In the east of the world. However, when history entered the19th century, China declined obviously, from 1840.
1998 After the Opium War 100 years, China was ravaged by western powers and plunged into a disastrous half of the country.
Colonial and semi-feudal society. This tragic fate experienced by China in modern times is an accidental misfortune.
Or is it the inevitable result of the development of some social leading factor? This is not clearly recognized by today's China society.
The problem deserves further study, and it is also very important for the future development of China to understand it.
The real meaning.
There is a popular view in academic circles that the decline of modern China was caused by long-term feudal autocracy.
Yes, there is some truth in this view, but in fact it is only a superficial problem. Why is it from China?
Is feudal autocracy that long? This has profound social and cultural reasons. Social culture is a kind of social change.
The internal leading factors of development determine the historical track and trend of social change and development. lead to
The social and cultural reasons for China's exceptionally long feudal autocracy were the real reasons for the decline of modern China. Talk about this
Before a cultural reason, let's analyze how the feudal autocratic rule made China decline.
The feudal autocratic rule is characterized by the high centralization of the monarch and the hereditary system of the throne, which makes the country
The rise and fall of a monarch mainly depends on his personal wisdom and fatuity. If the monarch is wise, he will choose a group of wise ministers.
Make some wise policies, so that the government will be harmonious and the country will be safe. If a monarch is fatuous, he is often a traitor.
Tao and Chaogang are decadent, the society is malodorous, and even swords and swords are used, and the country is ruined and ruined. This is the place.
The so-called rule of man-"its existence, its political action; Its death, its political interests. " The prosperity of China's ancient dynasty was average.
In the decades after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC). When the previous dynasty fell, the founding monarchs all competed with each other.
In the war, they won the world with their own intelligence, so they relied on themselves.
To gain political power, but not the monarch of later generations, depends entirely on blood. The emperor has many sons.
Yes, maybe you can choose a better one with only one son. You have to do it anyway.
Inherited by him, even suckling children will be crowned the dragon throne to rule the world. A culture that upholds absolute monarchy makes the autocratic system more stable and lasting, which is the mark of China.
Cultural reasons of super-long building system. China's traditional culture is based on Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
The main body, including Mohism, Legalism,
Some schools, such as military strategists, are dominated by Confucianism, which also maintains absolute monarchy.
Played a major role. Confucianism was founded by Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period, and its basic political proposition is to safeguard the West.
Zhou's patriarchal hierarchy
System. Patriarchal system takes the eldest son inheritance system as the main content, emphasizing the maintenance of the influence of parents and patriarchs on families and clans.
Hereditary domination privileges of members and property; The structure of the country is similar to the family, and the Zhou royal family is the world.
The largest clan, the vassal is the smaller clan, and the vassal must accept the rule and command of Zhou Wang. During the Spring and Autumn Period, patriarchal clan system
The system was gradually destroyed, the power of Zhou Wang was weakened, the power of the vassals became stronger and stronger, and Zhou Wang was gradually
Lost control of the prince; Within the vassal States, the power of Qing Dafu is constantly strengthening, often controlling the status of the monarch.
The abolition of legislation and the conquest of the army led to the so-called "ritual collapse and bad music."
Confucius was very saddened by this, and the starting point of his political thought was "restoring rites", that is, restoring the sects of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Legal hierarchy. He emphasized "correcting the name", that is, correcting all kinds of behaviors that violated the patriarchal clan system in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Elephant; Confucius especially advocated "filial piety and loyalty" and advocated that people strictly abide by the teachings of "Jun Jun, ministers, father and son"
The principle of legal ethics hopes that the monarch is mainly like a monarch, noble and loyal, and the courtiers are like courtiers.
Look, loyal to the monarch; Fathers should be like fathers, have authority, and sons should be like sons and be filial.
To respect the father is simply to be filial to the father and loyal to the monarch. Confucius summed up the social and ethical relations.
For the five relationships of "monarch and minister, father and son, husband and wife, brother and friend", "monarch is loyal to minister, father is filial and husband is righteous" is required.
Women listen, brothers and friends respect, friends have faith. "This is the way of five ethics, which has played a role in maintaining autocratic rule in history."
Use.
On the surface, Confucius made demands on both sides, such as monarch, minister, father and son, husband and wife. In fact, it was in an authoritarian society.
In the meeting, the rights and obligations between them are not equal, with power concentrated in the former and obligations concentrated in the latter.
The latter, if the monarch is unkind, the father is unkind and the husband is unjust, the latter cannot be persuaded.
What, and if the minister is unfaithful, the son is unfilial, and the wife refuses to listen, the former can be dealt with by national laws and family laws.
Physical and mental sanctions, or even elimination. In fact, the way of five ethics has put a spiritual yoke on the latter.
Another important content in Confucius' ideological system is "benevolence", which he calls all good conduct.
"Benevolence" and "filial piety" are regarded as the foundation of benevolence. Filial piety is filial piety to parents and filial piety to brothers. He put the monarch's
Loyalty and filial piety are regarded as the extension and expansion of filial piety, emphasizing that the family is the foundation of the country, the monarch and father are integrated, and loyalty and filial piety are interlinked.
It can be seen that Confucius emphasized that "filial piety" serves "loyalty". Confucius thus combined family ethics with the national system.
Over the years, loyalty to the monarch is no longer just a requirement of the state system, but also a requirement of social ethics, thus increasing.
Strict restrictions on ministers. The above is the important content of Confucius' political thought, from which it can be clearly seen that he defended the monarch.
The purpose of authoritarian rule. Confucius was a great educator. He compiled a series of ancient cultural classics and opened a private school.
Learn and recruit apprentices,
Teach culture and his own thoughts, and let his theory spread widely. After Confucius, there were Mencius and Xunzi.
A large number of scholars inherited and carried forward Confucius' thoughts, making Confucianism a school of thought in the Spring and Autumn Period.
The most influential one. Confucius' theory did not meet the needs of the feudal hegemonic war at that time, especially his requirements.
The princes were loyal to the thought of King Zhou and didn't want to be heard by the princes, so Confucius' theory was not taken seriously.
When the governors accepted it, they did not gain political status. However, his theory is consistent with the unified world of later generations.
Monarchs are highly respected for the need of maintaining autocratic rule, and Confucius is also regarded as a "saint" by autocratic monarchs.
After Confucius, there were many people who defended the absolute monarchy, and Dong Zhongshu of Han Dynasty was one of them with great influence.
One person. Dong Zhongshu was a master of Confucianism in the Western Han Dynasty. He put forward the theory of "divine right of monarchies" and thought that monarchies
The Lord rules the world by heaven, and the power of the monarch is given by heaven, and all the power in the world should be unified.
Yu Zhongshu, the monarch, combined Confucius' thought of five elements with that of yin and yang and put forward the "three cardinal guides"
In the theory of "five permanents", the three cardinal principles are that the monarch is the minister, the father is the son, and the husband is the wife. He thinks that in the monarch, father and son, husband and wife three
In this relationship, the former is Yang and the latter is Yin. The natural way is that Yin is attached to Yang, so the latter obeys the former.
It is natural for people to do things. Theories such as "divine right of monarchy" and "three cardinal principles and five permanents" are extremely confusing and deceptive.
As a powerful tool to maintain absolute monarchy, it became feudalism that ruled China for more than two thousand years.
Orthodox political thought. Dong Zhongshu also put forward the idea of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", which was adopted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
After that, learning Confucian classics became a ladder to enter the official career, and Confucian classics became very popular, so Confucianism took it.
Confucianism, with the dominant position of China's traditional ideology and culture, has since dominated the thoughts of the whole Chinese nation.
After Dong Zhongshu, Zhu in the Southern Song Dynasty was another important figure who maintained absolute monarchy. He took it.
Li was founded on the basis of Confucianism, integrating Buddhism and Taoism, and integrating China's traditional ideological and cultural achievements.
study Drawing lessons from Taoist thought, he pointed out that "reason" is the origin of all things in the universe, with the three cardinal guides and the five permanents as the core.
The feudal ethics of the mind is the embodiment of the origin of the universe in human society, which is "justice" and calls on people to "safeguard justice";
He regarded people's pursuit of freedom, equality and democracy as inconsistent with feudal ethics.
People's natural desire requires people to consciously remove it from their minds, that is, "to eliminate people's desire." Neo-Confucianism adapted to the feudal monarch.
The need of owners to maintain autocratic rule was strongly advocated by various dynasties after the Song Dynasty, which became the official school and produced the "four schools"
Don't read Zhu Cheng's Book of the Inland Sea. The feudal ethics further penetrated into every corner of China society.
Morality, such as "you tell me to die, I have to die, and not dying is disloyalty;" The father told his son to die, and his son died, but his son didn't.
The concepts of "death is unfilial", "a martyr's daughter doesn't marry two husbands" and "starvation is a small matter, but dishonor is a big matter" are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and are very serious.
China people's thoughts have been poisoned, and countless people cling to the feudalism of loyal ministers, dutiful sons, martyrs and good wives.
Ethics is at the expense of one's own happiness and even life. Confucius, Dong Zhongshu and Zhu are just Confucian monarchs.
Three outstanding representatives of autocratic rule, others
There are still many people who have great influence in this respect in history. Take the development form of Confucianism-Neo-Confucianism as an example, but it is not.
This is Zhu's original creation. Neo-Confucianism originated from Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty and passed through Zhou Dunyi and Shao in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Yong, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi are the inheritance and development of Zhu in the Southern Song Dynasty. After Zhu, Qiu Jun, a great scholar in the Ming Dynasty, made great achievements.
More comprehensive summary and play. To sum up, maintaining absolute monarchy is the political thought of Confucianism.
The main content of. In ancient China society, due to the advocacy of autocratic monarchs, Confucianism gained the traditional writing style of China.
The dominant position of culture makes Confucian political ideas firmly bind people's thoughts and make people conscious.
The successful acceptance and maintenance of feudal autocratic rule greatly hindered China from stepping out of feudal society. China valley
In addition to Confucianism, there are schools such as Mohism, Legalism, Taoism and Buddhism. male
Politically, it also belongs to maintaining or not opposing absolute monarchy. Let's talk about Mohism first. Mohism in the warring states period.
Mo Zhai and Mo Zhai, the founders of the school, advocated universal love, mutual non-aggression and Shang Xian.
There is nothing in his thoughts that explicitly opposes or advocates absolute monarchy, but in fact it is an endorsement of absolute monarchy.
Yes Zhai Mo has a point of view, that is, asking the people to agree with the idea of "the son of heaven", and everyone who agrees with the monarch is.
Should agree, everyone who opposes the monarch should oppose it, provided that the idea of "the son of heaven" serves the public interests of the world, which
In fact, it is impossible. His views were absorbed by legalists and pushed to extremes, which played a bad role.
Legalism was also an academic school in the Warring States Period, with representatives such as Shang Yang, Han Fei and Li Si, who advocated
"Reform" and "ruling the country according to law" have played an important historical role in ending the war and moving towards reunification. Legalist school
Advocating that the monarch is highly centralized, all the power of the country should be concentrated in the hands of the monarch, which shows that Legalists maintain the absolute monarchy.
Dominant. Besides Taoism, Taoism is second only to Confucianism in the traditional culture of China, and it was founded.
Man is Lao Dan of Chu State in the Spring and Autumn Period, who advocates "inaction" politically, with the aim of quietism, self-cultivation and self-cultivation.
Governance "not only opposes the Confucian rule of benevolence and courtesy, but also opposes the rule of law by legalists, and tends to deny real politics."
However, they did not criticize the disadvantages of absolute monarchy, but hoped that society would return to a "small country with few people" or even not.
The primitive ignorance of any political organization and "people with wild deer" is an idea of hoping for social retrogression.
Law. Finally, let me talk about Buddhism. Buddhism was introduced into China from India in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Roots, together with Confucianism and Taoism, have become an important part of China's traditional culture. Buddhism pursues the soul
With the aim of transcending the cycle of life and death and achieving eternal happiness, it does not care about real social politics, and certainly does not oppose absolute monarchy.
System, Buddhism teaches people to abstain from lust and endure hardships, in fact, it is to help people settle down in absolute monarchy.
Use.
In ancient China, people attached great importance to practicality and paid attention to technical research that could solve practical problems, rather than watching.
The direct effect of the study of the internal laws of things, so the vast majority of inventions in ancient China
It belongs to practical technology, but there are few scientific things like Pythagorean theorem and pi. Technical research and scientific research
There is a big difference: technical research is to achieve a certain purpose, try it in various ways and find something.
Method can achieve the purpose, then use this method, or inadvertently find that one party has no purpose.
Method can achieve some effect, then remember it, and then use this method to achieve that effect.
It can be seen that technical research is practical and inseparable from experience, so some people call it empirical science, but it is actually the main one.
If technology is not science.
Take the four great inventions as an example. They are all masterpieces of technology and three traditional sciences completed by China in the Ming Dynasty.
Compendium of Materia Medica, Encyclopedia of Agricultural Administration and Heavenly Creations also belong to the collation of predecessors' classics.
And the summary of past experience is also technology. And scientific research is to observe a large number of objective phenomena or conduct many experiments.
On the basis of mathematical analysis, infer the laws of things, and then verify them through experiments.
Correct the shortcomings or mistakes found, and then verify them by experiments until a reliable conclusion is drawn. This kind of research
Not for practicality, but to explore the law. Due to the lack of objective things about nature in ancient China.
Enough interest, but also because of the way of thinking, scientific research has not developed. We know it's simple.
Technology can succeed because it spontaneously conforms to objective laws, while complex technologies such as modern ones.
Industrial and agricultural production technology must be based on scientific knowledge. Without scientific development, technological progress is inevitable.
Stagnation In ancient China, from the Song Dynasty, the progress of production technology gradually slowed down until the Ming Dynasty.
Europe began to surpass it in the middle and late period, and/kloc-0 was left far behind at the beginning of the 9th century (refer to Comparison between China and the West in 500 years)
More "). The backwardness of science and technology directly leads to the backwardness of industrial and agricultural production and social economy. Therefore, in
The lack of scientific elements in China's traditional culture is also an important cultural reason for the decline of modern China. In addition to science and technology
The backwardness of art led to the backwardness of China's social economy, and successive dynasties emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce
Political policy is also an important reason for the social and economic backwardness in modern China. Agriculture has been a Chinese nation since ancient times.
The basis of survival, the ancestors of the Chinese nation, Yan Di tribe and Huangdi tribe, are mainly based on agricultural collection.
Two tribes from the same source. The Chinese nation has deeply realized since ancient times that agriculture is the foundation of food and clothing and wealth.
The source, the rulers of past dynasties also deeply understand the truth that "the country is people-oriented, and the people take food as the sky". because
Therefore, they spontaneously formed a policy tendency of physiocratism, and books on the importance of agriculture have emerged in an endless stream throughout the ages.
An indispensable part of China's traditional culture. There is nothing wrong with attaching importance to agriculture, but because of attaching importance to agriculture
Too much attention has been paid to industry and commerce, which has been regarded as a negative factor affecting the development of agriculture by rulers of past dynasties. They think that agriculture is
To produce food, clothing and silk, industry and commerce means to consume food, clothing and silk. If there are more people engaged in industry and commerce, they will
Will lead to insufficient food and clothing, "the husband does not plow, or starve; Women don't knit, or suffer from its cold "(Jia Yi's On Storage)
Sparse ") is the outstanding performance of this view. This kind of thinking ignores the foundation and promotion of industry and commerce to agriculture.
Use, agricultural production tools such as sickles and hoes are provided by handicrafts, and the improvement of production tools has been directly improved.
The efficiency of agricultural production, this idea is even less aware of the regulatory role of commodity economy in agricultural production, such as
If more people are engaged in industry and commerce and food prices rise, it will stimulate the development of agriculture. Under the influence of this idea
Next, the rulers of the past dynasties took agriculture as the foundation and industry and commerce as the failure, and adopted a heavy
The policy of restraining business by agriculture, as clearly written by Emperor Han Zhaodi, is that agriculture and mulberry are the foundation of the world. The policy of emphasizing agriculture and restraining business is: pragmatic.
Implement a strict household registration system, fix farmers on the land, restrict the free flow of population, reward agricultural weaving,
Set up numerous checkpoints and impose higher taxes on industrial and commercial people. After the Ming Dynasty, there was a "sea ban" (prohibiting overseas travel).
Trade) policy, etc. These measures have obviously inhibited the development of industry and commerce, and maintained the style of male ploughing and female weaving.
The natural economic model of combining family agriculture with handicraft industry limits the deepening of social division of labor and the expansion of production scale.
So big that science and technology lost the soil for production and application, which inhibited the progress of science and technology.
The long-term policy of attaching importance to agriculture and restraining business has hindered the social and economic development of China. In addition, Confucianism "is its friendship.
Profit, knowing its way regardless of its merits ","emphasizing righteousness over profit "and" focusing on righteousness "
"Houli" and a strict patriarchal clan system also bound people's thoughts and hands and feet, and moved closer to commodity classics.
Economic development hindered development, and decadent monarchy directly stifled capitalist economy.
The germination of economy hindered the development of capitalist economy in China. Unlike China, European countries are located in ancient Athens and Gulo.
As soon as I got on the horse, I attached importance to the development of industry and commerce, and the industrial and commercial economy was relatively developed. After the Renaissance in Europe, in the capital
In the process of socialist industrial and commercial development, all countries have adopted policies to actively support industrial and commercial development and promoted society.
Economic development. China's northern neighbor Russia is also a country with strong feudalism, but
Since Peter I, the czars of past dynasties have paid attention to the development of capitalist industry and commerce, which has kept Russia in a relatively strong national strength.
And military strength, to constantly expand and compete for hegemony, that is, the country plundered from China crazily.
/kloc-the acquisition of more than 0/100,000 square kilometers of land forced outer Mongolia to become independent. It can be seen that China has always attached importance to agriculture and suppressed commerce.
The ruling policy is also an important cultural reason for the decline of modern China. To sum up, modern China declined.
The reason is:
1, China's historical tradition and culture are extremely lacking in democracy, and traditional culture has a strong sense of protecting the monarch.
The concept of authoritarian system. 2. China traditional culture lacks scientific elements.
3. The ruling policy of an autocratic dynasty that emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce. The comprehensive effect of the above reasons led to China's proximity.
The decline of generations. In terms of internal factors, what happened in modern China?
The humiliation and pain suffered by the people of China are all caused by the defects of this nation's traditional culture, because
These disadvantages led to China's backwardness, which in turn led to foreign aggression and bullying. Although China is close
A generation experienced such a tragic fate, but China people did not deeply reflect on the reasons, only in the May 4th Movement.
Before the New Culture Movement, a few intellectuals reflected on this issue, such as Wu Yu's proposal.
Chen Duxiu put forward the idea of democratic science with the slogan "Down with Kongjiadian" in New Youth, and Lu Xun put forward the idea of democratic science in New Youth.
Diary of a Madman reveals the phenomenon of "cannibalism" in feudal ethics, but due to the complicated social situation at home and abroad.
After the May 4th Movement, the New Culture Movement quickly changed its direction, and the blow to feudal culture was not deep.
The influence is not far-reaching, and China people hardly consider this issue from now on.
Up to now, our whole nation has not clearly recognized the reasons for the decline of modern China, nor has it generally recognized it.
Recognize the disadvantages of traditional culture, not to mention criticizing and abandoning it. So the disadvantages of traditional culture
Feudalism, in particular, is still deeply rooted and continues to hinder the progress and development of China.
For example, in people's minds, the slavery thought caused by long-term autocratic rule is still very strong, and they only have superiority and consciousness.
It is still very strong, its power consciousness and democratic concept are still very weak, and some undemocratic words and deeds are openly popular.