At the time of social upheaval in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the three men put forward many humanistic arguments, such as opposing absolute monarchy, improving the status of businessmen, and emphasizing practicality over theory. Their thoughts did not develop much in the Qing Dynasty when the monarchy was centralized, but they were of great significance to China's traditional philosophy.
Extended data
Thoughts and theories of Huang Zongxi, Gu and Wang Fuzhi;
1, Huang Zongxi
Huang Zongxi's thought has obvious anti-authoritarian tendency. Looking back, it is similar to Mencius' proposal that "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light". Looking back, it coincides with the modern "democracy, constitutionalism and people-oriented". In that special historical period, Huang Zongxi's thought was very progressive and forward-looking. He mercilessly attacked the autocratic monarchy and played a guiding and promoting role in the later struggle against autocracy.
2. Ancient Yanwu
Gu believes that "national subjugation" and "national subjugation" are two completely different concepts. Changing the dynasty only means that the emperor has changed and the country name has changed. This is called "national subjugation". When benevolence and morality are full, the rulers oppress the people and the people kill each other, this becomes the "death of the world."
Protecting the country from extinction is only the responsibility of emperors and "meat eaters" The common people in ancient times could not afford to eat meat. The "meat eater" here refers to the princes and ministers. But every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. The original meaning of "ordinary people" is people among civilians, and here it refers to ordinary people. In the late Qing Dynasty, Liang Qichao condensed Gu's theory into eight words-every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the world.
3. Wang Fuzhi
Wang Fuzhi also has a famous theory, a short sentence, which later became a century-old nightmare of the Qing Dynasty. Wang Fuzhi proposed that changing the dynasty "can be Zen, eternal and revolutionary, but not foreign." In other words, regime change can be abdication, inheritance or even revolutionary rebellion, but it cannot be an invasion by foreign enemies. The premise of having dynasty legitimacy is that you must be Han Chinese, otherwise it is an invasion.
It is not difficult to see that Wang Fuzhi has a deep-rooted Han centralism thought, which of course has the limitations of the times and does not apply to the current national glory. However, at that time, Wang Fuzhi's theory aroused great repercussions, expressed the aspirations of the vast number of Han people and gave a blow to the rulers of the Qing Dynasty.