju had a witch rebellion. Kangxi abolished the prince three times, and the nine sons formed a gang to compete for the prince.
In ancient China, there were also four kinds of arrangements: establishing a successor, establishing a long, establishing a virtuous, and establishing love. He is the most suitable, but not the most virtuous. This shows that blood inheritance is only satisfied with the family and clan in the general sense, and does not meet the needs of the state. The hereditary system merely excludes vicious competition. This vicious competition extended from the royal court to the wealthy families. Only the poor family implements the system of equal division of family property, which carries more fairness. The West also adopted the primogeniture system, and the concubine became a knight wandering the world, which became an unstable factor in the Western world. Western aristocracy and royal power have achieved a relatively stable hereditary succession, which constitutes an institutional advantage to a certain extent. In ancient China, the hereditary succession system always had problems, and even if there were no problems, they often stuck to the old ways. China's hereditary succession has even been described as "born in the deep palace and grown up in the hands of women", unable to truly understand the suffering of the people, and lacking practical training, and its political wisdom and courage are not enough to do great things. Emperor Guangxu is a clear example. Hereditary succession also makes China's traditional politics lack a correction mechanism and cannot effectively solve political malpractices. The successor also lacks a sufficient sense of responsibility. The above shows that the hereditary system is not sophisticated, which makes China's political tradition full of anger. The Chinese have been in a hereditary system for a long time, and only the advent of democracy can truly solve the problem of succession to political development.
In retrospect, however, hereditary succession also helped to maintain institutional stability, averting strife in its early years and ending the chaos of sibling killings and brotherhood. At that time, the "state system" was the continuity of the "monarch". The "Historical Records" called: "In the Spring and Autumn Period, thirty-six kings were killed, fifty-two countries were destroyed, and there were countless princes who could not protect the society. "When the monarch is killed and robbed, the vassal states perish. When the monarch is killed, it becomes a major symbol of the country's demise. Fifty-two countries are destroyed, namely: the death of the state, the destruction of the discipline, the destruction of Tan, the destruction of Sui, the destruction of Deng, the extinction of Xi, the extinction of power, the extinction of Geng Huowei, the death of Wei Chu, the extinction of Xian, the extinction of Yu, the extinguishing of Wen, the extinction of Xiang, the extinction of Liang, the extinction of the Xu, the extinction of the Xu, the extinction of the Jiang, the extinction of the sixth, the extinction of the Tate, the extinction of Yong, the extinction of Shuli, the extinction of Chen, the extinction of the Lushi, the extinction of Shuyong, the extinction of Yan, the extinction of Lai, the extinction of Chen, the extinguishment of Cai, the extinguishment of Fei, the extinction of Zhoulai, the extinction of Lu Hun, the extinction of the Yan, the extinction of the Drum, the extinguishment of the nest, the extinguishing of Zhongli, the extinguishing of Xu, the extinguishing of Shen, the extinction of Dun, the extinguishing of Hu, the extinction of the Manshi, Destroy Tang, extinguish Cao, etc. Others, such as "entering the extreme", "holding on to the uncle", "sacrificing the public", "the division and the Qi division surround, and the formation of the Qi division" are also alternative ways to avoid the destruction of the country. It can be seen from this that we should not only oppose hereditary succession today, but also see the rationality in ancient times. To this day, there are still many countries in the world that retain the monarchy as a symbol of national discipline. The British royal family became an important cultural heritage of the country.