Is there an aristocracy in China? Is there an aristocratic spirit?
"Too many Chinese have knowledge and no culture; from our parents' generation to our generation, we have not learned how to do properly in public, what should not be done, how to use knives and forks when eating Western food, how to shake hands, and our parents may not even have properly taught us the etiquette of Chinese food." We need to train some qualified people to give this society a process of progress from barbarism to civilization. She believes that most of the Chinese are barbarians with knowledge, no culture, no etiquette, and no nobles. - An article by a female celebrity
Today we are going to talk about nobility, so what is nobility? Let's look at Baidu Encyclopedia's explanation;
Today's Chinese, even people all over the world do not understand the spirit of nobility at all. Today's noble life that people advocate is to live in villas, drive luxury cars, play golf, spend money like earth and wine, sorry, this is not called the aristocratic spirit, this is considered to be the spirit of the nouveau riche.
Then, have we Yanhuang descendants ever had any nobles in the past five thousand years? The answer is yes. For example, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Teacher Zhang Hongjie's "A Brief Reading of Chinese History" said: We often associate the Spring and Autumn Period with the Warring States, but in fact there are essential differences between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States. The intensity and cruelty of the wars of the Warring States far exceeded that of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the wars of the Spring and Autumn Period were all aristocratic games, without annexation between countries, and later wars were aimed at eliminating each other.
What is the spirit of nobility? Song Xianggong's classmates, who were ridiculed by modern people, had they heard of it? The Battle of Hongshui, Song Xianggong and the Chu State fought, the Chu army wanted to cross the Hongshui to fight, Song Xianggong stood by and watched, this is a war, in other words, we of course take advantage of the enemy to cross the river to launch an attack. But Song Xianggong said, no, this is not in accordance with the rules. When the enemy is ready, we will fight again after the formation.
As a result, after the Chu army crossed the river, the two sides went to war, the Song army was defeated, and Song Xianggong was seriously wounded, and he died the next year.
We all laughed at song xianggong's stupid pig-like benevolence, but this just shows that we did not understand that in that era, what Song Xianggong did was actually the best interpretation of the aristocratic spirit. In the upper class, etiquette is everywhere, even if there is a war, only the nobles can participate in the war.
"A gentleman is not seriously injured, does not catch two hairs, does not drum or rank."
Defeat the other party and do not chase, do not cause second damage, the gray-haired old man does not do to be captured as a prisoner, the other party does not line up and will not sneak attack, and the Spring and Autumn Era will not use cunning techniques.
At that time, the war was more like a competitive sports game, a duel between gentlemen, and the focus was not on how many people to kill, but on winning according to the rules, winning to win with dignity and nobility, and even more important than winning itself.
People at that time would never make fun of Song Xianggong like we do today, but would affirm that he maintained the dignity of the nobility, even in the war, emphasizing humanity, politeness, and trustworthiness were also the basic pursuits of the Spring and Autumn nobles.
Since the Chinese aristocracy has been cut off for two thousand years, it is really difficult for us to understand the inner world of the ancestors of the Spring and Autumn Period today.
In fact, the rules of war in the Spring and Autumn Period are very similar to the chivalry of medieval Europe, where European knights do not harm prisoners when they fight wars, do not attack unsuited knights, and do not attack non-combatants such as women and children.
Unfortunately, many people today worship this kind of chivalry (476 AD - 1453 AD in the European Middle Ages), but few people realize that this is the European version of Song Xianggongism that we laugh at.
There is also the story of "Zilu Zhengguan", saying that Confucius's disciple Zilu was killed in battle, and did not forget to tie his hat before dying, and died after the crown. People criticize confucianism for being true and harmful, and when they are dying, they still cling to dogma. But this reflects the aristocratic spirit of Zilu to maintain dignity and demeanor at all times.
Just as a thousand years later, during the French Revolution in Europe, Louis XVI and the Empress were sent to the guillotine, and the Queen stepped on the executioner's feet, and the last sentence she left behind was a graceful apology: "I'm sorry, sir." ”
From these examples, we may be able to feel what is called aristocrats and what is called upstarts.
So to answer our question at the beginning, have we, the descendants of Yan Huang, ever had nobility in the past five thousand years? The answer is yes, as early as the Spring and Autumn Warring States period we had, far earlier than the so-called European chivalry, the European aristocratic spirit.