Ancient China has experienced several cultural catastrophes, each of which has deeply damaged the foundation of Chinese civilization. Among them, perhaps the most talked about is the "book burning and Confucianism" incident during the Qin Shi Huang period. In the thirty-fourth year of Qin Shi Huang's unification of the world, he approved Prime Minister Li Si's "Book Order" to burn all books that were not Qin Ji, and at the same time brutally punished those who privately collected poetry and books. Under the decree, the law of punishment was extremely strict, not only the punishment of "abandoning the city", that is, the death of the public and the abandonment of the body in the city, but also the "clan punishment" or "clan punishment", that is, if one person violates the criminal law, the entire family will also be punished. According to historical records, under this kind of decree, "in the twenty years of Duke Wen, there was a crime of the three clans at the beginning of the law", and then the "punishment of the three clans" was implemented, putting the entire family in a desperate situation.
After the "Book Raid Order", a new order was issued the following year, and the imperial history censored the intellectuals, "since the more than 460 people who violated the ban were all in Xianyang", and buried the forbidden people alive outside Xianyang City. This cultural catastrophe not only led to the loss of classics, but also caused an unprecedented blow to China's outstanding learning and talents. However, despite the draconian laws and regulations, some scholars risked their lives to keep books in secret or pass them on privately.
At the turn of the Qin and Han dynasties, a political upheaval led to a cultural revival. At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, after Wang Mang's reform failed, he recollected classics and opened the road of book dedication. At this time, the study of Shangshu re-emerged. A Confucian named Ouyang Sheng inherited the knowledge of his ancestors and became the mainstay of the inheritance of classics. In the early Han Dynasty, the emperor pursued talents, and Ni Kuan and others achieved a prominent position in learning. Ouyang Sheng's academic inheritance was inherited to Ouyang She, who became one of the representatives of erudition at that time.
However, Ouyang She's ** crime made his life gloomy. After the case, he was imprisoned for questioning, and finally became discredited because of more than 10,000. Ouyang She's ** Lizhen was grateful for his teacher's kindness, and he took the initiative to intercede on behalf of **, but in the end he failed to save Ouyang She's fate. This story reflects the twists and turns of the times, and Ouyang She's life's efforts and glory have become eclipsed under the clouds.
After all, the inheritance and ups and downs of culture are like the tides of history, with ups and downs.