1, Hu Shi once believed what Laozi said, "Flexibility conquers everything". Later, when he went to the Grand Canyon in America and saw a waterfall, he said to Wei Liansi, Look, how powerful the water is. Water is soft, and softness can overcome everything.
Wei Liansi told him with typical rational and logical thinking that you were wrong. Water will never be strong because of weakness, but its strength is due to potential energy.
-"The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
2. The most popular way of thinking in China's history is that it likes to grasp everything from the whole and macro, but it lacks rigorous and meticulous reasoning process. For example, Confucianism believes that if a person does well in moral cultivation, all the problems in the world will be solved. This is obviously irrational.
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
Guo Songtao said in his diary that a friend asked him why there were so many talents in Hunan.
He replied: "Chu people are only a little stupid, and Confucius says they are stupid."
Hearing this, my friend agreed very much and said, "People who have become famous since ancient times are mostly stupid people, so they are obsessed with words, paintings and poems, which are superficial and ultimately useless."
-"The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
4, so if you want to be diligent and constant, you should start from two points, "Don't laugh at people, don't get up late", both of which are real and simple.
He said these two words have benefited him a lot in his life, but he can get rid of all arrogance and vanity. Everyone knows this, and I don't feel very smart. Later I learned that his strength lies in lifelong practice.
-"The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
5. Modifying and destroying memory was originally the patent of autocratic rulers, but it is unforgivable for Qianlong to cover up the cruelty of his ancestors in a more cruel way than his ancestors. We should never underestimate the selfishness and cruelty of autocratic rulers. Gan Long knows very well that no matter how carefully the work is done, it is impossible to ban illegal words only by searching officials. The most effective way is to make the subjects take the initiative to quietly destroy the forbidden words at home by creating unprecedented terror. In order to achieve this goal, Emperor Qianlong deliberately created unjust cases. Cool case, turning some ambiguous words into major cases, intimidating people all over the world with innocent heads, and what it did was outrageous.
-"Prosperity of Hunger"
6. Zeng Guofan found that the spiritual temperament of these people is very different from that of their former friends. They are all followers of Neo-Confucianism and have the moral enthusiasm of Puritanism. They are strict with themselves, sincere and serious, and firm in the face of the rolling world of mortals.
These friends had a great influence on him: ...
Before the age of 30, Zeng Guofan had only one goal in life, that is, to be rich and proud of his ancestors. After knowing these good friends, I am not ashamed, because I am determined to turn over a new leaf: I really feel that people who have been rehabilitated consider themselves filial sons of their parents and pioneers of their brothers.
It is in these 30 years that Zeng Guofan has made the ambition of "learning to be an excellent official".
-"The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
7. Zeng Guofan worked hard on "Heng" all his life. Taking reading as an example, he praised "reading is the only way": "If you don't finish reading a book, you will never read his book, and the whole world will read it."
-"The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
8. A saint has something to say, but nothing to say. Accumulate good Qing Yu, and his words are also; Everything is not decided by people, but also by people who don't say it.
-"The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
9. So, what is China culture? Hegel said it was childhood. Hegel was deeply impressed by the resignation of China people in front of the government. Hegel thinks that the reason for China's backwardness is the darkness of China people's inner spirit. China is a land that has not been illuminated by the light of human spirit. There, the sun of reason and freedom has not yet risen, and people have not yet got rid of primitive and natural ignorance. "Everything that belongs to the spirit ... is far away from him."
-"Ten Faces of Emperor Qianlong"
10, "But ten million tragic peasant uprisings did not bring about the breakthrough and innovation of the basic system, nor did it provide any possibility for China to break through the circular state in history. The purpose of peasant uprising is not to destroy the unreasonable system, but to adjust and maintain that system. It is an overhaul and an upgrade, not a revolution and innovation. The peasant uprising is only an adjustment mechanism for absolutism to release contradictions. Peasant uprisings are like jailbreaks. The newly-built prisons after each jailbreak are designed more scientifically and reasonably, and have stronger anti-explosion ability. Farmers exchanged blood and life for tighter control, stronger prisons, better domestication and further degradation of national character. "
-"Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty"
1 1, this passage won my heart. I really don't like that some people always write chicken soup sentences for the soul, and always talk about comfort or fool people into putting it down in order to get happiness. Because there is really only illusory self-deception and no rational logic.
Life setbacks, love troubles, etc. We can't disappear or bow our heads to solve it, but we still have to do practical actions.
Therefore, the real strength of life is courage and progress, not pessimism and letting go.
-"The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
12, when an atrocity is completed by everyone, the guilt of each participant will be greatly reduced.
-Zhang Hongjie's Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty
13, China's traditional culture is such a culture that lacks the spirit of introspection. Surrounded by such a closed cultural system, everything has a ready-made orthodox explanation, and people have lost their ability to solve problems constructively.
-Zhang Hongjie's Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty
14, the biggest weakness of China people's thinking is that they like to grasp everything as a whole and macroscopically, but they lack rigorous and meticulous reasoning process.
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
15, Qianlong believes that the emperor should monopolize all greatness, glory and correctness, () leaving no room for honor for others. What Emperor Qianlong needed was not a man standing in the capital, but only tools and slaves.
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Prosperous Age of Hunger"
16, a person's life, like a process of fruit ripening, can't worry, can't slack off. Human efforts and natural cultivation will make a tree grow taller quietly, and also make a person mature slowly: "Without help, the flat land will grow taller." .
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
17, Confucian ethics has congenital defects. Based on the false assumption that human nature is good, it requires everyone to suppress their vivid natural desires through great self-restraint and follow rigid moral dogma. There is no flexible space for the weak and ugly side of human nature, no recognition of the mediocrity of human nature and the instinct of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, and no respect and care for people's basic material needs.
-Zhang Hongjie's Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty
18, people lose confidence in others because they have no confidence in themselves.
-Zhang Hongjie's Millennium Paradox
19, Zhu Li understood an irrefutable truth from a very young age, that is, she must decorate herself with the most beautiful personality and guess others with the worst plan. Only in this way can we ensure an invincible position forever.
-Zhang Hongjie's Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty
20, saints have something to say, have something to say. Accumulate good Qing Yu, and his words are also; Everything is not decided by people, but also by people who don't say it.
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
2 1, Yongzheng was known as a workaholic in history. In fact, he is also a very modern player in his spare time, especially fond of western gadgets. At present, the Palace Museum still treasures several portraits of him in a suit, tie and wig, as well as a large number of western clocks, telescopes and even microscopes he has played with.
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Prosperous Age of Hunger"
22. Looking through the thick history of China, Zhu Yuanzhang came to the conclusion that there were only two reasons for the demise of the dynasty: one was that the imperial power was sidelined, and the dynasty was easily overthrown by powerful ministers, consorts and eunuchs. The other is the combination of land annexation and political corruption, which leads to the widening gap between the rich and the poor and leads officials to force the people to rebel.
Therefore, in order to ensure that mountains and rivers are in the hands of Zhu's descendants for generations, these two phenomena must be eradicated.
-Zhang Hongjie's Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty
23. "It is easy for the British to understand that in China, all the rich people are the owners of power almost at the same time. In other words, China people's wealth accumulation mainly depends on power. China's autocracy is super-economic, and economy is always subordinate to politics. In other words, wealth is always dominated by power. Once there is no power to be a backer, wealth will easily disappear. "
-Zhang Hongjie's Ten Faces of Emperor Qianlong
24. Everything in the world can only be popular if it is young enough. This is an unchangeable law. Of course, to be authentic, Buddhism in China should be based on the only known Sect founded by Sanzang who painstakingly retrieved the scriptures from India. But the fact is that the only-knowing Sect was quickly annihilated because there were too many classics and too strong logic, which was not suitable for the IQ of ordinary people. Pure Land Sect with China characteristics is popular because of its otherness.
-Zhang Hongjie's Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty
25. Zeng Guofan found that the spiritual temperament of these people is very different from that of their former friends. They are all followers of Neo-Confucianism and have the moral enthusiasm of Puritanism. They are strict with themselves, sincere and serious, and firm in the face of the rolling world of mortals.
These friends gave him a great influence: ...
Before the age of 30, Zeng Guofan had only one goal in life, that is, to be rich and proud of his ancestors. After knowing these good friends, I am not ashamed, because I am determined to turn over a new leaf: I really feel that people who have been rehabilitated consider themselves filial sons of their parents and pioneers of their brothers.
It is in these 30 years that Zeng Guofan has made the ambition of "learning to be an excellent official".
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Front and Side of Zeng Guofan"
26. This is a thorough, peculiar and easternmost eastern country. "China is purely based on moral combination, and its national characteristics are objective' family filial piety'. China people regard themselves as belonging to their families and children of the country at the same time. Within the family, they are not individuality, because they live in it, because the unified unit in which they live is blood relationship and natural obligation. Within the country, they also lack independent personality; Because the relationship between parents is the most obvious in the country, the emperor, like strict father, is the foundation of the government and governs all departments of the country. So China is an empire that only belongs to space. "
..... China's history is essentially no history, it just repeated the fall of the monarch. There will be no progress. For thousands of years, solemn destruction has been staged repeatedly on the vast land, but it has not changed in essence.
-Zhang Hongjie's Ten Faces of Emperor Qianlong
27. Confucianism not only emphasizes hierarchical order, but also sets high standards for socialism. Social justice is the foundation of the healthy development of the whole society. Throughout the ages, scholars have taken it as their responsibility to protect social conscience and found their place in the traditional society. However, it rudely deprived the scholars of their ambition to pursue fame and responsibility to protect their conscience, and only gave them the task of finding rice and Liang. Since then, the group of scholars has been deprived of their souls and unable to find their place in society. Originally, after entering the Qing Dynasty, the morale of the literati was greatly reduced compared with other periods in China's history. After the mid-Qianlong period, the moral self-discipline of scholar-officials became more relaxed. Although there are many capable ministers in Qianlong dynasty, they all have one common feature, that is, they are talented without thinking, capable without virtue, and have no worries except fame and fortune.
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Prosperous Age of Hunger"
28. The excessive publicity of moral values leads to the weakening and distortion of the whole value system and the indulgence and venting of the despicable and ugly side of human desires.
-Zhang Hongjie's Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty
29. It is the emperor's usual method to create terror and set an example for others. In the politics of Qianlong dynasty, we can often see cases of unexpected and heavy penalties for misdemeanors. In addition to emotional and personality factors, the combination of leniency and severity is mainly due to strategic considerations.
-Zhang Hongjie's "The Prosperous Age of Hunger"
On the issue of national security, Qianlong adopted many clever, shrewd or insidious techniques.
In the Qing Dynasty, Lamaism was the state religion, but Qianlong did not believe in Yellow Religion. Commenting on the reincarnation of the living Buddha, he said: "The reincarnation of the living Buddha in Hutuktu, Mongolia is actually a clever and convenient method ... How can the Buddha be reincarnated without life and death? But reincarnation is not allowed, so tens of thousands of monks have not converted and have to do so. "
-Zhang Hongjie's Ten Faces of Emperor Qianlong