As representatives of the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove are known to people as hermits or high scholars. Why did the wealthy emperors show the images of these high scholars in their tombs? Some scholars believe that this kind of The image of Gao Shi represents the wish to ascend to immortality. But no matter what, it is always interesting to find hermits in imperial mausoleums. To some extent, it hints at the emperor's yearning for a secluded life. This reveals some important signals about the gentry society in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Tension: Gentleman Society and Wei and Jin Dynasties
Generally speaking, academic circles regard the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties as a gentry society, and the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties are particularly typical. What is a gentry society? The most important symbol is that scholar-bureaucrats have the characteristics of being independent from the imperial power. A typical example is that Emperor Wu of Qi in the Southern Dynasties favored Ji Sengzhen, who was born in a humble family. Ji Sengzhen wanted to obtain the status of a scholar-bureaucrat. Emperor Wu of Qi said that he had no say in the matter, and asked Ji Sengzhen to visit Jiang Xuan and Xie Tan. So Ji Sengzhen was ordered to visit the then leader of the gentry, Jiang Shu. As soon as he sat down, Jiang Shu ordered his people to "move my bed to make room for guests" and kicked him out, leaving behind the famous saying "Scholar-bureaucrats are not ordered by the emperor." .
In the society at that time, the emperor could give a poor person a high official and a generous salary, but his status as a nobleman depended on the approval of the scholar-bureaucrat group and could not be controlled by the imperial power. One of the characteristics of the gentry society is that they are proud of their family status, and even think that marrying into the royal family is not an honor, so Tang Wenzong complained: "My emperor has been emperor for two hundred years, and he can't take care of Cui and Lu Ye?" Therefore, in the Middle Ages, Relatively speaking, the gentry society was an era in which classes were relatively solidified.
When it comes to the demeanor of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the most likely thing that comes to mind is Ji Kang’s famous saying, “It is not Tang Wu who is weak but Zhou Kong, and he is more famous than taught and allowed to be natural.” Scholars now generally position him as a This cultural reform movement represented a break from the net of Confucianism, and people like the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove were regarded as resisters in the dark age of politics. So the next question is how this understanding of Wei and Jin style was formed. We must admit that the view of Wei and Jin style as a cultural innovation movement was mainly influenced by scholars since the Republic of China, especially those who studied The opinions of scholars in literature and philosophy played a big role. For the general public, they may be more influenced by two famous articles by Lu Xun, "The Relationship between Style and Articles, Medicine and Wine in the Wei and Jin Dynasties" and Zong Baihua's "On "Shishuoxinyu" and the Beauty of Jin People".
Positioning the Wei and Jin Dynasties as rebels who destroyed famous religions can be said to be the product of modern academics since the May 4th Movement. Of course, I am not saying that the ancients’ theory of pure talk and wronging the country is more advanced or accurate. However, there are two backgrounds that need to be noted. One is the background of academic history. The scholars of the "May Fourth Movement" mainly stood in the position of criticizing the traditional society dominated by Confucianism, so they explored the characteristics of the resisters in Chinese history. Genealogy and writing a review article can be said to be an important aspect of reflecting this criticality. The other is the evolution of history itself. Even if we believe that the rise of Wei and Jin style and metaphysics was a cultural innovation movement, we must also note that what happened simultaneously with this was the gradual formation of the gentry society, and the new cultural look and society There is actually a certain tension between the solidification of classes. Why is it that an era that was praised as the liberation of the mind turned around and created a gentry society with class mobility and solidification.
The emergence of questioning the social ethos of Mingjiao
One of the manifestations of the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties is questioning Mingjiao and not being bound by etiquette and law. The emergence of the trend of questioning famous religions can be traced back to the late Han Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Qingyi refers to the fact that the scholar-bureaucrats in the opposition were aware of the chaos of the autocratic power of eunuchs and relatives, criticized politics, and "checked officials and governed at their own discretion." "The wind and rain are as dark as the rooster's crow." He has the spirit of taking the world as his own responsibility and has always been highly praised. This fierce and passionate scholarly style eventually attracted the blow of the party's ban. The party's ban prohibited party members and their families from serving as officials. Now it seems that it is not a too severe punishment, but it should be noted that the party members who were imprisoned often came from local wealthy families. In the Han Dynasty, Through the imperial examination system, the children of local wealthy families were encouraged to learn Confucianism and then be absorbed into the bureaucracy. The party's supervision greatly shook the centripetal force of these local elites towards the Han Dynasty, and Confucian ideology began to collapse.
The third factor is that Cao Cao attaches great importance to magic, especially in the order to seek talents: "If you bear an insulting name, act for fun, or are unkind and unfilial, but have the skills to govern the country and use troops, they can do their best." "Know, don't leave anything behind" directly challenges the traditional concept of emphasizing virtue in selecting scholars. Some scholars believe that the purpose of the order is not to seek talents, but to break the old morality and create public opinion for the Han Dynasty. I think it can be prepared Said.
On the one hand, the Confucian Mingjiao thought that originally shaped the moral and behavioral norms of scholars in the Han Dynasty was shaken. On the other hand, the phenomenon of secular officials appeared after the Han and Wei dynasties. As we all know, the change of dynasties in the Han, Wei and Wei dynasties was completed through the method of "abdication". There are two main ways of changing dynasties in traditional Chinese dynasties. The first is "revolution", which is to overthrow the previous dynasty in a violent way. The Tang-Wu revolution is one of the representatives. . The other type is abdication, which imitates the will of ancient sages and completes the transition of political power in a peaceful way. Of course, this kind of "blessing" is behind the plunder and plunder. On the surface, it requires a series of giving and receiving rituals. , so Cao Pi said a meaningful saying after usurping the Han Dynasty, "I know everything about Shun and Yu."
The other side of celebrities: the tragedy of two scholars competing for merit
In general, celebrities in the Wei and Jin Dynasties are a group of scholars with beautiful appearance and elegant conversation. However, this kind of enviable Whether demeanor represents all of this group is a question that needs to be considered. Let's take the tragedy of "two scholars competing for merit" that occurred during the battle of Deng Ai and Zhong Hui against Shu as an example to talk about the other side of celebrities.
Although the style of Wei and Jin Dynasties is a refined and elegant culture, we must also pay attention to the class and closedness behind this culture. In fact, after the growth and development of the Western Jin Dynasty in the Wei and Jin dynasties, the bureaucratic class in the Western Jin Dynasty has formed a unified body of political interests condensed through marriage, friendship, colleagues, conquests, etc. In addition, with the rise of metaphysical talk during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, these bureaucrats In addition to political interests, the family has also gradually formed unique cultural interests and identities. The concept of "Qing" inherited from the Qing Dynasty in the late Han Dynasty became one of the important criteria for shaping this identity. Although the gentry in the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties did not completely inherit the bureaucratic class of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, at least two important characteristics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty's clan politics originated from the Western Jin Dynasty. One was a political group with a tendency to serve as officials for generations, and the other was based on metaphysical talks. Bureaucratic class with the same cultural characteristics.