Mencius said: "The people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light. Therefore, those who win the hearts of the people are the sons of heaven, those who win the promise of the sons of heaven are the kings, and those who win the promise of the kings are the doctors. If the monarch endangers the land god and the country, he will change the monarch. The sacrifices are rich and clean, and the sacrifices are held on time, but they still suffer from drought and flood, so they are changed to Tugu God. "
Monarchs and countries can be replaced, but only ordinary people can't be replaced. Therefore, the people are the most important.
Shangshu also said: "The people only care about the country, and the country is better." The common people are the foundation of the country. Stability will bring peace to the country.
This passage is the most typical and vivid embodiment of Mencius' people-oriented thought. "The people are wise to the monarch" has become a famous saying widely circulated in later generations and has been quoted by people.
People-oriented concept is the fundamental political value concept advocated by China in ancient times. Values are the soul of thought, and people-oriented concept is the cornerstone of China's thought of clean government. Xia Qi abandoned Zen to establish a family world, and advocated the idea that "summer clothes have a destiny". However, after Xia Qi's son Tai Kang succeeded to the throne, he was addicted to entertainment and neglected state affairs, and was exiled as a result. At that time, "Song of the Five Sons" sarcastically said: "The emperor's ancestors have training, and the people are amiable, but they can't go down. The people only care about the country, but they are solid and safe." This is the first cry about people-oriented thought. After the demise of Xia and Shang Dynasties, the Western Zhou Dynasty learned the political lessons of the previous two dynasties and put forward "respecting morality to protect the people" and "matching heaven with morality". The so-called "Yu Xiujue's virtue always says what he wants and seeks happiness for himself". Among them, "virtue" includes three aspects: respecting heaven, respecting education, protecting people, and especially "loving the people", otherwise it is difficult to protect heaven. The turmoil in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period showed the strength of the people's hearts. "Validity is based on meanness, and high is based on the bottom", "Only people are the guarantee, which is beneficial to the Lord and the treasure of the country". Therefore, Confucius put forward the idea of benevolent government for the common people, enriching the people and teaching the people. Mencius further put forward the theory of political order that "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least", which requires the rulers to have the ideological realm of "caring for the people" and "enjoying the people", to have political actions to solve the people's difficulties, and to establish a "constant production" property right system to protect people's livelihood. Xunzi further put forward that "those who are born in heaven are not for you;" The idea of "establishing a monarch in heaven and thinking for the people" is the concept of civil rights, and the people-oriented thought in the pre-Qin period was basically formed.
The people-oriented thought in pre-Qin dynasty has the function of consolidating the political status of monarchy by controlling the people. Confucius stresses benevolent governance, enriching the people and teaching the people, in the final analysis, in order to make the people. Confucius said, "The people are sufficient, which is the monarch or the deficiency?" Not enough people, you are enough? "The people are the economic foundation of the country. Confucius also said: "A good man can teach the people for seven years, and he can be reconciled. "Regard the people as the foundation of the country. Confucius also said: "A gentleman learns to love others, but a villain learns the Tao easily. "The people are the political foundation of the country. Confucianism stresses enlightenment, but its extremely clear position is that "the people can make it, but they can't make it known." "People who work hard govern people, and people who work hard govern people; People who cure diseases eat people, and people who cure diseases eat people. " "monarch, boat, Shu Ren, water also. The knife cuts bread and fingers. So if you want to be safe, you must be kind and love the people. "This is the monarch as the main body of governance, the people as the object of governance, and the object as the foundation. If it is not done well, the object will subvert the subject. From Qin Shihuang to Han Wudi, feudal autocracy was finally established throughout the country. It should be said that the feudal monarchy is rooted in the people-oriented thought, and the above political position regards it as the strategic thought of governing the country. Dong Zhongshu discovered this mystery, pointing out that "only the emperor is the heaven's order, the world is the emperor's order, and a country is the monarch's order", "the monarch is the people's heart; The people, the body of the monarch. "
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appreciated the people-oriented thought based on the principle of divine right of monarch, and implemented "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone". People-oriented thought entered the mainstream ideology, which laid the foundation for the monarchy to control the people centrally, and also derived the clean government implication that both emperors and bureaucrats should "love the people as sons".
People-oriented thought also adapted to the transformation of political governance in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and its appearance coincided with the transformation from the world-famous Shilu system to the feudal bureaucracy. With the end of the Shiqing Shilu system, the ruling institutions were replaced by bureaucratic groups. As for bureaucracy, "in theory, it is often like this: First, minimize responsibility." Second, maximize the benefits. ..... So laziness and corruption are the nature of the bureaucratic class. The interests of bureaucrats and the people are antagonistic. ""The status of the monarch, on the one hand, represents the private interests of a person and a family ... on the other hand, it also represents the public welfare of the people and supervises the ruling class on behalf of the people. "The monarch and the people are at the two poles of interests, and the people-oriented thought aims to prevent the formation of the middle class. Opposing the bullying of the middle-class bureaucratic group is an important task for the autocratic system to fight corruption. This is the significance and limitation of China's ancient people-oriented thought. In this way, the people-oriented thought has become the criterion to restrain the political behavior of bureaucratic groups. Jia Yi, a thinker in the Western Han Dynasty, regards people-oriented as the basic principle of the country's political life: "People are all based on politics. The country thinks so, the monarch thinks so, and so do officials. The old country regarded the people as security, the monarch regarded the people as power, and the official regarded the people as dignity. This means that people are based on this. "
In political practice, people-oriented thought first requires officials to pay attention to people's livelihood. "People are the foundation of the country, so we should cherish food and love life." All officials who put the development of people's livelihood first won the hearts of the people and the appreciation of the court. For example, when Emperor Xuandi proclaimed himself emperor in the Western Han Dynasty, Gong Sui, the prefect of Bohai, saved the people, selected good officials, taught students, persuaded farmers and mulberry to improve peace, and was later listed as the first official in Hanshu.
People-oriented thought requires bureaucrats to conform to the people's hearts, punish evil and promote good. "Saints are impermanent and take the hearts of the people as their heart." The will of the people highlights the good and evil of society and is the main basis of administration.
Di, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was an official, neither supercilious nor supercilious, and always sympathized with the people. As a Cheng Dali for a year, I have handled many cases left over by my predecessor, and no one has appealed for rehabilitation. Later, it was called "the mainstay of the Tang Dynasty".
The people-oriented thought is also reflected in the pursuit of the ruling value of officials. Fan Zhongyan in the Northern Song Dynasty "worries about the world first, then enjoys the world", Lu You in the Southern Song Dynasty "is modest and dare not forget to worry about the country", and Huang Zongxi in the Qing Dynasty "I came out to be an official, for the world, not for the king"; For all, not for the same surname ",Gong Zizhen's" falling red is not a heartless thing, turning into spring mud to protect flowers "in the late Qing Dynasty all showed the people-oriented thought.
After Sui and Tang Dynasties, the people-oriented thought was injected into the political system through the imperial examination system, which created the unique cultural temperament of China's ancient politics, formed a clean political stream with a long history of more than 1,000 years, and suppressed feudal political corruption to some extent.