Some people say that changing dynasties is always a kind of progress. This seems to make sense, but when I think about it more carefully, I think it’s worth debating. It cannot be generalized. Human history is moving forward. There is a vivid saying that the wheels of history are rolling forward. But the trajectory of progress is not straight, but tortuous. Some people call it a spiral. As there are twists and turns, there are also temporary pauses and even regressions. We might as well take Zhou Mie Shang as an example to analyze. Three thousand years ago, the Yin State was the country with the most vast land, the most developed productivity, and the most advanced social system in China. In the period of King Zhou, it reached a new peak. King Zhou did not kill the prisoners obtained in the war, but let them serve as slaves and engage in production. No more slaves were buried. There were capable people among the slaves, and they were given high priority, even serving as officials and high officials. This greatly liberates productivity and promotes the development of production. King Zhou reformed the employment system. He did not engage in nepotism, but promoted meritocracy. Slaves can also be high officials, as long as they are talented. You are a servant, an incompetent person, even if you are a brother or uncle, I'm sorry, I don't need you. Women account for half of the population. How to give full play to women's enthusiasm is a major issue in promoting social progress. King Zhou saw the importance of liberating women. He began to respect women and listen to some of their correct opinions. This increases the enthusiasm of women, who account for half of the population, and liberates productivity. This is of great benefit to the progress of society. The direct consequence of King Wu's destruction of the merchants was that the country with the most vast land, the most developed productivity, and the most advanced social system in China at that time disappeared. "The people of Yin live in the magpie's nest and in the doves." Is the disappearance of a most advanced country sad or congratulatory? Instead it was Zhou. Before the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, it was a small farming country with backward culture. "Until King Wu defeated the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty was probably still in the father-head family commune stage at the end of the clan society." (Sweizhi's "A Preliminary Study on the History of the Early Zhou Dynasty") to Ji Li and King Wen At that time, farming developed somewhat, which was also due to the acceptance of Shang's agricultural culture. ﹙Guo Moruo's words﹚ A backward small country's ruling group has replaced the ruling group of an advanced big country to lead a big country. They themselves don't know what to do. Can they lead this advanced country? Will this backward small country’s ruling group bring advancement to society? The advanced Yin Shang people held back the backward Zhou people. Is this a tragedy or a blessing for society? "Huainanzi" said: Zhou ruled the world, courted the princes, and everyone was in submission wherever he went. It can be seen that during the reign of Zhou, although there were still Fang states, the general direction tended to be unified and centralized. Guo Moruo said: "I come to Huan River occasionally to recall Yin Xin, the man who unified China." Today's China was originally unified by Emperor Xin. However, after the Zhou Dynasty destroyed Yin, it implemented enfeoffment and enfeoffed seventy-one countries, of which fifty-three were named Ji. Relatives of King Wu and Duke Zhou who had the same surname were all banned as long as they were not crazy or stupid. In this way, the unified situation tends to fragment. Xu Zhuoyun said in "History of the Western Zhou Dynasty": "The newly created Zhou Dynasty was actually a grand alliance of various tribes." Later, the form of this alliance disappeared and entered a period of all-out melee. This situation lasted for eight hundred years. How many eight hundred years will the history of Chinese civilization last? A country that has tended to be unified has been divided again for eight hundred years. Is this progress? Or going backwards? After the death of King Wu, the internal conflicts in the Zhou Dynasty intensified. The Yin survivors could not bear the cruel rule of the Zhou people, and they staged a large-scale strong resistance. As a result, the rebellion between the Three Supervisors and Wu Geng occurred. Duke Zhou made another expedition to the east, and it took him three years to quell the rebellion. After the victory of Duke Zhou's Eastern Expedition, he carried out a great migration of the untamed Yin survivors, and a large number of people were moved thousands of miles away. Some people were moved to present-day Luoyang, and some were moved to today's Shaanxi and Gansu areas. Weizi moved to Shang with a large number of Yin survivors. There were not many Yin survivors left in the Chaoge area, so Kang Shufeng wanted to "acquire quite a lot" of the Yin survivors after being granted the title of Chaoge. The number of people left by the Zhou people to move to Yin was so large and the scope of their migration to other places was unprecedented in Chinese history. It is conceivable that this has caused great turmoil in society. Years of wars, migrations, unstable hearts and social unrest will inevitably hinder the development of productive forces. Moreover, the Zhou people even moved away Yin's handicraft slaves one by one. This will undoubtedly have a huge negative impact on the development of handicraft industry. Redistribute power, enfeoff princes, and cause social unrest. Moving the people to Yin will cause turmoil. From the death of Yin to the Eastern Expedition in the third year of Duke Zhou, to the enfeoffment and relocation of the Yin survivors, there was no stability for more than ten or even decades during this period. In addition, the Zhou people had no leadership ability, which caused very serious damage to Chinese society. . Is it too much to say that Chinese society has experienced decades of regression? The Zhou people were too backward, and they could not accept many of the advanced cultures of the Yin State, so much was abandoned. Especially some intangible culture, which is intangible. It’s not easy to create, nor is it easy to throw away. For example: Today, a large number of oracle bone inscriptions have been unearthed from the Yin State Cemetery in Anyang. Although the records are all inscriptions, when viewed collectively, they are the national archives of the Yin State. Oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest mature writing in China. Because China was basically unified during the Yin Dynasty, its use range was very wide and its influence was so great that it can even be said that it was the universal script of the Yin Dynasty and became the basis for the creation of scripts in subsequent countries. It can be said that oracle bone inscriptions are the basis of Chinese writing and have played an immeasurable role in spreading ancient Chinese culture. Because of this, it also provides convenience for us to crack Oracle today. The Zhou people did not have their own writing, and they did not follow the writing of the Yin people. Although it has divination, it has no records. Therefore, no national archives of Zhou people have been found so far.

Some people would say, weren’t oracle bones discovered in Zhouyuan? Yes, there is a little bit, and most of them date from the period of King Wen. In fact, this is also caused by the influence of the Yin people. Zhou had no archives of his own for eight hundred years. This proves that the Zhou royal family is an uneducated royal family, and an uneducated royal family is a stupid royal family. A stupid royal family cannot produce a famous king. This is the reason why for eight hundred years, the Zhou royal family did not have a famous king who was educated, talented, made great contributions to the people and society, and was highly respected. When the Zhou people abandoned the Yin oracle bone inscriptions, not only was an advanced writing abandoned, but the archive system was also abandoned. Correspondingly abandoned is the archives management system. Correspondingly abandoned is the archive preservation system. From this perspective, did Zhou develop Yin's advanced culture or destroy Yin's advanced culture? Is this progress or regression? From the oracle bone inscriptions alone, we find that the Zhou people discarded so many advanced things from the Yin Dynasty. It is difficult for us to know how much they discarded in other aspects, but we can speculate. The development of society is not dependent on people's will. During the eight hundred years of the Zhou Dynasty, China experienced development and progress, but this was not the result of King Wu of Zhou, nor was it brought about by the Zhou Dynasty in place of the Yin Dynasty. It was created by the working people of that period. Guo Moruo said: "Yin Xin's contribution is greater than that of Zhou Wu." This is truly a wise saying. We say that Emperor Xin made great contributions to the formation and development of the Chinese nation, and that is documented in writing. It's not nonsense, nor is it speculation. King Wu of Zhou hindered the development of society. Isn't this a fact? Didn't Emperor Xin's achievements surpass those of Zhou Wu? What reason do we have to attack Emperor Xin by boasting about civil and military arrogance? After the Makino political coup, the rule of the Zhou people brought a long period of serious social chaos and social regression to China. It should be an indisputable fact.