Preface
The Qing Dynasty, as the last minority regime in Chinese history, was similar to the Han regime in many ways in order to rule, and one of its outstanding points was the admiration for Confucianism.
It can be said that throughout the emperors of these feudal dynasties, they all admired Confucianism and admired Confucius very much. This is not to show his respect for Confucius, one day in the twenty-third year of Kangxi he went to worship Confucius, it is worth saying that after seeing the inscription, Kangxi did not kneel for a long time, what is this because? Did Kangxi kneel down again after that?
1. Worship Confucius
The Qing Dynasty was an empire built by the Manchus, and they also had their own culture, but worshipping Confucius was not part of their culture when they were not yet unified, and worshipping Confucius was a tradition of the Han people, and Confucius thought influenced China for thousands of years. Of course, this does not include minority regimes such as the Mongols and Manchus.
However, after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty also began to promote Confucianism in a big way. However, in addition to Nurhachi, it can be said that Nurhachi has a deep hatred for the Ming Dynasty and the Han people.
It is precisely because of his hatred for the Ming Dynasty that he has a feeling of disgust for the thoughts, culture and even people of the Han people, and he once initiated the "Confucian" policy when he ruled. After his death, his son Huang Taiji ascended the throne, and immediately stopped the policy of "punishing Confucianism" and began to promote Confucianism and Confucius.
Not only in terms of advocating Confucianism in words, but he also said that the construction of the Confucian Temple in Shengjing, the political center, to commemorate Confucius, of course, is precisely because of the leading role of Huang Taiji, so that his descendants have attached great importance to it.
After the death of Huang Taiji, Emperor Shunzhi attached great importance to the worship etiquette after entering the customs, and regained the worship hall of the Confucian Temple of the previous dynasty. So much so that when it came to Emperor Kangxi, he also attached the same importance to these things.
Of course, after Kangxi became pro-government, on the basis of the previous dynasty, he also added the item of going to Qufu Confucius Temple to worship the ancestors. It was in the twenty-third year of Kangxi, and after Kangxi finished handling the affairs of the DPRK and China, he came to Qufu, Shandong Province to worship Confucius. It can be said that this is also the first event of the Qing Dynasty, and there has never been a precedent for such a grand worship of Confucius before Kangxi.
In fact, this is also very understandable, after all, the education they have received since childhood is different, and they do not have that kind of following and admiration for Confucius, the reason is just for their rule, in order to be able to strengthen the rule of the central government.
After Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Yongzheng and Emperor Qianlong also attached great importance to worshiping Confucius and created a craze for worshiping Confucius. In fact, there is another crucial reason why Kangxi attaches so much importance to it, he now urgently needs to restore the image of the Qing Dynasty in the hearts of the Han people.
Why do you say this, as we all know, when Kangxi was not in power, the power was always in the hands of Aobai, but Aobai was not a promoter of "national integration", but his opponent.
In the hearts of Ao Bai and others, "if you are not of my race, your heart will be different", and they have no good attitude towards Hanchen at all, and they also ostracize Hanchen in the officialdom. Forget about this, culturally, he also brought the Manchurians back to their previous ideas and culture.
This incident not only seriously affected the national integration, but also made the Han people very disgusted with the royal family and the Manchus, and seriously hindered the rule of the Qing Dynasty, so after getting rid of Aobai and the overall situation was decided, Kangxi couldn't wait to win back the hearts of the Han people.
In this year, Kangxi came to Shandong in order to subdue the hearts of the students. Of course, this Kangxi came all the way to Shandong, and there must be a guide, this person is the sixty-fourth generation grandson of Confucius, Kong Shangren, who is the Kong Shangren of Southern Hong and Northern Confucius.
Kangxi personally ordered that the etiquette of worshiping Confucius must follow the rules, and it cannot be simplified just because he is the emperor. Because of his act of coming to worship Confucius, he has already been praised by the ministers, and Kangxi, who has tasted the sweetness, must persevere to the end.
Second, cover a word
Not only did he make a special trip to find someone to explain the first section of "University" to him, but also asked someone to explain the classics of Confucianism to him, all of which were arranged by Kong Shangren, it can be said that Kong Shangren is not only talented and learned, but also in place in terms of political means, which is not until this end, Kangxi is very satisfied with the arrangement of the Kong family.
An incident happened after that made Kangxi even more satisfied with this person, after these lectures, he was about to enter the most important worship stage. When the group came to the tomb of Confucius, someone had already placed the tribute. After all, it was Kangxi who came to worship, which must show the emperor's attention.
Even the offerings were very rich, and the yellow felt for the emperor's royal use was also placed on the ground. Although it was outside, there was no sound at this time, and the ministers held their breath and did not dare to speak, for fear that if they spoke out, Kangxi would think that it was disrespectful to Confucius.
But when everything was ready, there was no Kangxi kneeling and worshipping, from Kangxi standing in front of Confucius's tomb to now there is a cup of tea, and Kangxi has not moved, what is going on? The bold minister quietly looked up to see what Kangxi was doing.
I saw Kangxi looking at the few big words on the tombstone, "The Tomb of King Wenxuan of Dacheng", it was these words that made Kangxi hesitate, although many people didn't understand why Kangxi stopped, but Kong Shangren quickly reacted. He stepped forward to give Kangxi a step down and asked Kangxi to rest for a while, and then come back to worship Confucius.
Kangxi himself hesitated because of the words on the tombstone, and agreed to Kong Shangren without thinking about it at this time. When Kangxi left, Kong Shangren hurriedly asked people to cover the word "king" on the tombstone and replace it with the word "first teacher". When Kangxi finished resting, he saw that there was no word "king" on it, and soon made a big bow of one kneeling and three kowtows.
In Kangxi's view, there can only be one monarch in a country, and he is the emperor, so what is the matter with Confucius being the "king", and how can he bow down to the "king" as an emperor. Kong Shangren skillfully alleviated Kangxi's taboo, and I have to say that he is indeed ingenious and a rare smart person.
3. Ethnic policy
Before the Qing Dynasty ruled, the country was still in the hands of the Han people, and as a minority regime, he still faced many difficulties. At the beginning of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and the reign of Nurhachi, the strength of the Later Jin was still relatively weak. And it is not completely unified yet, so they also need the support of the Han people.
At that time, the society was originally a multi-ethnic society, so they had to formulate relevant ethnic policies to solve the ethnic problem, and the Mongols were better to say, because there were still some similarities between the two sides on horseback. Later, they also contacted their feelings through marriages and other means.
But the Han nationality is different, not only the Han nationality is numerous, but also faces a lot of difficulties, not only the ideological big families mentioned above, but also some families. Therefore, in the early Qing Dynasty, the ethnic policy has always been their core policy, and it is one of the basic national policies of the Qing Dynasty.
Under the severe population gap, this is also something that the Qing rulers had to do, not only in terms of numbers, but also in terms of ideology, the Han people are more profound, and all they can do is to accept the Han culture, not change.
epilogue
It can be said that the rulers of the Qing Dynasty admired Confucius so much because of their own rule, just like Kangxi was jealous when he saw the word "Wang", because he thought that if he bowed down, it would affect his rule. But I have to say why the Qing Dynasty was able to last for hundreds of years is precisely because of his emphasis on national integration.