Achieving common prosperity is an ideal of people, and in ancient China it was no exception. As early as the pre-Qin period, farmers proposed "farming and eating", Taoists proposed "small countries and widows", and Confucians proposed "the world is the same", and their core ideas all have the content of common prosperity. Although these ideals were not realized, they had a wide impact on future generations.
"And plough and eat"
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, great changes occurred in society, and some ideological theories also became active, among which there was a school of theory advocating farming warfare, advocating rewarding the development of agricultural production, and also studying agricultural production technology. The Book of Han and Yiwenzhi lists the peasant family as the "Nine Streams" along with Confucianism, Taoism, Dharma, and Mojia, saying: "The peasant family flows, and the peasant family is built as an official of the peasants." Sowing hundreds of grains, persuading the cultivation of mulberry, with enough food and clothing, so the eight governments are one food, and the second is goods. Confucius said that "the food of the people is heavy", and this is also his strength. "To the effect that the doctrine of the peasant family originated from the peasant officials, advocating the sowing of crops and encouraging people to engage in agricultural production, so as to have enough food and clothing, the eight political affairs implemented by the ancient kings, the first is grain production, the second is the circulation of commodities, Confucius also emphasized that the people and their lives should be respected, and the peasant family has strengths in this regard.
The representative figure of the peasant family, Xu Xing, was a contemporary thinker with Mencius, and the Book of Han and Yiwenzhi contains twenty articles of his "Shennong", but unfortunately it has been lost, and Xu Xing's deeds and propositions are mainly found in the Mencius Teng Wen Gongshang. In addition, there are many chapters in "Guan Zi", "Lü Shi Chunqiu", and "Huainan Zi" that deal with the theory of farming, and in these works, in addition to the study of agricultural production technology, farmer scholars have also put forward many simple dialectical ideas related to agricultural production. For example, the "Lü's Spring and Autumn Trial" pointed out that "the husband and the crop, the person who is also for the people, the one who is born is also the earth, and the one who nurtures the heavens and the earth", emphasizing that agricultural production must also rely on man's diligence in addition to relying on the nourishment of heaven and earth, believing that the process of agricultural production is the process of struggle between man and nature, and man is the key factor in this process; "Guan Zi WuFu" puts forward that "repairing hunger, saving disasters, and shaking off the dew, then the state is determined", which means that the country will be stable only if it prevents famine, rescues disasters, and relieves the ruined people's homes; "Huainan Zi • The Origin of the Eaters and the People" also proposes" It is the late man and the king, who goes up to heaven and the earth, and uses manpower in the middle, so that the group grows and grows, and the grain is cultivated", which means to conform to the changes of the four seasons, to give full play to the potential of the land as much as possible, and to use manpower, so that all things can grow smoothly and grain can be abundant.
Mencius advocated that "those who work hard rule people, and those who work hard rule over people; those who rule can eat people, and those who rule eat people", and the peasants opposed this idea. Xu Xing, a representative figure of the peasant family, proposed that "the sages and the people cultivate and eat together, and the food is ruled by food", which means that the virtuous people should work with the people to obtain food, cook while cooking, and govern the world at the same time. In the view of the peasant family, the ideal society should be equal, working together and prospering together. Xu Xing opposed the unearned gain, believing that "Teng you have a warehouse for the treasury, but it is Li Min who supports himself." In order to practice his ideals, Xu Xing led dozens of disciples, wearing burlap and short clothes, and made a living by farming and weaving mats in Jianghan. Later, Xu Xing led his disciples to the Teng kingdom, and Teng Wengong gave them a piece of land, where Xu Xing and others produced labor, and Chen Xiang, a disciple of the Confucian scholar Chen Liang, and his brother Chen Xin rushed from the Song kingdom to the Teng kingdom with agricultural tools, paid homage to Xu And turned from a Confucian to a farmer.
On the surface, the peasants' proposition of "cultivating and eating together" deviates from the idea of social division of labor, and it is difficult to implement it in reality. The "Mencius Teng Wen Gongshang" records that after Mencius heard Xu Xing's proposal, he once asked Chen Pingmian that "Xu Zi must plant millet and then eat it", "Xu Zi must weave cloth and then clothe", "Xu Zi Guanhu" and other questions, and learned that although Xu Xing and others ate grain they grew themselves, clothes, agricultural tools, cooking utensils, etc. were not produced by themselves, but were exchanged for grain. There are things for adults, there are things for villains. And if a person's body and a hundred works are prepared, if they must be used for themselves, they are leading the world and the road. Mencius believed that some people are responsible for governing the world, some people are responsible for agricultural production, this division of labor is scientific, Xu Xing and others advocate that everything must be done by themselves, which is like leading the people of the world to run on the road, making people uneasy.
Mencius's criticism from the perspective of the social division of labor has a certain truth, and the Hanshu Yiwenzhi also criticizes the peasants: "And those who despise it, thinking that the holy king who has nothing to do, wants to make the monarch and his subjects cultivate together, contrary to the order of the upper and lower levels." However, the original intention of the farmers to put forward "ploughing and eating together" was not to oppose the social division of labor, but to oppose unearned gain and promote fairness. Although these ideas of the peasant family did not become the mainstream idea in the pre-Qin period, they reflected the urgent desire and pursuit of common prosperity of the people of that era.
"Small country and widows"
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Lao Tzu Li Er entered the Zhou royal family as a collector and was responsible for managing the books collected by the Zhou royal family, and because of such unique conditions, Lao Tzu was able to read a wide range of books, laying the foundation for his future profound writing of the Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching is about 5,000 words long and contains 81 chapters, and its 80th chapter is entitled "Small Countries and Widows", which reads as follows: "Let there be a Shibo instrument and not use it; let the people die heavily and not far away; although there are boats and public opinions, there is nothing to take advantage of, although there are armored soldiers, there is nothing to be chen; so that the people can be used again and again." Eat willingly, serve beautifully, live in peace, and enjoy its customs. Neighboring countries look at each other, the sounds of chickens and dogs hear each other, and the people do not interact with each other until they are old and dead. ”
Taken literally, this chapter means: the state is small, the population is small, even if there are all kinds of utensils, but do not use; make the people value death and not migrate far away; although there are ships and vehicles, they do not have to ride on it every time; although there are weapons and equipment, there is no place to go to war, people return to the natural state of ancient knotted ropes; the country is well governed, people eat sweetly, dress beautifully, live comfortably, and live happily; countries can see each other, and the cries of chickens and dogs can be heard. But people don't interact with each other from birth to death. If it is understood as simply as this, its propositions are undoubtedly full of negativity, backwardness, and even ignorance, as well as contradictions, and obviously this is not its original meaning.
Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is concise and concise, and it is often necessary to rely on the upper and lower chapters to judge its true meaning. However, chapter 79 of the Tao Te Ching reads, "If you have a great grudge, there will be a residual grudge; if you complain with virtue, you can be good," and chapter 81 is "Faith is not beautiful, and good words are not believed.", and the content seems to lack relevance to "Small Countries and Widows", which increases the difficulty of understanding. The words of the saints, consistently, can be read in reference to other thoughts of Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu has always advocated quiet inaction and widowhood, advocated staying away from war, emphasized that it is advisable to be lenient and simple in legislation, synthesized these ideas, and combined with Lao Tzu's experience, the mystery contained in this passage can be solved.
Before and after Lao Tzu served in the Zhou royal family, there were frequent turmoil in the Zhou royal family. In 520 BC, King Jing of Zhou died suddenly, the nobleman Shan Mugong colluded with the Jin state to launch a coup, wang du killed a lot, and although Lao Tzu escaped the disaster, the important article written by King Jing of Zhou was burned. A few years later, the Zhou royal family rebelled again, and after the failure of the prince dynasty, he fled to the Chu state with his old officials and royal classics, and Lao Tzu was implicated in this incident and was forced to resign and go into hiding. Experiencing these rebellions and wars personally, and seeing the social turmoil and hardships of the people's lives, Lao Tzu had a lot more desire for an ideal society in the "Tao Te Ching" that he wrote later. The Qing Dynasty thinker Wei Yuan believed that "Lao Tzu wrote a book, and the Ming Dao saved the time" and believed that the Tao Te Ching was "the book of salvation". From this point of view, "Small Countries and Widows" will find that what it wants to express is actually the pursuit of an ideal society.
"Small" and "widow" can be used here as verbs, meaning "to make the country smaller, to make the population smaller", the so-called "small country widow, so that there are Shibo instruments and not used", can be understood as to make a country's territory not too large, so that the population is not too small, so that those used for war, sacrifices, weapons and other equipment will not be used. Then, Lao Tzu planned a vision of an ideal society: the people cherished their lives and did not want to leave their hometowns and move to distant places; although there were convenient means of transportation such as cars and boats, they were rarely used because they were not needed; although there were weapons, they were gradually useless because there was no war; the people were rich, the country was strong, everyone felt that what they ate was very sweet, the clothes they wore were beautiful, the houses they lived in were comfortable, and they were satisfied with life; people could see the people in neighboring countries , hear the sound of chickens and dogs over there, but don't disturb each other. Although some have criticized this as a "retrogressive ideal", in the era when Lao Tzu lived, this kind of society of common life and common prosperity was also the dream of many people.
"The world is one"
Although the Confucians in the pre-Qin period emphasized social hierarchy and the ruling order, they also had their own ideas in the pursuit of an ideal society, which was "the unity of the world". "Datong" is the ancient people's general term for the ideal society, which comes from the "Book of Rites and Fortunes": "The journey of the great road is also, the world is just, the selection of the wise and the able, the preaching of faith and harmony, the old man does not kiss his relatives alone, does not have only sons and sons, so that the old have an end, the strong have usefulness, the young have growth, the widows and the widows are lonely and the sick, all have some support; men have points, women have returns, goods and evil do not have to be hidden in the land, evil is not out of the body and does not have to be for themselves, it is because of conspiracy and not pleasure, theft and thieves do not do, so the outsiders are not closed, it is called datong."
According to the Confucian plan, the picture of Datong society is as follows: the virtuous and talented people are elected to do things for everyone, everyone pays attention to honesty and advocates harmony; everyone will not only serve his parents and raise his children, all the elderly can raise their own children, all the middle-aged people can serve the society, all children can grow up smoothly, all the old and wifeless, the old and husbandless, the children who lost their fathers at an early age, the old and childless, and the disabled can be supported; men have their own occupations. Women can marry in time; people hate the phenomenon of goods being abandoned on the ground, but not for exclusive possession; people hate those who refuse to contribute in common labor but do not work for selfish gain; no conspiracy, no theft of property and rebellion, and no one has to close the door.
In the ideal Cosmopolitan society, people can live and work in peace and contentment, have enough food and clothing, and live a well-off life materially. The word "well-off" is derived from the "Book of Poetry and Daya": "The people also work hard, but they can be well-off." "At that time, people's wishes were only to get proper rest after heavy work. With the development of society, the connotation and standards of moderate prosperity are also changing. Mencius pointed out: "The house of five acres, the trees with mulberry, the fifty can be clothed; the chickens, guinea pigs, dogs, and animals, without losing the time, the seventy can eat meat; the field of a hundred acres, do not take the time, a few families can be free of hunger; the teaching of the order, the righteousness of filial piety, the white one who bears the burden of the road." The seventy are clothed and eat meat, and the people of Li are not hungry or cold, but those who are not kings have not yet been. Mencius believed that if every family can have 5 acres of homestead land and 100 acres of land, people over 50 years old can wear silk cotton jackets, people over 70 years old can eat meat, and everyone does not freeze and starve, a country can do this, and the people of other countries will take the initiative to come and run.
Confucians believe that a rich country and a strong army are not the ultimate goal, and common prosperity is rare and valuable. Confucius emphasized that "there is no widowhood but unevenness, and there is no poverty and uneasiness", and he also emphasized that "there is no poverty, no widow, no peace" and "the old man is safe, the friends believe, and the few cherish", which all emphasize the importance of achieving common prosperity. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Confucian ideal of datong continued to develop, profoundly influencing the social process. The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Taiping Classic, which the rebel army regarded as a program, proposed that "property is neutralized in heaven and earth, and people are raised together"; in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun uprisings broke out, declaring that "my disease is uneven, rich and poor, and now Ru Junzhi"; the Southern Song Dynasty broke out Zhong Xiang and Yang Mi's uprising, proposing that "the law divides the rich and the poor, and the non-good law is also good." When I practice the law, I should be equal to the nobles and the lowly, and both are rich and poor"; there was also an uprising by Li Zicheng at the end of the Ming Dynasty, putting forward slogans such as "equal fields and no grain".
Achieving common prosperity is essentially not simply an economic issue, but a social issue, and whether it can be realized depends on the social system, so common prosperity can only stay in the ideal stage in China's slave and feudal era, and it is always an unattainable dream. Nevertheless, the exploration and pursuit of the ideal of common prosperity in ancient China is still of progressive significance, from "farming and eating together" to "small countries and widows" and "the unity of the world", these ideas have had a great impact in history.
About the author: Chen Zhonghai, columnist and scholar of literature and history of this journal, has been engaged in financial work for a long time, and in recent years, he has focused on the study of economic history and financial history, published 8 biographies of historical figures such as "Cao Cao", 6 collections of historical essays such as "Trapping China: The Great Qing Dynasty Died in Economic Warfare" and "Untying China: Financial Warfare of the Republic of China", and published hundreds of columns of various types.
This article was published in China Development Observation Magazine, No. 17, 2021
"China Development Observation", which is supervised by the Development Research Center of the State Council, sponsored by China Development Publishing House, and edited and published by China Development Observation Magazine, is a comprehensive semi-monthly magazine with development as the main line and economy as the focus, with strategic, macro, regional, world, rule of law, society, culture, frontier, industry, think tank forum and other columns, with strong forward-looking, authoritative and readable. "China Development Observation" has a wide and stable readership in the academic theoretical circles, party and government organs at all levels and entrepreneurial classes, and has been listed as a core journal or source journal by important institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the National Development and Reform Commission and authoritative databases such as CNKI and Weipu Information, and has been rated as the "Most Popular Journal of Economics in 2020" by the Journal Database of the National Philosophical and Social Sciences Literature Center.
China Development Observation Magazine:
7th Floor, Block A, Yicheng Fortune Center, No. 22 Ronghua Middle Road, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone (Zip Code: 100176)
URL: www.chinado.cn
Public account: ichinado (China Development Observation)
Tel:010-68352880