There are many similarities between the dynasties with great martial arts in Chinese history and the establishment of the Republic today.
There are two particularly important geographical connections, one is Shaanxi and the other is Northeast China, why?
Because in China, Shaanxi has the Central Plains, and the Northeast has the world.
You see Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, although he was a native of Jiangsu, the most important reason why he was able to defeat Xiang Yu and win the world was because he mastered the Guanzhong Plain.
Most of the people in the Guanlong military group that founded the Sui and Tang dynasties had Xianbei blood, and the Xianbei originated in the Great Khing'an Mountains and belonged to the ethnic minorities in the northeast, which was the key to their strong military capabilities.
The Sui and Tang dynasties were able to dominate the world later, also because they occupied Shaanxi.
As for the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus were even more authentic Northeasterners, they carved out the most vast territory for China, and although it was a little weaker later, it was definitely heroic in the early days.
And the process of establishing our republic today has an amazing coincidence with the previous dynasties, which is also based in Shaanxi, and the armed forces rely on the northeast.
Although the Red Army rose in Jiangxi, it did not seem to be the land of Longxing, so the Red Army failed to resist five encirclements and suppressions and was forced to march long.
** led the Red Army, all the way to Yan'an, still did not get rid of the danger of being surrounded by the Kuomintang, and the failure of the Western Expeditionary Army made the Red Army even more precarious.
Who knew that at this time, the Xi'an Incident occurred, which allowed the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, which gave the Communist Party a chance to breathe and take root in Yan'an, so that it could successfully spread out and develop in the subsequent War of Resistance against Japan.
If you ask Mr. Feng Shui to explain this, he will tell you that it is because Shaanxi is the leader of China's geography, and whoever occupies the leader will naturally have an unexpected joy and good luck.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, ** sent his first fierce general ** to fight for the Northeast, although it was once pressed by the Kuomintang to the corners of the Northeast, but it was here that ** invented the famous six tactical principles, and reorganized the troops with the three-three system, so that the PLA was far ahead at the tactical level.
Relying on this reborn iron army, he won the Liaoshen Campaign, and then led a million heroes to enter the customs in a mighty way, laying the foundation for the victory of the Liberation War.
If you also let Mr. Feng Shui explain this matter, he will tell you that the Northeast is the dragon's tail in China, where the power lies, the dragon's tail is swept away, and the world is self-determined.
Although we don't have to be serious about these metaphysics, the Han and Tang dynasties, as the most glorious era in Chinese history, and their birth and the establishment of today's republic, have some kind of mysterious coincidence, which inevitably makes people have infinite reverie.
What's even more surprising is that these two dynasties, both of which were Confucianism, suddenly reborn when they were about to be marginalized.
If it is said that Confucianism in the Han Dynasty relied on Dong Zhongshu's innovation of traditional theories to return to orthodoxy
Then the Tang Dynasty was reborn because Confucianism went to internationalization.
As we mentioned earlier, Confucianism in the Eastern Han Dynasty became more and more deviated, not only becoming a political tool of the family, but also theoretically moving closer to theology, trying to combine with the witchcraft of the Wei Doctrine to make up for its own shortcomings.
However, this effort was impacted by the new foreign ideas introduced to the Central Plains, Buddhism.
In particular, the exquisite ideological system of Buddhism made it more and more difficult to stand on its logical ground, and it was gradually abandoned by the upper elite.
Since more than 300 AD, the earth has gradually entered the Xiaoice period, climate change has caused food production reduction, disasters and famines, and the northern nomads have also begun to invade the south.
It was at this time that human beings invented metal stirrups and high-bridge saddles, and the heavy armored cavalry appeared on the battlefield for the first time, which made the nomads militarily form an overwhelming advantage over the farming peoples, and the Western Jin Dynasty and Western Rome were successively defeated by ethnic minorities.
Subsequently, both Europe and Asia entered a long era of war and chaos, with a sharp decline in population and a plunge of civilization.
In this process, Europe completely lost itself, was ruled by a foreign ** religious civilization, and entered the long Middle Ages.
The democratic republican politics of ancient Rome has since withdrawn from the stage of history, and it was not until more than a thousand years later, when the Americans revised the American Constitution in Philadelphia, the distant New World, that the spirit of ancient Rome was reborn.
Confucianism also disappeared for nearly 300 years, but the Chinese civilization was not conquered by foreign Buddhism, but was reborn and became more powerful in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Why is there such a big difference between East and West?
In fact, whether it was the barbarian invasion of Rome or the chaos of China, the regimes established by these minorities faced a huge challenge, that is, how to gain legitimacy.
The Franks in Western Europe chose to convert to religion in all their respects and go to God to find legitimacy; In fact, the Hu people who entered China in the early days also did not choose Confucianism, but wanted the Buddha to enter China, so why did they do this?
Because the previous Confucianism was still a purely nationalist concept, it emphasized the distinction between Huayi and Yi, and relied on identity to achieve cohesion.
The Hu people were obviously not within the scope of this identity, so the Later Zhao established by the Qiang people, its third heavenly king, Shi Hu, clearly declared: "I am a Hu people, so I must choose Hu religion, so Buddhism should be the state religion." ”
Other countries established by ethnic minorities were generally based on this idea, which led to the great spread of Buddhism during this period, and even the dynasties established by the Han people in the south were also affected by this, and began to worship Buddhism more and more, becoming more and more alienated from Confucianism.
Emperor Wu of Liang, the founding emperor of the Southern Dynasty, went the most excessively, not only regarded Buddhism as the state religion, but even became a monk several times.
If history continues to develop in this way, then we will probably become the same as the countries of Southeast Asia today, founded on Buddhism, the only difference may be the distinction between Mahayana and Hinayana and Chinese civilization will not be able to continue to this day.
But in the crisis, there is often a turning point, because whether it is Buddhism or ** religion, what is more important is a kind of spiritual sustenance of human beings, rather than an arrangement of a political system.
So far, there are only two kinds of political systems that human beings have invented on their own initiative, one is the democratic republic of ancient Rome, and the other is Confucianism.
Therefore, after the Europeans embraced the ** religion, European politics returned to a natural order, the theocratic blessing of the feudal system, which was essentially an advanced version of the tribal alliance.
And the Hu regime that entered the Central Plains was also composed of some large and small tribal alliances, so if they did not adopt Confucianism, they would also choose this theocratic sub-feudal system, but why didn't it work in China?
This is because of China's unique geographical conditions.
In China, in the north-south direction, from the northern grassland into the Central Plains, except for the man-made Great Wall, there is almost no natural barrier, in the east-west direction, except for Shaanxi and Sichuan, the entire Central Plains, only the Taihang Mountains, can barely be called natural hazards, but it has many gaps, can not completely separate the east and west.
The rest of the Central Plains is basically a flat river, and there is no danger to defend at all.
And even the Yangtze River is not an absolute natural risk, as long as it occupies Sichuan and goes down the river, the entire Yangtze River will not be able to hold it.
Therefore, if you want to adopt the feudal system in China, there will be two serious consequences, the first is that you cannot form a stable political situation, if you are strong, you can easily eliminate the feudal princes, and if the feudal princes are strong, it is easy to defeat.
The sub-feudal system will lead to non-stop infighting in China.
The second is that as soon as any nomadic people enter the Central Plains, they will naturally turn into a more advanced agricultural civilization, and their military force will decline.
Therefore, before the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty, other minority regimes were very short-lived, and the rotation was like a marquee, which is the reason.
Such geographical conditions determine that in order for any political regime to develop steadily in the Central Plains, it must achieve reunification.
The Confucian intellectuals who remained in the north gradually realized this in the process of the Five Hu Chaos, and they began to try to combine the legitimacy of Confucianism with who could unify the Central Plains.
The Xianbei rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty also happened to think of this layer, if they want to end the troubled times and maintain peace and stability for a long time, under the unique geographical conditions of China, only Confucian politics is the only way out.
So the two sides hit it off, which gave birth to the reform of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In 493 AD, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang under the pretext of the southern expedition, and then began the top-down Sinicization reform, forcing the original Xianbei people to abandon the customs of the Hu people, change their Han surnames, wear Hanfu, speak Chinese, respect Confucius, and fully implement Confucian politics.
But from the very beginning, this reform has buried hidden dangers, because in essence, it still emphasizes the distinction between Huayi, which makes it emotionally difficult for Xianbei people to accept, and it has not handled the relationship between ** and the locality, especially the treatment of soldiers in border towns, which ultimately led to the failure of the reform.
Soon after the death of Emperor Xiaowen, the soldiers of the border town of the Northern Wei Dynasty launched a rebellion, and the Northern Wei Dynasty perished, becoming the Western Wei established by Yuwentai and the Eastern Wei established by Gao Huan.
The Eastern Wei Dynasty, which occupied the Central Plains, chose to completely Hu and completely abandoned Confucian politics in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The Western Wei Dynasty, which retreated to Shaanxi, also chose Huhua in order to appease the emotions of the Xianbei people, and Confucianism seemed to be abandoned by everyone again.
Although both sides adopted a backward political strategy, Yuwentai was more far-sighted than Gao Huan, and he knew that under the unique geographical conditions of China, the only way out for his regime was to continue to promote Confucian politics and achieve unification.
So he had to go down the road of Emperor Xiaowen, but he couldn't be as reckless as Emperor Xiaowen, so he decided to play a political trick, repair the plank road in the open, and Chen Cang in the dark.
He first pursued a policy that seemed more conservative than that of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, stipulating that not only the Xianbei people should restore the names of the Hu people, but also the Han and other ethnic minorities were not allowed to use Han surnames, and they had to take the names of the Xianbei people.
This seemingly reactionary move has had two miraculous effects:
On the one hand, the Xianbei people who were forced to sinicize before regained their sense of pride, united the original soldiers of the six towns, and produced a strong cohesion.
On the other hand, after the Han people and other ethnic minorities were forcibly humiliated, there were actually no ethnic differences, and in fact there was a reverse assimilation process similar to the policy of Emperor Xiaowen.
Now that everyone is a Xianbei person, Yuwentai can confidently and boldly promote the Confucian reform.
With the help of Confucian intellectuals Su Xuan and Lu Wei, Yuwentai promulgated the "Six Edicts", stipulating that all the country's leaders must demand themselves in accordance with Confucian moral standards, and carried out a comprehensive reorganization in accordance with Confucian political norms.
Yuwentai ostensibly waved the banner of Huhua, but in fact, he completely transformed the Western Wei Dynasty into a Sinicized Confucian regime, which made the Western Wei, which was far weaker than the Eastern Wei, gradually gain the upper hand in the competition.
And in this process, Confucianism has also completed a thorough self-transformation, its Huayi is no longer based on race as the standard, but based on faith, no matter what nationality you are, as long as you believe in Confucianism and pursue unity, then you are orthodox and have legitimacy.
Therefore, the pursuit of great unification has been engraved into the bones of our civilization since then.
This laid the foundation for the later great integration and unification of the Chinese nation, and the regimes established by the Khitans and Jurchens, as well as the later Qing Dynasty, were able to choose Confucianism as the basic program of governing the country, and it was because of this logic.
After the death of Yuwentai, Yuwenjue succeeded to the throne, and while inheriting the title of Tianwang of the ethnic minorities, in order to emphasize his Confucian beliefs, he also called himself the Duke of Zhou, and at the same time changed the name of the country to Zhou.
The Northern Zhou Dynasty was later usurped by Pu Liurujian, and this Puliurujian is what we know well, the famous Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian.
Pu Liuru is his Xianbei surname, his Han surname is Yang, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is a famous Yang Xiu, between him and Cao Cao, there was a famous chicken rib story, this Yang Xiu and the later Yang Jian, there is a little kinship.
Since the Northern Zhou Dynasty has always firmly followed the Confucian line, after decades of indoctrination, all the Xianbei people have been de facto sinicized, so Yang Jian abolished Yuwentai's Hu surname policy, and all people can freely choose the Han surname.
The Xianbei people of the Western Wei Dynasty, because they firmly followed the Confucian politics pioneered by Emperor Xiaowen and completed the change of Confucianism from nationalism to internationalism, were naturally invincible in the world, and finally unified China, so that Chinese civilization entered the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty after that, and Confucianism also ushered in another glorious period.
The upper class of the Tang Dynasty absorbed the elites of various races in the world that could communicate at that time, Li Shimin only had 1 4 Han blood, Gao Xianzhi was a Korean today, Ge Shuhan was a Turkic, An Lushan was a Sogdian, Li Cunqiao of the Tang Dynasty was established, and even a Shatuo person.
Even the well-known poet immortal Li Bai, he was born in today's Kyrgyzstan, probably after the famous Han Dynasty general Li Ling, so his maternal ancestor must have been a Huns, and his biological mother was also likely to be a Hu person.
Confucianism in the Tang Dynasty had an open mind and an international vision, which is exactly what China needs today, and Confucianism has made the Tang Dynasty strong in the past, and it can also enable China to overcome various challenges today.
The greatest progress of Confucianism in the Sui and Tang dynasties was the internationalization of Confucianism and the invention of the imperial examination system, which transformed Confucianism from a small circle of families to universalization and a value orientation for the whole people, and the Tang Dynasty eventually became a beacon in the East Asian world.
Many intellectuals today often admire Western ideas when they talk about them, but when they talk about Eastern thoughts, they will be ashamed of themselves, which is actually a deviation in understanding.
Because the Confucianism we understand today is actually the product of the Song and Ming Dynasty theories, not the right way of Confucianism, the fundamental principle of Confucianism is actually very simple, that is, to turn the world into a big family, so that all people can become relatives, and to manage the whole society, the whole world, and even the whole human race in the way of managing a family.
Under this principle, all of us should love each other, help each other, and be like a kind parent, to care for each person and help them grow.
Although we are far from doing this today, the idea is absolutely true, and it is actually a common human emotion, which is perfectly acceptable to the whole world.
This is why in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the revival of Confucianism was not led by the Han people in the south, but by the ethnic minorities in the north.
Therefore, Confucianism is not only Chinese, it is also global, and it is still a universal value of mankind.
Because its core concept has not changed, that is, to build a world family and a community with a shared future for mankind, which is a universal human ideal.
Old Confucianism was derived from the family ethics of the old era, so many of its ideas naturally seem incompatible with today.
But this does not mean that there is a problem with Confucianism itself, the origin of Confucianism is to imitate the most perfect family sample of that era, as a moral foundation, and then promote it to the whole society.
In a modern family, the relationship between parents and children has long been not unilateral constraints, but mutual respect and mutual understanding. It is necessary to stress not only freedom, but also democracy, and more importantly, centralization.
Therefore, as long as it is guided by the ethics of the modern family, Neo-Confucianism can be a different face, whether it is Marxist thought or Western democratic and liberal ideas, it can be inclusive.
Because Confucianism was originally an open system, this is why after its decline in the late Han Dynasty, it only took a short period of more than 400 years of self-renewal to be reborn in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
In this respect, Confucianism is more viable and universal than Western civilization.
Because the democratic republican system of ancient Rome was exclusive, it required specific conditions to operate, so it was not until more than a thousand years later, when the Great Voyage connected the world and Europe broke out that the Industrial Revolution broke out, and it was able to regain in the United States.
As for the reason, I have repeatedly explained it in the previous articles, so I will not repeat it here.
Therefore, although Confucianism seems to have declined and seemed to be marginalized in the last hundred years or so, judging from historical experience, as long as it completes this self-evolution, it will certainly be able to adapt to the development of mankind again and return to the center of the world political stage.
So Confucianism reached such a height more than a thousand years ago, why did it still go wrong later?