Xu Heng
Xu Heng was revered by the Ming Confucians as "the last person of Zhu Zi" and "inherited the shengkailai study", and the yuan rulers posthumously gave him the nickname "Wenzheng". However, from his experience in politics, we cannot see what contribution he actually brought to the Wenzhi martial arts of the Yuan Dynasty. However, combined with the actual situation of the Yuan Dynasty, it will be found that the Yuan Dynasty, as a foreign race, can rule China for a hundred years, while the Ming Dynasty recognizes the Yuan Dynasty as an orthodox imperial dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang also put Kublai Khan's tablets into the ancestral halls of the emperors of previous dynasties, placing him side by side with Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang. The identification of later generations with the orthodoxy of the Yuan Dynasty is nothing more than cultural identity, because the Yuan Dynasty practiced Sinicization. Under the rule of foreign races, the transformation of the culture of foreign races themselves is difficult, and Xu Heng's life experience of five advances and five retreats is precisely the epitome of the difficulties of the Hanization of the Yuan Dynasty.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" >, Xu Heng was born</h1>
In 1209, the second year of the Southern Song Dynasty,200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000," the Southern Song Dynasty was in the second year of The Southern Song Dynasty, and the southern Song Dynasty was already in full use, and the Central Plains had become the territory of the Jin Dynasty. Xu Heng was born in huaizhou (in present-day Henan) of the Jin Dynasty under this general trend.
The Jin Dynasty was still relatively barbaric during the Northern Song Dynasty, but with the entry of the Jin State into the Central Plains, during the Jin Xizong period (1135-1149), the Jin State had moved its capital to Yanjing (present-day Beijing) and carried out Han reforms; by the jin Zhangzong period (the middle and late Jin Dynasty, reigning time was 1189-1208), the Jin State had been fully Sinicized, stipulating that traditional Han rituals must be used for worship, the traditional Festivals of the Han People had become official festivals, Confucianism had also become official studies, and the imperial examination was the source of recruiting officials in the Jin Dynasty. China is different from the West, the West is related to blood, and China is culturally close, although the rulers of the Jin Dynasty are foreign, but in terms of cultural identity, they have become followers of Han culture, so it can be considered that the Jin Dynasty is china's imperial dynasty.
Golden Man
Xu Heng, who was born in this context, naturally did not have to worry because he was born in the Jin Dynasty, and the Huayi debate of traditional culture did not make the Confucians of the Jin Kingdom feel that they were ruled by barbarian Yiren, Xu Heng once said to himself that "Huayi has been a person for thousands of years", indicating his concept of national equality.
Xu Heng's family was not highly born, generations of farming, to Xu Heng's generation, the Xu family sent Xu Heng to private school, but this is already the late Jin Dynasty, natural disasters continue, "when the years are hungry, the people eat oak chestnuts, or eat for a long time", officials are corrupt, annexing land, expropriation and tyranny, coupled with the rise of Mongolia, in this context, the Xu family can continue to support Xu Heng to study, Wen Shijun felt that the Xu family should have quite a lot of savings at this time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" > second, after traveling to many places</h1>
In 1232, the Mongol army had already reached the Jin Dynasty, and many places in Henan had fallen, Xu Heng and his family were scattered in the turmoil, and in desperation, Xu Heng could only go east to Shandong Quan and settle down. Xu Heng studied Zhou Yi and Science in Shandong and achieved great success.
In 1237, Xu Heng moved to Daming, Hebei (present-day Handan, Hebei), by which time Xu Heng had become a prominent Confucian scholar in the north. At this time, it was the reign of Wo Kuotai, and during the Wo Kuotai period, the Mongols checked the population, classified the Han people under their rule by occupation, and organized the households and the people. It was in Daming that Xu Heng was included in the Confucian household, and those who entered the category of intellectuals in Mongolia were able to enjoy the privilege of exemption from military service. It was during this period that he met the most important people of his life.
Yuan Dynasty Confucians and Mongols
One is Yao Shu.
He was a scholar of the Jin Dynasty, who lived in Xuchang, was captured when the Mongols destroyed the Jin Dynasty, and later went out to Mongolia. At that time, the northern religions were mixed, and the science of science was only one of many doctrines, and it did not dominate. In 1235, Yao Shu accompanied the Mongol army to attack the Southern Song Dynasty, and among the southern Song prisoners, Yao Shu found Zhao Fu and Dou Mo, the southern scholars. The two were spared death because of Yao Shu's intercession, and later went north with the Mongolian army, and the science was widely spread in the north.
In 1242, in daimyo, Xu Heng and Zhao Fu and Dou Mo intersected, and the three of them talked with the science of science, and the more they talked, the more speculative they became, and when they saw each other, Xu Heng and the two became confidants. After Dou Mo built the bridge, Xu Heng became acquainted with Yao Shu, who had a certain position in Mongolia.
The other is Lian Xixian.
In 1250, Xu Heng moved to Sumen (present-day Hui County, Henan), which was close to Xu Heng's hometown and did not have a tyrannical and harsh government, so Xu Heng spent a happy time here, "I came to Sumenju and traveled into a paradise." However, in his spare time, Confucianism's pursuit of governing the country and the world also came alive, and poems such as "When the Savior of Kuang is tired", "Kuang Shi has a long strategy", "Meritorious name is quasi-heroic and virtuous", and so on, began to appear widely in Xu Heng's works.
Yao Shu supported Xu Heng's desire for office. Yao Shu later entered Kublai Khan's shogunate and followed Kublai Khan in his southern expedition to the north, and was the great red man under Kublai Khan's men. There was also a celebrity in Kublai Khan's shogunate, Lian Xixian, who was from an ethnic minority but attached great importance to Confucian culture and protected the Confucian civilization under Mongol rule. After Yao Shu built the bridge, Lian Xixian heard Xu Heng's name, and after Lian Xixian's recommendation, in 1255 Xu Heng was sent to Shi Jingzhao.
Xu Heng likes his official position very much, because in his world view, in addition to making policies, it is more important to cultivate the people and culture who make policies, so he loves education.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="47" > three, five in and five out</h1>
Xu Heng's debut experience is very legendary, five in and five retreats.
In 1257, Xu Heng bizarrely resigned from the Jingzhao Xueguan for the first time.
However, in 1260, Kublai Khan ascended the throne and conquered the world's sages, and Xu Heng was sent to Beijing. Xu Heng, Yao Shu, and Dou Mo (Dou Mo was proficient in acupuncture in addition to his mastery of science, and was very popular in the upper echelons of the Yuan Dynasty who lacked medical treatment and medicines) and met in Beijing. Then Kublai Khan held a national literary congress, the literati had their own opinions, Xu Heng and the three of them took the science as the lead, put forward the righteousness as the basis, which caused the hatred of Wang Wentong, the prime minister who believed in the Zongheng family, the soldier family, and the legal family, and finally under the operation of Wang Wentong, the three were awarded empty titles, which was flashy and unrealistic. Unwilling to be a vase, Xu Heng soon resigned. This is his second resignation.
Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty
In 1265, Kublai Khan appointed An Tong as prime minister (the right minister of Zhongshu Province), but An Tong was from a Mongolian nobleman, who fought wars and could not govern the country, so Kublai Khan ordered Xu Heng to be sent to the capital to assist An Tong in handling the affairs of Zhongshu Province. Xu Heng wrote the five points of the Governing Program in Zhongshu Province as the guidelines for handling affairs in Zhongshu Province, the core of which is to take science as the foundation and pay attention to people's livelihood, which Kublai Khan praised. When Xu Heng actually presided over the work of Zhongshu Province, the affairs of Zhongshu Province were orderly and the government decrees were smooth. But in 1267, Xu Heng resigned again. This is his third resignation.
By 1268, the Mongols had launched the Battle of Xiangfan, preparing to destroy the Song dynasty. In this year, Xu Heng was recalled to the imperial court and was responsible for formulating the imperial ceremonies for the new imperial dynasty that was about to be unified. The formulation of the imperial ceremony is a very cumbersome procedure, and the chief official who formulates the imperial ceremony is Liu Bingzhong, but Xu Heng participates in most of the actual work. Because the reform of Xu Heng and others was based on Han rites, it was opposed by the Mongol conservative forces, and with the obstruction of the powerful minister Ahma, Xu Heng wanted to sue nowhere, so he said that he was sick, stalked, and privately discussed methods with Liu Bingzhong.
Ruler of the Yuan Dynasty
In 1271, the situation of the Song Dynasty was very good, Kublai Khan set up the Guozijian in imitation of the orthodox imperial dynasties of previous dynasties, and Xu Heng was transferred to the head of the Guozijian. Kublai Khan personally selected the children of the Mongol nobles and asked Xu Heng to teach them the Three Principles and Five Constants, the Way of the King, the Way of the Emperor, the Etiquette, Righteousness, Honesty and Shame, and other Han laws, making these Mongol disciples the first to be civilized among the nobles of the Yuan Dynasty. Because Xu Heng was based on Han jurisprudence, this was again attacked by the Mongol conservative forces, and in 1273, the nobles of the powerful vassals cut off the supply of food for the state son, The Overseer Hansheng, and Xu Heng was forced to resign. This is Xu Heng's fourth resignation.
In 1276, in order to flaunt orthodoxy, Kublai Khan also promulgated the calendar, so the imperial court set up a special calendar team to be responsible for revising it. So Xu Heng was invited back again. It is generally known that the Yuan Dynasty 'Chronological Calendar' was compiled by Guo Shoujing, but in fact, this calendar was compiled under the auspices of Xu Heng, and Guo Shoujing was only a deputy. However, in 1280, when the "Chronological Calendar" was almost completed, Xu Heng resigned again, which was Xu Heng's fifth resignation. And the calendar was promulgated in 1281, so when it comes to the "Chronological Calendar" today, we only know Guo Shoujing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="49" > Wen Shijun said</h1>
Xu Heng has been five in and five retreats in his life, and the reason is that his identity is more sensitive. Xu Heng's official rank is not large, but most of them are related to cultural undertakings, and he is a Confucian bureaucrat. He was a representative of northern science, and although his reputation was great, the orthodoxy of Zhu Zi's science was in the south, so Xu Heng's leadership of cultural reform was attacked by the southern school of science, and Xu Heng said that he was "ridiculed by the four sides" during the Guozijian period. Even more frightening was the resistance from the Mongol nobility. In a foreign dynasty, cultural reform is the most difficult, foreign nobles despise the conquered nations by virtue of their status as conquerors, but the backward culture of foreign races is conquered by Han culture, so these nobles are quite unhappy in their hearts, they have to hinder change, Xu Heng, who is actually responsible for and practices cultural change, has become the target of the magnate's attack. Only then did Xu Heng advance and retreat. During his teaching, Xu Heng trained a large number of students, some of whom were from the Mongolian nobility, who were the seeds of the continued promotion of Mongolian Sinicization. Xu Heng also participated in politics, and the guidelines for handling affairs in Zhongshu Province that he left behind are still the statutes of the future Zhongshu Province. In view of Xu Heng's great contribution to the culture of the Yuan Dynasty, Xu Heng died in 1281 and Kublai Khan gave him the title of "Wenzheng".
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="51" > references</h1>
"History of Yuan", Zhonghua Bookstore, 1974
Zhao Yongtao, "Examination of the Life of Xu Heng in the Yuan Dynasty", Journal of Henan Polytechnic University, No. 5, 2020.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Purple Orange)
This article is the original work of Wenshi Science Popularization Self-media Haoran Wenshi, and unauthorized reprinting is prohibited!
The pictures used in this article, unless otherwise noted, are from the network search, if there is infringement, please contact the author to delete, thank you!
Haoran Wenshi is a self-media of literature and history science in the whole doctoral team, and a high-quality author of literature and history on the mainstream platform of the whole network. Make professional history more interesting and interesting content more in-depth. Ancient and modern Chinese and foreign, archaeology, more content, please pay attention to our public account of the same name (id: haoranwenshi)