Let me give one or two examples of the regional cultural background of Confucianism.
Zou Lu is located in the east of Huanghuai Plain, the sun of Mount Tai, and its ancestral home is Dongyi. Its farming culture and ritual tradition developed earlier. The archaeological achievements of Dawenkou culture and Haidai Longshan culture convincingly confirm this point. The Shang tribe originated in Dongyi, and before Pan Geng moved to Yin, the Shang Dynasty had established its capital here for more than forty years. After the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou and his son were subjected to feudal system, and became the number one town in the Zhou Dynasty to control the East and a model country for the nobles of Ji surname to carry out "rites of Zhou". When Lu was just sealed, it had a particularly superior position among the major vassal States because of the Duke of Zhou. He was once given a full set of Zhu Zongbu's history, cultural relics and ritual vessels, and was later chartered to sacrifice to Duke Zhou. Patriarchal aristocrats in Lu also took it as their duty and honor to abide by the "legacy" of the Duke of Zhou, so until the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu was famous for its complete preservation of Zhou Li.
Historians have always said that social unrest in the Spring and Autumn Period led to "improper rites and music". In fact, if we focus on the main academic characteristics of Confucius, the Spring and Autumn Period is undoubtedly the "restatement" period of the etiquette system in the Western Zhou Dynasty (including transformation and breakthrough), and the serious etiquette study and the ideal "Zhou Li" form advocated by later Confucianism gradually developed and matured during this period. In a broad sense, "Zhou Li" covers all aspects of traditional culture, but in a narrow sense, it is mainly the ritual system of Ji's patriarchal clan system, which can't completely cover the unique traditional ritual system and folk customs of various vassal States. In the tenth year of "Xianggong" in Zuo Zhuan, Jin people praised "the vassal Song Dynasty, observing the ceremony in the past", meaning that "Li Yin" and "Zhou Li" in Lucun were both typical. However, small countries neighboring Lu, such as Qi State and big states, have preserved a large number of "Yi Li", which is quite different from the exclusive "Zhou Li" of Lu patriarchal nobles. In fact, even in Lu and its capital, the coexistence of "Zhou Li", "Yi Li" and "Li Yin" has not disappeared. Lucheng has "Zhou She" and "Haoshe", and Haoshe is a special place to pay tribute to the indigenous Yin adherents. A few years ago, two groups of tombs were excavated in the ancient city of Qufu Lu, and the burial style, burial custom and burial style were quite different. Among them, Tomb A belongs to indigenous tombs, which lasted from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Spring and Autumn Period. Its outstanding characteristics are the prevalence of dog martyrdom, the regular combination of buried pottery, the popularity of foot-winding devices such as reeds and beans, and the exquisite production; Group B tombs belong to the tombs of Zhou people, and some of them never saw a martyr dog again until the early Warring States period. The pottery buried with them is relatively simple, the combination is messy, and there are no pens and beans at all. The difference between the two groups of tombs is so great that people have a new understanding of "Zhou Li". It seems that the joy of ancient books in "changing customs" is quite limited, even if it really happens.
The difference between "Zhou Li" and folk customs includes not only the content of class opposition, but also the difference between the countryside and the wild. The so-called "bad manners, happy collapse" mainly refers to the chaotic and changeable social etiquette system of the upper nobility after the Zhou royal family moved eastward, which may not have much influence on folk manners and customs. According to our investigation, Confucius accepted the legacy of "Li Yin" in his early years. He is a descendant of the Yin royal family, but he lived in Shandong since he was a child, and he was most exposed to the customs of Dongyi. Nine times out of ten, he is "determined to study". Because of his poor family, he used to be a warehouse official and a herder. In fact, he studied through "official learning". At first, he could not learn the aristocratic etiquette system. The Analects of Confucius Bashu recorded that "the son entered the ancestral temple and asked everything", which was ridiculed by people at that time as "the son of Zou people" who didn't understand "rites", indicating that he didn't know much about "rites of Zhou" at that time. "Zuo Zhuan" recorded for seventeen years, Tan Zizheng told a long story to Lu Shi, telling an ancient legend of "a famous bird official" that Confucius had never heard of. It was then that he really understood and studied the ancient history of Dongyi, and he was 27 years old. By contrast, when Shao Hao rises, the Phoenix bird is in the right position. At the age of 36, "Wen Shao was in Qi, but I didn't know the taste of meat in March" ("Shu Er"), which indicated that he had begun to consciously look for ancient cultural heritage. He will never forget Dongyi culture. In his later years, he had the idea of "living in Jiuyi" (Zi Han). He said, "If you can't do it, you can float on the sea by fork" (Gongye Chang).
Confucius claimed to be "thirty years old". In the twenty-fourth year of Lu Zhaogong, that is, when he was 34 years old, Dr. Meng Nuo died and made a will on his deathbed, so that his two sons (namely Nangong Jingshu and Meng) could learn the ceremony of "achieving great things" after the saints (see Zuo Zhuan). This shows that Confucius has become famous for running a private school at this time, and his status as a descendant of the nobility has also been recognized by the Lu nobles. "Historical Records of Confucius' Family" said that he later went to Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, to "ask for gifts" accompanied by Uncle Jing of Nangong, and met the historian Lao Zi. I'm afraid it was also at this time that Confucius was able to systematically contact the ancient books of Zhou Guan and comprehensively comment on Zhou Li. Later, with the expansion of private school, he constantly enriched his theoretical system while sorting out and teaching poems, books, rituals, music and other classics, and finally became an "old man" of Lu and a pioneer of Confucianism with the achievements of a inheritor, disseminator and master of classical Wang Guan culture.
Confucius' academic focus is etiquette, which is generally in the form of "talking about the past", but the basic spirit is "reform". He emphasized that "Yin comes from" and "Zhou comes from", and the three generations of etiquette systems are interrelated, so "those who follow Zhou" (the Analects of Confucius is the government) will still change. This view can be said to be a great invention of ancient etiquette, and it is also his program to preach "Li Yin" as "Zhou Li". He also said, "I can say Li Xia, but I don't need it." Yin can talk, but Song can't. "("Bashu ") This is equivalent to acknowledging that the ritual systems of various countries have their own inheritance systems. Therefore, the "Zhou Li" advertised by Confucius is actually an ideal ritual form that he thinks is reasonably applicable to the Spring and Autumn Period, and it is by no means the prototype of the ritual system in The Duke of Zhou. Otherwise, he would not be called a "saint"
The Cultural Background of Tang Poetry Prosperity
The Tang Dynasty is a well-known paradise for poetry. The so-called "Yuan Qu of Tang Poetry and Song Poetry" ascribes poetry to the Tang Dynasty, which also shows the position and monopoly of the Tang Dynasty in the history of poetry. There are different opinions about the reasons for the prosperity of Tang poetry since ancient times. To sum up, the economy, politics, culture, history and other aspects of the Tang Dynasty are extremely suitable for the development of poetry, thus making it reach an unprecedented peak in the Tang Dynasty.
The developed economy in Tang Dynasty laid a solid material foundation for the prosperity of Tang poetry. Historically, China in the Tang Dynasty was a big country in China, and the Tang Dynasty was a peak of the development of feudal society. Such a prosperous economy provides the necessary conditions for such things as art. Simply put, if people still don't have enough to eat and their brains can move at any time, I'm afraid it's not a good time to express poetry. However, in the Tang dynasty, the country was rich and strong, and there was Taizong Zhenguan before it. Later, Du Shiyun of Xuanzong Kaiyuan said: "The rice is fat and white, and the public and private granaries are rich." In ancient times, society almost reached the point of great harmony. In such an era of peace and prosperity, poetry has found fertile ground for vigorous development.
The loose political policy implemented in the Tang Dynasty also played a very important role in the prosperity of poetry. A series of policies and measures implemented by the rulers, such as the coexistence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, opening up the way and selecting scholars by poetry and fu, are another social reason for the prosperity of Tang poetry.
First of all, the Tang Dynasty, as the royal family that ruled this dynasty, was the leader of the Tang Dynasty and had an unprecedented mind and vision. More importantly, the Tang Dynasty was an unprecedented ethnic integration in the history of China. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, was also of foreign origin, so the ethnic policy of the Tang Dynasty was unprecedentedly enlightened. "It is precisely because of this political background that the Li Dynasty was able to face foreign civilizations with unprecedented self-confidence, which is hard to achieve. The national policy pursued by Datang is "China is safe, and the outside world is four-self", and foreigners are treated equally. Many foreign cultures have been integrated into China culture, showing China's great power. The self-confidence of the Tang Dynasty gave the poet the mentality of "reaching the peak, the other mountains all appear dwarfs under the sky.". ",the national culture is prosperous.
Secondly, the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to poetry. Yan Yu's Cang Lang Shi Hua said: "Or ask:' Why does Tang poetry win over our court?' The Tang Dynasty learned from poetry, so there was a lot of specialized knowledge, so my poetry was not as good as mine. Although it is not comprehensive, it is also one of the reasons that cannot be ignored. In the fourth year, Gaozu Wude took the senior high school entrance examination. In the first game, he took an examination of poetry and prose, and each poem required 12 sentences. Emperor Taizong opened the [Literature Pavilion] and the "Hong Wen Pavilion" to recruit writers. As the saying goes, "the top is better, and the bottom is more effective", "The courage of the king is lighter than that of the people." King Chu Ling has a thin waist, but there are many hungry people in the country. "The rulers of the Tang Dynasty even went to North Korea. More than 48,900 poems were recorded in The Complete Poems of Tang Dynasty compiled during the Kangxi period, among which Li Shimin's Ten Poems of Imperial Capital ranked first. Later Gaozong, Zetian, Zhongzong, Zong Rui and Xuanzong master Li Longji all attached great importance to this point. Not only that, there are not a few harem beauties and princesses who can write poems among royal family members, and their leading and promoting role can not be ignored.
Moreover, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty paid more attention to poetry and poets, and rarely publicized literary ci prisons, grandstanding. Emperor Taizong had hoped to send him to be buried, Emperor Xuanzong had sent He to Siming, and Emperor Xuanzong had hanged Bai Juyi. Even poets who have committed capital crimes have compiled and published them for them to show immortality. Such tolerance is rare in all previous dynasties. Poems chanting epic poems and allegorical poems in Tang Dynasty are straightforward and sharp. Compared with Su Dongpo, who was demoted in the previous generation, or the massacre in the Qing Dynasty, the poets in the Tang Dynasty were very lucky. Their king was not particularly neurotic or overly suspicious, otherwise, with the writing at that time, he would be beheaded in nine cases out of ten.
The third point is culture, which is also one of the indispensable conditions for the prosperity of Tang poetry. Here, culture refers to the cultural background. First, from the secrets of the Tang Dynasty to the court to the scenes of life, nothing can be written into poetry. The content is one hundred times richer than that of the previous generation, the meter is more mature and complete, realism and romanticism coexist, and two poetic styles, ancient and modern, are born. Rich cultural background, another point in the cultural background is that the poets in the Tang Dynasty are not limited to princes and princes, and the authors of the whole Tang poetry compiled in the Qing Dynasty are not only literati and emperors and princes, but also "ordinary people, peddlers, pawns, monks and nuns, pedophiles, fishermen and even beggars". In this cultural atmosphere, the vigorous development of Tang poetry is completely understandable and an inevitable trend.
The last reason is that the relatively poor historical accumulation has laid a good foundation for the dominance of Tang poetry. Before the Tang Dynasty, although there was the song of The Book of Songs, it was in the style of Chen Gongliang, but there was no peak to look up to. You can draw with a blank sheet of paper, do what you want, and naturally feel free to write freely. This makes future generations look like Mount Tai in sight, covering the sky, keeping an eye on everything, and sometimes feeling sad. Mr. Lu Xun once said
To sum up, there are reasons for the prosperity of Tang poetry. No matter from the economic, political, cultural, historical and other aspects, the Tang Dynasty was more qualified than the European Renaissance, which provided an unprecedented excellent environment for poetry creation and made Tang poetry shine like a bright pearl in the cultural history of China.
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