Source: cultural phenomena and thinking

People in China in Ming and Qing Dynasties and Spring and Autumn Period: Two Different People

A Japanese said, "They respect the ancient China people, but they don't respect the later China people. Because people in ancient China are very different from people in China. "

This may sound harsh, but if you read the history of China carefully from beginning to end, you will find that this statement is reasonable. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the people of China were full of vitality and distinctive personality. China people in the Han and Tang Dynasties were elegant and confident. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they were so numb, cowardly and lacking in creativity. Compared with China people in the Spring and Autumn Period, China people in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were simply two different people.

Let me give you a few examples. The first is the spirit of martial arts.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, nobles dismounted, mounted and used weapons. Chivalrous men are everywhere, and warriors are rampant. At that time, people in China didn't like white-faced scholars who were weak in one step and three steps. Both men and women are beautiful because they are tall, strong and beautiful.

Therefore, if the Book of Songs wants to express the beauty of Zhuang Jiang, it must first say "take the master"; When you write about the beauty of Duke Zhuang of Lu, you must say that he is "stubborn and prosperous". At that time, the sign of a handsome guy was a big man with curly hair and a thick beard, and it was best to smell like a fox. "Qi Feng Luling" praised the hunter, saying that he was "beautiful and curly, beautiful and graceful", that is, his hair was curly and he had many beards. Similarly, in Morning Breeze, it is said that "there is a beauty, huge and curly, and there is a beauty, huge and elegant", which makes the heroine feel love and depression in secret love.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the great powers vying for hegemony and strength were all powerful and belligerent. There is a comment in the Book of Songs Qin Feng No Clothes: "The customs of Qin people are generally heroic, and the brave are the first, forgetting life and dying lightly." Ban Gu also said in Hanshu: "In the Qin Dynasty, I was ashamed of writing and brave."

The East is a big country with fierce folk customs, and the people are impatient and stubborn, just like Koreans today. Nobles often have car collisions on the road, and national legislation can't ban them.

Even wuyue, where Wu Nong speaks softly today, was a place of fortitude in the pre-Qin period. "Huai Nan Zi Zhu Shu Xun" said: "The King of Yue is brave, but the people are in danger, fighting for their lives." Ban Gu described the martial arts heritage of this land like this: "(wuyue) Jun is brave, so his people still use swords and die easily."

Let's look at the later China people.

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Matteo Ricci, a missionary who arrived in China, accidentally discovered that men in China were so weak. In a letter to Rome, he said, "It is difficult to regard men in China as people who can fight." . Not only that, but he was also surprised that the smartest people in the empire all looked like women: "No matter their appearance or inner feelings, they all looked like gentle women. If you respect them, they will be more humble than you. "

Matteo Ricci, during his decades in China, also watched people in the upper class fight, but he couldn't help laughing at the scene: "When fighting with each other, all they showed were the anger of women and men, and they pulled their hair when fighting with each other." "They seldom kill people, and they didn't even think about this way of fighting. This is not only because they don't have any real masculinity, but mainly because most of them don't even have weapons such as knives. " "These men spend two hours combing their long hair and arranging their clothes gracefully every day, so they have a leisurely time."

Foreigners who came to China after the Opium War were even more surprised by the cowardice of China people. Gubocha said: "China people who are arrogant, broad-minded and seemingly resolute will become weak as if they were suffering from hysteria once they meet someone with a firm attitude and strong will. In the face of difficulties, China people often say' be careful', which means' timid'. " Ross said: "Children in China don't bounce around like children in Europe ... the appreciation of force has completely disappeared. Big men are not ashamed to cry in public. "

The loss of chivalrous culture and chivalrous spirit

An example may not explain the problem. Let's look at chivalry again.

The Spring and Autumn Period is the most splendid era of China's chivalrous culture. Chivalrous people, help the poor, do not help; When the road is rough, draw your sword to help; Knowing gratitude will be reported, going through fire and water; Entrusted by others, a promise is as good as a promise. The orphan of Zhao, the stabbing man, and the stabbing of the king of Qin by Jing Ke are all touching stories, which explain the heroic determination of men at that time and tell future generations what is suicide and what is commitment to life and death.

The biggest feature of Chunqiu Xia is that he attaches great importance to the independence and equality of personality. The story of Yu Rang's assassination of Zhao Xiangzi fully illustrates this point. In order to avenge Zhi Bo's assassination, Yurang sneaked into the Zhao family. He swallowed charcoal and painted himself, which made him suffer a lot.

Yurang

After being arrested, the interrogator said to Yu Rang that you used to work for Fan Guhe experts, but all of them were destroyed by Zhi Bo. You didn't avenge them, but worked for Zhibo. Why are you so determined to avenge Zhibo today? Yurang replied that in those days, experts from Jia Fan and China were very casual with me, and so was I with them. Zhi Bo treated me like a national, so I naturally want to repay the kindness with a national.

Yu Rang's answer started the origin of "a scholar died for a bosom friend" for two thousand years: I, Yu Rang, am not an accessory of any of you, I am myself, and have no obligation to avenge you. Whether I avenge you or not depends on me.

What Yu Rang pursues is the personal dignity of civilians in a hierarchical society, and it is the recognition of self-worth by society and others, especially in front of nobles who have always looked down on civilians. Since I am not your accessory, our communication should be based on equality. If you refuse to meet me as an equal, there will be only interests between us.

This "freedom of thought and independence of personality" is the most valuable part of the Warring States chivalrous culture. They are knights, not for profit, not even for fame, but for a sense of heroism. They cherish their personal dignity as much as their eyes, and they are even sensitive to the word "equality". "Meng Changjun used to entertain guests at night and cover the fire alone. The guest is angry, from food to food, but he refuses to eat. " They can't tolerate any inequality even in such a trivial matter as seating arrangement.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, "chivalrous men" were willing to cling to power and become vassals of it.

Look at the chivalrous man in Three Heroes and Five Righteousness. They all call themselves "sinners" in front of officials and are proud of surrendering to the rules of power. The 45th time, Fang Lu, the rat, saw Bao Zheng for the first time and said to Zhan Zhao around him, "Fang Lu is a big bad guy. How can he see the master like this? Is Fang Lu ignorant of the rules? " So he went to the torture device. "Everyone nodded in admiration."

When these five mice met Song Renzong in the forty-eighth story, when these heroes saw the emperor, they all "jumped in their hearts", "crawled on the ground" and "trembled all over". When the so-called "freedom of rivers and lakes" meets power, it immediately shows full servility. The two domesticated names of "drilling rat" and "crossing the river rat" were changed by the emperor to "plate-masted rat" and "mixed river rat", and they also accepted them gladly.

As Lu Xun said, the chivalrous men in the Spring and Autumn Period took "death" as their ultimate goal, and their ending was indeed a generous death. The chivalrous men in the novels of the Qing dynasty all became landlords and bureaucrats, black and white are the same. As written in "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness", Ding and Ding, two heroes, have a lot of land at home and are real estate gentry, while the five rats are trapped in an empty island.

Lu Xun said that the hero in "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" is a chivalrous man on the surface, but a slave in essence. "When Manchuria entered the customs, China was gradually subdued. Even people with' chivalry' dared not steal any more. They dared not criticize the treacherous court official and work directly for the emperor. They followed a good official or an imperial envoy as a bodyguard to catch thieves for him." Although they "live above Shu Ren under the imperial edict, on the one hand, they must obey orders, but they can still March forward in other respects, and their sense of security has increased and their servility has increased."

Animal life style of Confucian officials in Qing Dynasty

Speaking of chivalry, let's look at the difference between ancient Confucianism and later Confucianism.

The way of Confucius and Mencius, which was later used as a ruling tool by the ruling class, was not as servile as it was later, but vigorous and fresh. Every scholar in the Spring and Autumn Period regarded himself as a teacher and friend of the king, and put the Tao he had learned above power. If they are harmonious, they will stay; if they are not harmonious, they will leave. This is most prominent in Confucianism. Confucius traveled around the world, without attaching himself to high officials or giving in to any political authority, just to publicize his political views. He said: "The three armed forces can win the handsome, but ordinary people can't win the ambition."

Mencius is more incisive than Confucius. Mencius was extroverted, full of emotion and flamboyant. He is so conceited that he openly declares, "If you want to rule the world, who else is there?" He particularly emphasized spiritual freedom and personality independence. When talking with the monarch, he is neither humble nor supercilious: "When talking about adults, be reserved, but don't regard them as lofty." He is full of lofty spirit, so he dares to say "I regard you as dirt, and I regard you as hatred" (under Li Lou), "People are the most important, the country is the second, and you are the least important", which seems almost outrageous to future generations.

In the middle ages, although on the secular level, Confucian believers obeyed the emperor and the power order; But on the spiritual level, many of them regard themselves as "saints" and pursue "scholars first, then saints", hoping to achieve self-improvement and a certain degree of personality independence.

Yan Guang, a classmate of Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, once went out to help Liu Xiu win the world. After Liu Xiu ascended the throne, he wanted to make him an official. He refused to accept it and lived in seclusion in Fuchun Mountain for farming and fishing. Until the Tang Dynasty, although Emperor Taizong invented the way to let all the heroes in the world enter our hub, Li Bai could still dream of being an emperor's teacher, hoping that he could "fight Cangzhou with Liu Hou" and get rid of the control of power after "being a monarch and honoring his loved ones".

By the Qing Dynasty, scholars had been completely tamed into "soft-fingered" slaves. Confucianism requires people to be loyal to the monarch and filial piety, which has been strongly advocated throughout the ages. However, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty believed that if a minister paid too much attention to his self-cultivation, it would also prevent them from serving the emperor without discount. As a courtier, not only the body belongs to the monarch, but also the mind belongs to the monarch, and you can't have your own independent will and personal dignity.

Yong Zhengdi once said bluntly in "On cronies", "To eradicate the source of cronies, the whole country must unify its thinking. If we want to unify our thinking, then all the standards of right and wrong must be obeyed by ourselves. " "If you ministers treat what I like as good and what I do as evil, you will not dare to form a party."

Confucianism and ministers in the Qing dynasty all have a common feature, that is, they have no thoughts, no ethics, and care nothing but fame and fortune. They chose the animal way of life. Under the careful observation of the emperor, they worked hard honestly in order to succeed in their careers; Once the emperor let his guard down, they would corrupt and do everything possible to steal the emperor's property. What ethics, dignity and personality are irrelevant words to them.

Five hundred years of poetry, without passion and impulse.

Finally, let's look at the spiritual outlook reflected in the poem.

There are many chapters in The Book of Songs, which boldly describe love and even sex. For example, The Wild Birds Are Dead in The Book of Songs:

There are dead birds in the wild, covered with white thatch. A woman fell in love with spring, and Ji seduced her.

There is a park in the forest and a dead deer in the wild. White grass is pure, and there are women like jade.

"Shu and! I feel sorry for myself! Bark instead of being a donkey! "

When a girl is in love, Ji Shi takes the opportunity to tease her. The last three sentences vividly show the girl's feeling of going deep into the forest with the man: walk gently and slowly, don't be impatient, don't touch the scarf around my waist, and don't let the yellow dog bark in fear.

This poem is not directly descriptive, but only describes how subtle, natural and healthy they feel when they walk into the depths of the forest. At that time, the natural nature of China people had not been castrated by the later culture. The innocence of our ancestors is as noble as the sky washed by the storm. The Book of Songs is full of joy, wildness, vitality, nature and beauty of life. Therefore, Confucius' evaluation of the Book of Songs is: "There are 300 poems, in a word, thinking innocently."

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, China people were no longer original in thought, but their creativity in literature and art suddenly broke out. Tang poetry shows unprecedented artistic vitality, vigorous spirit and splendid weather, and its style is either noble and beautiful, vigorous and powerful, or has the natural beauty of "clear water gives birth to hibiscus".

Song Ci has opened up a new world for China people to express their feelings in a delicate and life-like way, which is more fresh and graceful than Tang Poetry. Li Zehou said: "As long as China people are still speaking Chinese, as long as China people are still writing with square characters, then the charm of Tang poetry and Song poetry is eternal."

In the five hundred years of Ming and Qing dynasties, the so-called poets' talents, experiences and knowledge all collapsed. They are proud of picking up their predecessors' memories and dare not go beyond the fence. They imitated Du Fu or Huang Tingjian and wrote many poems. The 500-year-old poetry has no passion and impulse, no true temperament, and even no true expression-except Nalan Xingde, China has never produced an influential poet.

Without creativity and sensibility, there is no soul.

Before the Song Dynasty, the people of China were a great nation. They are creating, experiencing, discovering, saying what they want to say and think, full of vitality and interest.

After the Song Dynasty, China people were only the shadows of their predecessors. They not only lost their creativity, but also lost their sensibility. They painted the ground as a prison, imitating the past everywhere and repeating the past. Calligraphers regard repetition as the highest standard, while poets are complacent about writing like Tang or Song.

They have formed a fixed way of explanation, feeling and expression when they meet the flowers, the moon and the evening, or any other life situation. China has only a shell and no soul; Society is like a stagnant pool, smelling of corruption.

From top to bottom, people are cunning and ignorant, greedy and cowardly. In Toynbee's words, this kind of life is "a meaningless existence" and "it can live only because it has become rigid". (Toynbee's Historical Research) If China has made any progress in the past few hundred years, it is the progress in the crime of political theft and the crime of civil deception and forgery.

China people before the Song Dynasty and China people after the Song Dynasty have indeed become two species, and their differences are just like a good can and a bad can, or diamonds and graphite-although they are all composed of carbon atoms, they are completely different in nature. China people's personality history, like our Yellow River, is the upper reaches of the pre-Qin period, crystal clear; Han and Tang dynasties are the middle reaches. Although there are mud and sand, there are stormy weather after all. Ming and Qing dynasties are the downstream, which has been frequently cut off and dying.