The Ming and Qing dynasties were an era of highly centralized monarchy in China. The two dynasties had many similarities. The rising star of the Qing Dynasty often imitated the previous Ming Dynasty to surpass it, and the Ming Dynasty built a "Yongle Dadian" during the Yongle period. During the prosperous period of Kangxi and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong was unwilling to be lonely and also compiled a "Sikuquanshu". It is a symbol of culture, but Sikuquanshu is dismissed by many scholars, calling it Siku Destroyed Books. What is going on?
First of all, let’s talk about why Emperor Qianlong wanted to compile the "Sikuquanshu". He was actually playing a big game, because Emperor Qianlong not only wanted to be a secular emperor, but also to be a Taoist emperor. Of course, this is only one step.
Emperor Qianlong is actually the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history, and he is also very well-known today. Friends who know a little about Emperor Qianlong should know that Qianlong worked hard in the early period, and made great achievements in the later period. He called himself "Shiquan" "Old Man", in fact, there are several in these Shiquan Shu that are quite good. In order to show their illustrious martial arts, referring to the Yongle Grand Canon of Ming Dynasty, which was compiled by Chengzu Yongle during his heyday, Emperor Qianlong ordered the compilation of "Si Ku Quan Shu". In the process Destroying a lot of books that were not conducive to the rule killed two birds with one stone. The history of book destruction has been around since the beginning of the Qin Dynasty when "burning books and entrapping Confucian scholars". Even if there were emperors in later generations, the destruction of books was only on a small scale. Most of the lost ancient books were destroyed in wars. But Qianlong's destruction of books is different. It can be said to be a catastrophe for Chinese civilization because the scope is too large. Why is the scope so large? It has something to do with the literary inquisition that arose during the Kangxi period. The literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty lasted throughout the three dynasties of Kangxi and Qianlong. "Why is Qingfeng illiterate and reading books randomly?" Even if you dare to kill your family, the rulers tried to control the world mentally and imprison the world's thoughts, and books are also one of the ways of cultural transmission. Emperor Qianlong destroyed them when he was compiling books. In a sense, it is also one of the expressions of literal prison.
According to rough statistics, during the Qianlong period, the "Sikuquanshu" was compiled, which included more than 3,500 kinds of books, and more than 3,100 kinds of banned books (another saying is more than 2,800 kinds). Almost half were recorded and half were destroyed, so Some scholars also call it "Siku Destroyed Books".
When Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty compiled Sikuquanshu, the total number of books that were detrimental to the Qing Dynasty was destroyed. According to statistics, it was 13,600 volumes. The total number of books burned was 150,000. A total of more than 170 types of plates and more than 80,000 pieces were destroyed. In addition to burning books, the Qing Dynasty also systematically destroyed Ming Dynasty archives. There are only more than 3,000 archives in the Ming Dynasty, mainly the archives of the Ministry of War of Tianqi and Chongzhen dynasties, and a small number of official documents from the Hongwu, Yongle, Xuande, Chenghua, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli and Taichang dynasties. The rest, estimated to be no less than 10 million Ming Dynasty archives, have all been destroyed. In addition to destroying books and files, the Qing Dynasty also systematically tampered with the remaining books and files.
Many ancient books have been destroyed, and many have been completely lost. In modern times, we can only make up for it through archaeological discoveries of books in tombs. For example, many ancient books were found in the tomb of Haihunhou in the Western Han Dynasty, or by purchasing books that were circulated overseas before they were repaired. To make up for it, most of them are from Japan and South Korea. Of course, when Japan invaded China in modern times, such as when the Eight-Nation Allied Forces entered Beijing or during the Anti-Japanese War, they also transported many precious original copies back to their homeland, which was more sinister than robbing gold, silver and jewelry.
It is worth mentioning that Emperor Qianlong not only destroyed books, but also tampered with them. Many books related to the Jurchen tribe were modified because Emperor Qianlong was a Manchu, and the predecessor of the Manchu tribe was the Jurchen tribe.
The "Sikuquanshu" is actually a defective product or even a waste product with four incomplete parts. It is not at the same level as the Yongle Dadian. During the compilation process, many precious ancient books were deliberately deleted and deleted. Burnt, tampered with, and falsified, it is just a book of prosperity in name only.
I recall how high-spirited Yue Fei was during his Northern Expedition to the Jin Dynasty. He sang the heroic spirit of "Man Jiang Hong" and swallowed up thousands of miles of rivers and mountains. In it, "The ambition is to eat the meat of Huns when hungry, and the laughter is to drink the blood of Xiongnu." It was actually tampered with as "Aspirations to eat meat when hungry, and jokes to spill blood."
How ridiculous. Emperor Qianlong's chicken belly is also rare in history?
The tenth issue of A Brief Discussion of Qing History - Sikuquanshu is over. Thank you for watching. In the next issue we will talk about the little-known facts about Japan's invasion of China. Details, several times of plundering China's unique books, some scholars even believe that there are more Chinese unique books in Japan than in China. What kind of story is there? The wandering road of the orphaned national treasure, so stay tuned... ..