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Brilliant and open world: Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties Author: Sun Yinggang
1. The Sui and Tang Dynasties can be said to be the second imperial period in the history of China. The first long-term unified empire was the Qin and Han Dynasties. After 300 years of division, war and the impact and integration of races and beliefs, the savage and refined blood from the Great Wall was injected into the Central Plains civilization, and the Chinese civilization achieved the second political reunification. The most important reason why Chinese civilization can endure is its openness and creativity. As far as openness is concerned, Chinese civilization has embraced foreign cultural elements, such as Buddhism, and turned it into a part of its own tradition; As far as creativity is concerned, it was very obvious in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In terms of system creation, the political system and civil service examination system of three provinces and six departments in China are imitated by neighboring nationalities and countries. China's broad and open civilization has attracted monks, scholars and aristocratic children from Japan, Korea and other countries. The most important reason why this period is often described as the golden age lies in the opening and internationalization of Chinese civilization at this time. The opening of this golden age lies in the establishment of the Sui Dynasty and the unification of the country.

2. When Emperor Wendi of the Sui Dynasty began to master the regime of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he rebelled against Xuan Di, the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, saying that "emphasizing political affairs, keeping law and order simple, being thrifty and enjoying the world". After he became emperor, he became more diligent. Every time I come to Korea, or every day it is more than five products, I will lead him to discuss things, and the guards will pass the food. In this case, in order to rectify the system and establish a scale, many innovative measures were taken in politics and economy to consolidate and develop the newly established Sui regime.

Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty (and later Yang Di) established the embryonic form of "three provinces and six departments" in the construction and innovation of political system, which had a far-reaching influence on the central government structure and neighboring countries. At the beginning of the emperor's accession to the throne, the Sui Dynasty sorted out the system in the late Northern and Southern Dynasties and established a set of quite strict ruling institutions. In the first year of the emperor's reign, Shangshu, Menxia and Wenshi provinces were set as the highest organs of political power. The governors of the three provinces jointly made laws, participated in major military affairs and served as prime ministers. Locally, the Sui Dynasty changed the original three-level structure of counties into a more reasonable two-level structure of counties (Yang Di's three-year great cause was changed into a two-level structure of counties, but the name changed, but the essence remained unchanged). Before the reform of Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, under the three-level structure system, there were still 2 1 1 county, 508 county and 1 124 county in China last Tuesday (580). The two-level structure of local administrative organs not only saves the state expenditure, but also has great significance for the central government to issue decrees and control local governments. This structure was destroyed after the Anshi Rebellion, and then the three-level structure became the main mode of local administrative institutions in China. The emergence of the three-level structure is accompanied by the emergence of the separatist regime in the buffer region. This is a major change in the history of China.

3. Before Buddhism was introduced into China, the traditional political legitimacy of China was mainly discussed under the theoretical framework of "the feeling between heaven and man" and "the end of five virtues". The monarch who rules the people is the "son of heaven", and the son of heaven is subject to destiny, and the son of heaven rules the people according to destiny. Whether the monarch has the destiny to rule the people depends on the explanations of Tu Youyou and Xiangrui. The monarch was ordered by heaven, ruled well, and the world was at peace, so he could worship Mount Tai (or Zhongyue) and report to heaven. In this system, the "destiny" can be transferred. If the monarch's behavior violates the heaven, there will be disasters to warn him. If the monarch does not reflect, his destiny will be deprived by heaven and transferred to another surname. Clarifying the legitimacy of rule requires political rhetoric and theoretical rendering. In the middle ages, in the absence of modern political theory, "peace", "auspiciousness", "disaster" and "destiny" were the main political languages. Dragon Map, Phoenix, Jing Yun and Heqing are the main political symbols. "Destiny" is still the main source of ruling legitimacy, and liberalism still plays an important role.

The real Emperor Yang Di in history and the Emperor Yang Di we read in the book are actually two people. He is often described as the last bad king, and is described as an image of luxury, fatuity, infatuation with women and bohemian. However, his series of practices, including the war against Koguryo, the construction of the canal system, the construction of the eastern capital, and so on. In fact, it proved to be a very important measure and was inherited by the later Tang Dynasty. Xiao Huanghou in his works is a very positive image, and she has never been abandoned. Emperor Yang Di's accomplishments in literature, Buddhism and other fields were also quite high. Yang Di's failure can't be attributed to the wrong policy direction, but the main reason is that the pace of his administration is too intense, and he is too eager to reproduce the glory of the Han empire in history as soon as possible, which eventually leads to the exhaustion of the empire. His approach to the south also triggered the opposition of the northern military nobles who had previously dominated. After he took office, Su Yang, Gao Jiong, Yu Wenkai and He Rebi were all purged, and southerners became the most powerful people in the inner circle, such as Yu Shiqi and Pei Yun. Especially after the rebellion of Yang Xuangan, a military aristocrat in the northwest, Pei Yun and others were cruelly implicated in relevant nobles and officials, including Xue Daoheng, and died. When the empire was in crisis, Yang Di recognized Jiangdu, not the capital or Luoyang.

5. Li Yuan is a person who is always committed to helping the world and has the heart to manage the world. We have known each other for more than ten years. The mountains and rivers flow to the point, and you can remember them at a glance (Volume 1 of Notes on Datang Entrepreneurship). He is a thoughtful and wily politician.

6. The main armed forces of the coup in Li Shimin were more than 800 Qin Gong warriors and prisoners of Gao Shilian, the eldest grandson's uncle. His main goals are two, one is to hold Gao Zu hostage, and the other is to destroy the other two heirs. The key to the success of this coup is that Li Shimin can achieve two goals at the same time. In the early morning of June 4th, the 9th year of Wude (626), Li Shimin led Qin soldiers to ambush in Xuanwu Gate. He was able to do this because he bought off the generals on duty that day in advance. Changhe is a close friend of Prince Li, but he was bought off. Such a small detail may have changed the direction of the whole history. Because Li was often on duty that day, there was no doubt that there was any problem. As a result, when Li and Li Yuanji entered Xuanwu Gate, they were attacked by the Qin army led by them. Li Shimin killed the prince first, and then the king of Qi. Although the soldiers of the East Palace and Qi Wangmi also arrived at Xuanwu Gate, they could not enter. At that time, Wei Chijingde went out and held Tang Gaozu hostage, showing the heads of the Prince and the King of Qi to the generals of the East Palace and the Prince's Mansion, saying that it was useless to fight again at this time, so the "court soldiers collapsed". Peiju, the former Li Jiubu who took control of the situation, went to the East Palace to appease, and ordered to stop the Chang 'an rebellion in the name of Gaozu. The general trend was set.

8. Around the Tang Dynasty, monks from China were not far from Wan Li and risked their lives to go to Tianzhu to learn Buddhist scriptures. Faxian, Xuanzang, Yijing and other eminent monks all contributed to this. But at the same time, they all have some kind of anxiety, anxiety about being born on the edge. After Xuanzang arrived in Tianzhu, he even breathed his last. When Faxian arrives in India, he will do everything possible to make a pilgrimage to the holy places mentioned in Buddhist scriptures, such as Gedehasa where the Buddha preached. Gaojue Mountain, also known as Yishai, Li Jietuoluo Kuai and Curitoluo Moment, is located in the northeast of Shecheng, King of Mojeto State in central India. Both Faxian and Xuanzang have been to this mountain. Gaojue Mountain has a very high status in the minds of the eminent monks in the Tang Dynasty, and they have the opportunity to pay more tribute to it. From the second year of Emperor Gaozong (675) to the first year of Zetian Guangzhai (684), they lived in Nalanduo Temple for ten years. Wine tasting tour with five stars in Jiuling (that is, the mountain where the moon rises), nostalgia for the king snake city, writing poems to express feelings, with miscellaneous words, 13579, of which miscellaneous words were written on the mountain where the moon rises, and their words are as follows: "View poverty." It was against this background that when Xuanzang returned to China, his Indian teachers and friends advised him to stay. The main reason is that India is a Buddhist country and China is a frontier. The Tang Dynasty and its former dynasties were full of beautiful imagination about India, but all this changed greatly after an envoy of the Tang Dynasty arrived in Tianzhu, which was enough to affect the process of the localization of Buddhism in China.

9. "Nine fingers" means "Nine essentials". Nine Calendars is a calendar compiled from several Indian calendars. This paper introduces some advanced contents in Indian astronomy, such as the method of measuring 360-degree and 60-base arc on Sunday, the concept of Ping Huang quadrant, and more accurate data than China calendar, such as the apogee position of the sun, the movement period of yellow and white intersection points, etc.

10. The Tang Dynasty was an era of Buddhism, but besides Buddhism, other religions, such as Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorianism, Manichaeism and Islam, can be tolerant. Unlike in other parts of the world, there is no religious war between religions, but they can develop and prosper together in harmony. Persian and Central Asian merchants established temples in Chang 'an, Luoyang, Liangzhou and Shazhou. Nestorianism can also "flow ten ways" and "the temple is full of hundreds of cities"; Manichaeism flourished in the middle of the Tang Dynasty. Belief tolerance creates good conditions for knowledge innovation. With the integration of various civilizations, the material culture, artistic creation and scientific and technological inventions of the Tang Dynasty have made amazing achievements. The popularity of Buddhism promoted the invention and popularization of printing, and sculpture, painting, music and dance added bright colors to the gorgeous Tang civilization. In a creative and imaginative environment, social progress often takes the form of a hundred flowers blooming in various fields.

1 1. Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes has a large number of murals and sculptures, which is the largest existing Buddhist art center in the world. The Mogao Grottoes integrate painting, sculpture and architectural art, and the largest cave 16 is 268 square meters. Its murals are extensive and profound, including Buddha statues, Buddhist stories, Buddhist monuments, changes, monsters, supporters, decorative patterns, etc., and also show scenes of hunting, farming, textiles, transportation, war, architecture, dance, weddings and other aspects of social life at that time. The murals in Mogao Grottoes provide important objects for studying the art history of China, and also provide extremely valuable images and patterns for studying the ancient civilization of China. In the highest cave 96, there is a stupa built on the rock, and a 30-meter-high seated statue of Maitreya, reaching the top of the cliff, is magnificent. Although Wu Zetian's paradise was burned down, this building in Dunhuang provided us with a sample for reference.

12. After Xuanzong came to power, he carried out a series of reforms, strengthened the monarch's power, stabilized the political situation, prospered the economy, and made great progress in foreign political and military expansion. The Tang Dynasty presented a highly prosperous and splendid culture, and its national strength reached its peak, which also became one of several prosperous times in the history of China. "From the west, pay taxes in Hehuang. There are countless babies hugging each other. The four sides are rich, and the people are rich, with more than 10 million households. There are three or four articles in a bucket of rice, and Ding Zhuang's people know nothing about weapons. If the road is not connected, the passers-by will not pack food. " In addition to political, economic and military achievements, Xuanzong himself is good at music, poetry and calligraphy, and he also has a good understanding of religious philosophy such as Taoism and tantric Buddhism. The love story between him and Yang Guifei later became a typical theme of China literature, which constantly appeared in poetry and novel creation. It can be said that Xuanzong was a tragic hero in the eyes of people in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Under his rule, the Tang Dynasty reached a glorious peak, but it soon fell from the peak. The significance of this turning point even surpassed the rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty itself, and had a great and far-reaching impact on the whole history of China and even the history of Asia.