The limitations of Yuan's assertion

In ancient Chinese society, the scholars belonged to the most basic level of the nobles and the highest level of the common people, which was the intersection between the upper and lower levels. Although some people in this class take righteousness, self-cultivation, family unity, governing the country, and peace in the world as their creeds, and scrupulously abide by the feudal program and the common name religion, more people are either flashy and traveling, forming friends and parties, or boasting about each other and selling their reputations and reputations, so the overall evaluation of scholars by successive Dynasties in China is not high, and their fate is relatively miserable and tragic.

Although the criticism of the scholar's masashi no shi barnyard history is full of sweat and cattle, there are very few articles that are actually used for recitation. Yuan Ming, a famous literary scholar of the Qianjia period of the Qing Dynasty who called himself a resident of Cangshan, wrote in the article "Original Scholars" that "if there are few scholars, the world is ruled", and then said that "there are few scholars, so it is easy to teach, it is easy to be thick, and it is easy to use it." What is the evidence for Yuan Ming's remarks? He said that since ancient times, when the dynasties began, there were not many people in The Capital, but in the late dynasties, the number of scholars increased, and the discipline disorder and political instability were unstable, such as "There are many scholars on the weekend, so Qin scattered three thousand gold and the people of the world fought with each other." At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were 420,000 people who praised The Meritorious Ones of Wang Mang. At the end of the Song Dynasty, there were many scholars, so ChunXi and Jingdejian three schools of power and zai xiang resistance, Shi Songzhi, Ding Daquan, etc. were all afraid; and Jia Xiangdao made a gesture and paid for meals, and the writers called Jia the Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Zhao. According to this, the owner of the garden came to the following conclusion: "The ugliness of the habits of the scholars, as far as this is concerned, there are many reasons."

What Mr. Suiyuan said is bad! Although the scholar is different from the people, he is the one who reads poetry and books. Since you read a book, you will inevitably imperceptibly hear and see, and subconsciously you will take the teachings of poetry and classics as the guideline; since you read a book, you will inevitably compare the philosophers with the present people, and criticize the habits of the current government and the people who have become scholars. However, the scholars are relatively weak in their hearts, and if they are tempted by interests, they will flock to them, at least the vast majority of scholars will not refuse in the face of fame and fortune, which is the nature of human beings, and there is nothing wrong with it. The main problem lies in the fact that the political system of China's feudal society has its particularity, there was no fixed aristocratic class in ancient China, and "gongqing doctor, non-shi mowei", the scholars come from ordinary people, ordinary people hope and benefit from China's tradition of "teaching without class", eager to participate in the imperial examination through reading. China's traditional politics also "emphasizes agriculture and suppresses business," and the final result is actually to emphasize officials and suppress the people, and only when a scholar is an official can he not study hard for half a lifetime. This tradition is nothing less than an obstacle and inhibition to China's social progress, and it is also a tragedy or even a disaster for chinese scholars, because the scholars cannot build an economic foundation for themselves to maintain an independent personality, and can only rely on the bureaucratic political system.

Yuan Ming, who had an unsuccessful career and had no intention of becoming an official, seemed to confuse a basic historical fact: at the end of China's dynasties, first of all, the number of officials increased greatly compared with the previous period. According to the research of the famous historian Ge Jianxiong, the annual population growth rate of China's feudal society averaged 7/1000, while the growth rate of officials and rich people was generally more than 30/10000. This uncoordinated and uneven growth is bound to be accompanied by an increasing tax burden on the peasants, and the peasants are naturally unable to pay for it for a long time, so a peasant uprising will break out. Therefore, the scientific conclusion should be that "if there are many officials, the world is chaotic, and if there are few officials, the world is ruled." It is undeniable that the number of scholars in the last years of the dynasty did increase significantly, but this was due to the fact that there were more bureaucrats, requiring more scholars to serve them, and the source of scholars was mostly the descendants of the increased number of dignitaries and nobles, which is an objective fact that cannot be changed.

When the scholars entered the bureaucracy, they did not like to see the non-officials. If a scholar has nowhere to go but to become an official, and once his career is not smooth, he will "be reborn as jealous, create slander, and complain about me." When the superiors saw him, they thought that there were no soldiers in the world, and the lighter the soldiers, the more difficult the soldiers were" (Yuan Ming), such a scholar was certainly not liked by the officials. What's more, "the soldiers are not happy when they have no thoughts", so the minds of the scholars pose a threat to the imperial court, and the officials can only get rid of them quickly. However, throughout Chinese history, it is not difficult to find that almost no dynasty was overthrown by the scholars; if there were no hungry people to rise up, what could the scholars do with the feudal court? Of course, without the soldiers as counselors and advice, no dynasty could be established, and the soldiers could reduce the chances of the leaders of the peasant army making mistakes.

Although the above exposition of Yuan Ming, who once served as a Shu Jishi of the Hanlin Academy, is not entirely correct, although it is superficial, after all, it has been thought and expressed, and some people today not only criticize intellectuals in a superficial way, but also suspect that they are a curse. In the past few years, the reform has not gone well, and it is often seen that some people accuse scholars of making random suggestions. In the special historical period of social transformation and transformation, the decline in moral binding force is an inevitable phenomenon of all peoples in all times, and some people blame some scholars. According to this logic, before the reform and opening up, scholars were silent, but they were constantly plagued and devastated, and they did not know how to explain it. The general condemnation of intellectuals by some people today is in line with the criticism of scholars in the past, and it is a kind of rotten theory. Scholars or intellectuals have never been monolithic. In history, there are many scholars with high spirits and bright festivals, and today there are also many intellectuals who speak out in righteousness. In today's increasingly diversified social structure, top-level design requires seeking truth from facts, in this case, the more intellectuals are undoubtedly better. The laws of historical development in China and the West show that a truly benign society is basically a society with few officials and many soldiers. The intellectuals of the past and the present are giving their talents and developing their own strengths in different trades and fields, without being overwhelmed by the assimilation of the bureaucracy, which is the blessing of the people, the country, and the nation.

The author is an adjunct professor at Harbin Institute of Technology and a distinguished researcher at the Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in Heilongjiang Province.