【Traditional Culture】Historical memory in regional culture ‖ Zhao Kuifu

Historical memory in regional cultures

Zhao Kuifu

Scholars generally start from four aspects when analyzing the thoughts of ancient figures: first, the era, second, the family, family, third, the teacher, and fourth, personal experience. Analyzing it in relation to the times, this is completely correct. But there are also different ideas and ideas that arise within the same era. Family and family have a great deal to do with the formation of a person's ideological concepts, and people in roughly the same family or family will also have different ideas and different political opinions. Mentoring often plays a decisive role for ordinary people, but it is difficult to talk about the situation when the hundred schools of thought rose during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, because the founder of each family basically did not have the problem of mentoring. As for personal experience, it often plays a role in strengthening thinking and character, but it does not play a role in the formation of initial ideas and concepts. For example, Confucius and Lao Tzu began to have a relatively smooth beginning in their life experiences. "Historical Records: The Biography of Lao Tzu Han Feilie" said: "Lao Tzu cultivates morality, and his learning is self-concealed. After living in Zhou for a long time, seeing the decline of Zhou, he went away. "Confucius also developed smoothly in the early days, and the official reached Lu Sikou. Later, he also abandoned his official position and traveled around the world, and the two had similar experiences. However, their ideas are developed on the basis of what has already been formed, and there is no commonality. Similarly, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the sons of the hundred schools had their own opinions, and it is difficult to explain them only by relying on the times or families, families, teachers, or personal experience. In ancient times, a person's ideological concepts were slowly formed from his early knowledge and understanding of the social environment, and each person's family, personal experience, and education were also related to the specific social environment, natural environment, or natural conditions.

In ancient times, human beings had little ability to change the natural environment, transportation was not developed, and there was very little group movement of people. Therefore, its ideology is related to the natural environment, and it is also related to the influence of some major historical events in the development of the society.

After the Qin and Han dynasties, the formation of the Great Unification Dynasty and the economic, cultural and other exchanges between the east, the west, the north and the south became more and more frequent, and the influence of regional differences and the accumulation of regional culture on the formation of a person's ideology became smaller and smaller, but it did not disappear completely.

I believe that the formation of the theories and propositions of every thinker in ancient times is related to the natural environment in which he grew up and the general ideas and ideas formed in the history of the region. In ancient times, especially in ancient times, it was difficult for a person to get rid of the thinking habits formed since childhood, and judging right and wrong would also be based on the life impressions that he had heard and witnessed since childhood. The regional environment includes not only the natural conditions for survival and development, but also cultural traditions, social concepts and customs. Modern scientific research has shown that the education and influence received by people in early childhood and adolescence play a role in laying the foundation for the establishment of their personality, values and way of thinking. As they mature, they will have more books, experiences, and practices, and their views on some issues will be more profound and their concepts will change, but it is difficult to change their basic way of thinking and style of discourse. This will be more prominent in antiquity.

This can be evidenced by the formation of the various families of the pre-Qin princes.

Confucianism was formed in the state of Lu. In the "Historical Records: Taishi Gong's Self-Preface", it is said: "Since the death of the Duke of Zhou, there has been Confucius at the age of 500." He also said: "Zhong Ni mourns the abolition of the music collapse, pursues the scriptures, in order to reach the royal road, and the chaotic times are contrary to the right, see his words, for the world's ritual law, and the rule of the six arts will be in the future generations." This means that Confucius summarized and inherited the ideas and concepts of social ethics and etiquette system since the Duke of Zhou and developed into a Confucian school. Confucius said: "Zhou Jian is in the second generation, and he is depressed! I'm from Zhou. In the "Historical Records: The Biography of Zhongni's Disciples", there are 77 disciples of Confucius, most of whom are from Lu, and the most outstanding ones such as Yan Yuan, Min Ziqian, Ran Boniu, Zhonggong, Ran You, Zilu, Zaime, Zigong, and Ziyou are all from Lu. Only Zixia is a native of the country, and Wei is the feudal state of King Wu's younger brother Kang Shu, adjacent to Lu in the east, and the ideas of its upper class in the Spring and Autumn Period are similar to those of Lu. Meng Ke, Zou people, their land is in the south of Qufu, not far away. Zhao Qi's "Mencius Inscription" quoted or said: "Mencius, after Mengsun of the Lu clan." Therefore, Mencius was in Qi, lost his mother and was buried in Luye. These people all learned from Confucius, which is also related to his earliest formed ideas.

The military family was formed in the Qi State. The author of "The Art of War" is Sun Wu, "Historical Records: The Biography of Sun Tzu Wu Qilie": "Sun Tzu is a warrior, and Qi is also a person." The art of war is seen in the palace of King Wu. He also said: "Sun Wu is dead, and there will be Sun Bin more than 100 years later." Sun Bin, the author of "Sun Bin The Art of War", is also a Qi person. Legend has it that the earlier military book was formed "Sima Fa". "Taishi Gong's Self-Preface" said: "Since ancient times, there has been a "Sima Law", and Sui Tho can affirm it." Sui Tho was a native of Qi Jinggong in the late Spring and Autumn Period, roughly at the same time as Sun Wu. Then there is no problem for the soldiers to start from Qi. Qi was the fief of the prince Jiang Shang, and Jiang Shang helped King Wu destroy Shang with his ability to use soldiers. It is also difficult to say whether the "Sima Law" also contains Jiang Shangshi's military legacy.

Li Kui, the founder of Legalism, was the Marquis of Wei and should be a native of Wei. He advocated "teaching to the best of the earth's strength", and once "collected the criminal codes of all countries" and compiled the first complete legal code on the mainland, the "Book of Law" (no longer available). The second person with Legalist thoughts, Gong Zhonglian, Zhao Liehou was the prime minister, and should be a native of Zhao Guo. He accepted and implemented the principles of employing and managing finances, such as "selecting, training, and promoting talents, appointing officials to enable them," "using money sparingly, and observing merits." At the beginning of Legalist thought, they focused primarily on political reform. The third Wu Qi and the fourth Shang Yang were all patriots, and their places were between Zhao and Wei during the Warring States Period and went east. Wu Qi has "Wu Zi's Art of War" survived, which is generally attributed to the soldiers, but he presided over the change of law in the Chu State. Shang Ying may be influenced by it, and the history records that it is less good at the study of criminal names. Shang Ying's reform of the law in the Qin State had a great impact. The fifth Shen is not harmful, and the history records that he is a native of Zheng Guojing, in fact, in 375 BC, Han has destroyed Zheng, and he is a Korean who entered Han by Zheng. In 355 BC, the Marquis of Han Zhao used Shen Bu as the prime minister to implement reforms. It is characterized by emphasizing the art of the king and the emperor. The sixth is cautious, Zhao Ren, "Historical Records: Mencius Xunqing Liebiography", "Tian Jingzhong Wanshijia", "Zhuangzi Tianxia", "Xunzi Fei Twelve Sons" also discuss his thoughts, and there is a book "Shenzi" handed down, and his rule of law thought is more thorough than that of the previous schools (cf. "On the Rule of Law Thought of Prudence", published in "Social Science Front", No. 4, 2013). Zou Ji of Qi also used Legalist methods to revise the law and eliminate traitors when he was King Qi Wei. The Legalists were mainly born in the Han, Zhao, and Wei dynasties after the three divisions of the Jin Dynasty, and the Tian Qi State that stood on behalf of Jiang. Han Fei, the most outstanding Legalist figure at the end of the Warring States Period, was also Korean.

Han, Zhao, Wei, and Tian Qi were raised by the Qing Dafu on behalf of the original feudal marquis, and the mainstream voices in these places were to abolish the patriarchal system, reform politics, and strengthen the legal system. There are eight figures of the Fajia mentioned above, six from these four countries, and two from the defense of the country. At that time, the power of Lu and Wei had been greatly weakened, and the capital was moved twice, first to Zhao, and then to Wei's vassals, and to the Warring States period, the social atmosphere and the ideology of ordinary scholars were close to Han, Zhao, and Wei. Among the Legalist figures, there were no people from the Lu, Yan, Chen, Song, Qin, and Chu countries. In general, the rise of Legalism and the emergence of major figures were in the Central Plains and Tianqi, which had undergone major political changes. This geographical scope is also obvious.

The vertical and horizontal family is also mostly from the three Jins. In the "Historical Records", it is said: "Su Qin, the people of Luoyang in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty are also." "The three Su Qin brothers all lobbied the princes to make a name for themselves, and their skills are good at power changes." "Zhang Yi, Wei people." "The rhinoceros head, the Yin Jin people of Wei are also." Taishi Gong said: "There are many people in the Three Jin Dynasty, and most of the people who are from the (vertical) balance and strength of Qin are also the people of the Three Jin Dynasty." Zonghengjia and Legalism are very different, but they both strive to break the old system of hierarchy and etiquette and open up a new political situation.

As for Mo Zhai, the ancestor of the Mo family, "Historical Records" and "Book of Han" all say that he is a Song person, Ge Hong's "Legend of the Immortals", "Anthology of Literature: Changliu Fu", Li Shan's note quotes "Hug Puzi", "Xunzi - Self-cultivation", and Yang Liang's note all use Mozi as a Song person. Sun Yi asked "Mozi Interval" with "Mozi Biography" to say that he was a Lu person. Gu Jiegang's "Zen Legend Originated from the Mojia Examination" said that Mozi was the eldest son of the brother of Song Xianggong after Song Gongzi Muyi, "originally the clan of the Song Kingdom", and his residence was in Teng County, Shandong Province according to later generations, and later belonged to Lu, and the land of the Song Dynasty. Qing Yu Zhengxie said, "After Mo Yiyin, I am grateful for the lawlessness and the law is ancient" ("癸巳 Class Manuscripts" volume 14). Gu Jiegang advocated that Zen let it be said in the Mo family. Although Teng is in the south of Lu and the northeast of the Song Dynasty, it can be imagined that it has formed a completely different cultural characteristics from Lu Di.

From the emergence of the five schools of Confucianism, Bing, Law, Vertical and Horizontal, and Mo, it can be seen that the formation of different ideas during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period had obvious regional characteristics.

Let's look at the formation of Taoism. In the "Historical Records", Lao Tzu is "a native of Qurenli, Li Township, Chuku County", and "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Chronicles of the County": "Bitter, the Spring and Autumn Period." Volume 24 of "Notes on the Book of Water": "Suishui is east, south of the old city of Jixiang County, and the capital of the Song Gonggong." The land is in the south of the Song Dynasty, when Chen Zhidong is the Song land, and Chen has also occupied it as his own. Chu destroyed Chen, so later generations also said that he was a Chu person. In general, Lao Tzu was born in the place where the north and the south meet, which were more stable than the Central Plains and Qilu in the spring and autumn periods, and people inherited the local cultural traditions and had a better understanding of the social conditions in the south. People who have lived in the social environment of the north since childhood, even if they hear a little about the situation in the south, will only regard it as "barbaric customs" and will not use it as a reference for expressing their views on social reform and political construction. Scholars living in small countries around Huai, Han, Ru and Ying, since childhood, have heard that the south "is wide and people are (thin), rice and soup fish or fire ploughing and water rake, fruit Sui clams, not waiting for Jia and enough; In the face of the incessant open and secret strife between the large and small vassal states in the north, and the fact that the common people have been in a state of cold, hunger and panic for many years, it is impossible not to think of the social situation in the south, to make a comparison between the north and the south, and to think differently from that of the northern scholars in terms of social system and social development. This can be seen from the characteristics of Mohist thought formed in the Luzon region, which is slightly closer to the southeast.

A large number of excavated materials prove that from ancient times to the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Yangtze River basin and the places south of it, except for Chu, Wu and Yue, were all independent coexistence of some tribes, and later formed central farming villages or chiefdoms, but did not form kingdoms. "Historical Records: Wu Taibo's Family" contains: Wu Taibo and his younger brother Zhongyong "ran to Jingman, tattooed and broke their hair", which should be the beginning of the southeast region to accept the influence of northern culture. But it can also be seen that they did not change the local customs, but obeyed the local customs themselves, so that they also "tattooed and cut off their hair", completely losing the original set of etiquette habits. By the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Chu people were also influenced by the culture of the Central Plains, but basically developed independently. After moving to the Yangtze River Basin, he came into contact with the people of Baipu and Yangyue, unlike the northern countries that have been trying their best since the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period. The entire Yangtze River basin and the vast area south of it can be called state, that is, the three kingdoms of Chu, Wu, and Yue, that is, Ba, Shu, Xu, and Shu, and even the lineage of the leaders is not clear, and their political systems are even more unknown. It seems that most of the places outside Chu, Wu, and Yue at that time should have been chiefdom societies, that is, "small countries and widows" as mentioned in "Lao Tzu". The so-called "Tao" of Taoism is to conform to nature and the natural laws of social development, with less man-made interference and destruction.

During the Warring States Period, in addition to the Taoism formed in the northeast of the Chu State, the most prominent in the field of Zhuzi was the peasant family. "Mencius Teng Wengong" contains: "Those who have the words of Shennong are allowed to do it, and they are from the Teng of Chu." Its people are from Chu to Teng, and they are known to the Chu people. The "Peasant Family" in the Hanshu Art and Literature Chronicle can be affirmed as the first two books of the pre-Qin period, one is "Shennong", which bets: "Six Kingdoms. When the sons are sick, they are sluggish in agriculture, and they are engaged in farming, and they are entrusted to Shennong. One is "Ye Lao", betting: "When the Six Kingdoms are in Qi Chu." It seems that these two books are not written by people in the land of the Three Jin Dynasty, and both mention Chu, which should be the work of people like Xu Xing. Xu Xing's ideas of "the monarch and the people and the cultivators" and "the city and the city are not two" are close to both Mozi's thought and Laozi's Taoist thought, but they are more important than agricultural practice.

Other thinkers of the Spring and Autumn period of the Chu Kingdom, such as Zuo Shi Yixiang, advocated that "only the Tao is followed" ("Chinese Chu Yushang"), and "can read the "Three Graves", "Five Classics", "Eight Suo", and "Nine Hills" ("Zuo Chuan Zhaogong Twelve Years"). Zuo's advice to King Jing is a good history from King Chu Ling (540-529 BC) to King Hui (488 BC) in the early years, roughly at the same time as Laozi. He also advocated "only obedience", and the difference between him and Lao Tzu's thought is that he is not a bystander, but stands on the standpoint of court politics to discuss things; At the same time, he was not faced with the situation of endless fighting in the Central Plains.

From the end of the Spring and Autumn Period to the formation of the Warring States Period, there will inevitably be various accidental factors. However, all fortuitous factors cannot overturn the decisive role played by the specific social environment and specific regional cultural traditions at that time.

Source: Guangming Daily, page 11, May 11, 2024

Author: Zhao Kuifu (Professor, School of Liberal Arts, Northwest Normal University, Director of Gansu Pre-Qin Culture Research Center)