One: Peasant uprising
In the textbooks, the first large-scale peasant uprising in Chinese history took place at the end of the Qin Dynasty, and the leaders of the peasant rebel army, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, shouted the slogan "The prince will have a kind of Xiangning".
After that, at the end of every dynasty, there was a large-scale peasant uprising. For example: the Lulin Red Mei Uprising at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Uprising at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wagangzhai Uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Huangchao Uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Red Turban Army Uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Li Zicheng Uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the Taiping Army Uprising at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
In the last years of the Great Unification Dynasty, in addition to these large-scale peasant rebel armies, there were countless other small-scale peasant rebel armies.
In contrast, the Three Kingdoms, the Two Jin Dynasties, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms of the Liao, Song, Xia, and Jin dynasties, there was no large-scale peasant uprising in this era of great and partial unification.
Of course, there were many small-scale peasant uprisings. For example: Wang Xiaobo's uprising and Fangla's uprising in the late Northern Song Dynasty. In the more than 300 years of history of the Two Song Dynasty, there have been more than 400 small-scale peasant uprisings like this.
Every time the peasants revolted, the people were struggling to make a living, the corpses were mountains and the sea of blood was sea, ten rooms and nine were empty, and the population was sharply reduced. From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the seven great unified dynasties, there were many separatist dynasties in the period of great ** and partial unification.
These dynasties have learned the lessons of history time and time again, so why can't they avoid large-scale peasant uprisings? Except for China, why haven't there been large-scale peasant uprisings in the history of other civilized countries in the world?
Two: the spearhead is pointed
Generally speaking, when encountering such problems, the African continent, the American continent, and even Southeast Asia, the Indian world, and the Islamic world will be omitted from the discussion on the Internet, and the object of discussion will always be locked in Europe and East Asia.
Then, it basically revolves around land annexation, man-land contradictions, and centralization.
On the one hand, from the perspective of topography, the northern territory of China is the desert steppe, the western territory is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the southern territory is the lofty mountains, and the eastern territory is the waves of the East China Sea.
This kind of terrain firmly encircles the core area of agriculture in the Central Plains, and cannot open up a larger agricultural territory. Then, with the need for labor in agriculture and the growing population, the contradiction between man and land naturally occurred.
There will also be population growth in the upper strata of society, and the landlords' families will continue to grow, and more arable land will be needed to feed them. The number of royal nobles grew even faster, and land annexation also appeared. There was less land to pay taxes, taxes became heavier, the dynasty went downhill, and a massive peasant revolt broke out.
On the other hand, from the perspective of the direction of the great rivers, the flow direction of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River is consistent with the topography of the west and the east low, which makes China have the largest two river basins in the world.
Most of the great rivers of other civilized worlds run north-south. The benefit of the east-west direction of the great river is that it is juxtaposed with the geographical dimension, that is, the temperature is the same along the entire river, which can bring more arable land.
The large rivers that run north-south either have too hot climate and many pests and diseases as the dimension increases, or the climate is too cold and the land has been frozen for a long time, making it difficult to reclaim them.
Only the great rivers that run from east to west can bring more arable land and more agricultural output, which provides the economic foundation for China to maintain a unified imperial dynasty and a huge empire for a long time.
What's more, the east-west rivers meant that the river transportation was convenient, and the ** regime could use it to transport supplies and troops, and it could control the vast empire at a lower cost.
Lu Kewen, a popular blogger on the Internet, posted two articles on "The Blood of the Chinese" and "Why Only Chinese History, There Are Large-scale Peasant Uprisings", discussing the importance of the great river moving towards maintaining a unified imperial dynasty.
Therefore, in Europe, Japan and other civilized countries, under the situation of underground social productive forces in ancient times, it is difficult for the political power to dominate a huge territory, and it can only engage in the feudal system.
The feudal system, known as the mining system in Europe and the reichi system in Japan, is a feudal system that prevailed in the Xia, Shang and Third dynasties in China.
In ancient China, the peasants were yeoman farmers, while in Europe and Japan, their peasants were serfs in the manor.
The yeoman peasants had certain property rights, a high level of education, an economic foundation, and ideological consciousness to launch peasant uprisings. Serfs had no property rights, naturally did not have the economic conditions to study, the level of education was very low, and the serf uprising was only for tax reduction.
Under the centralized political system, it was the emperor who taxed the peasants in ancient China, and the national tax on the imperial grain. Under the feudal system, in Europe and Japan, it was the lord of the manor who taxed the serfs. The lord of the manor then paid taxes to the lord, who in turn paid taxes to the supreme ruler of the country.
Therefore, if the peasants want to rebel against high taxes, the object of the rebellion is the emperor, and naturally a large-scale peasant revolt will break out. The serfs in Europe and Japan rebelled only against the lord of the manor or the lord, not against the supreme ruler. Such an uprising of serfs could only be local, small-scale.
Three: population size
It would be too one-sided to attribute the existence of large-scale peasant uprisings only to the fundamental cause of Chinese history, to the geographical predicament, or to the centralization of power.
This brings us to a core question: what is "big", what is "peasantry", and what kind of "big" is called a large-scale peasant uprising?
During the period of Emperor Wu of Han, the Chinese population was about 63 million, and the world population was about 170 million, accounting for more than 37%.
During the Tang Xuanzong period, the Chinese population was about 80 million, and the world population was about 220 million, accounting for about 36%.
During the period of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Chinese population was 120 million, and the world's population was 240 million, accounting for about 50% of the population.
During the period of Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty, the population of the Southern Song Dynasty was 80 million, the population of the Jin Kingdom was 60 million, the Chinese population was about 140 million, and the world population was about 360 million, accounting for more than 40%.
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese population was about 200 million, and the world population was about 560 million, accounting for about 35%.
During the Qing Dynasty, the proportion of population fluctuated the most, in 1800, the Chinese population was 320 million, and the world population was about one billion, accounting for about 32%; In 1900, the Chinese population was about 450 million, and the world's population was about 1.8 billion, accounting for about 25%.
At present, the Chinese population is about 1.4 billion, and the world population is about 7.3 billion, accounting for about 18%.
Through this data, it can be seen that in the long history, compared with the whole world, the proportion of Chinese has always been very high. That's what "big" is.
On the one hand, China's unique geographical pattern, the place where Chinese civilization originated, that is, the Central Plains, has a very low cost of survival, and can feed the largest number of people with the least arable land and the least materials. As a result, China has maintained a large population size from ancient times to the present day.
On the other hand, China's unique geographical pattern, with the Yangtze River and the Yellow River running through the country, has given birth to the world's largest alluvial plain of the two river basins. Able to obtain the maximum agricultural output with the least amount of arable land, the agricultural economy is large, and has the economic basis to maintain a large unified empire.
Four: people-oriented thinking
The geographical advantages of obtaining the most agricultural output with the least amount of arable land and feeding the largest number of people with the least amount of materials have made Chinese culture, from ancient times to the present, not produce all systems and ideas for the purpose of exploitation and exploitation.
Chinese culture will only give birth to a system and ideology that is people-oriented and benevolent. With a large population and abundant manpower, there is no need to squeeze exploitative systems and ideas at all.
If there is not enough manpower, it is enough to encourage as many children as possible, and there is no need to engage in exploitation at all. Because of the low cost of subsistence and the low material needs to feed the population, all dynasties have encouraged more children to obtain labor.
To this end, a people-oriented ideology and social system for the protection of the population have also been developed. For example, in all dynasties, whether it was the Jingtian system in the Xia and Shang dynasties, or the private ownership of land in the Qin and Han dynasties, or the Juntian system in the Sui and Tang dynasties, no matter what the field system was, from the state to the clan, a piece of public cultivated land would be set aside.
This arable land is either used to maintain the power or to finance the school. Each dynasty has its own characteristics. Generally speaking, after a person loses his life**, he can rely on his clan to survive until he is able to support himself.
Of course, it cannot be said that society as a whole is free of exploitation and oppression. It's just that this kind of shady thing cannot become the mainstream of thought.
Everything is for the people, and such thinking is naturally good. However, the core of social development and progress is not whether a certain person or group of people live well or not, but the efficiency of social production.
In ancient China, in addition to the fertile and rich alluvial plains of the Central Plains, there were also the cold Songliao Plain, the vast Mobei grassland, and the hills and mountains in the south. In order to exploit these lands, a group of people must be forced to migrate and exploit through a system of slavery that oppresses and exploits.
However, this situation, for ancient China, simply could not have happened. If anyone has such thoughts or behaviors, no matter who they are, they will definitely be labeled as **, inhumane, brutal, etc., even if this person is the emperor.
Therefore, ancient China has formed the cultural characteristics of returning to the roots and relocating to the land. There is no other reason, that is, the Central Plains region is too rich, and no one will think of going to the cold northeast and grasslands, and no one will think of going to Lingnan, where miasma is rampant.
The Jiangnan region was not developed until the Southern Song Dynasty. The Northeast region was only developed in the late Qing Dynasty. The Lingnan region, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau region, was not developed until after the establishment of New China.
On the one hand, there is the North China Plain, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain, the Guanzhong Plain, the Hanzhong Plain, and the Chengdu Plain.
On the other hand, the North China Plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are deeply affected by the monsoon climate, and water conservancy facilities need to be built to combat floods, droughts and locust plagues caused by the monsoon climate.
Building water conservancy and fighting natural disasters requires a lot of manpower. Therefore, successive dynasties were also reluctant to migrate their populations. Even in the event of a natural disaster, successive dynasties still provide relief while issuing labor and repairing water conservancy.
The influence of these two aspects has made the Chinese population huge, and it is mainly concentrated in the Central Plains, resulting in the explosive growth of people in the Central Plains, leading to sharp contradictions between people and land.
If there is a disaster, it is the court that has no way. The disaster was accompanied by a large-scale peasant uprising. In order to build water conservancy and resist disasters, the imperial court needed a large number of people, and anyone who did not obey the order would be brutally suppressed.
The repression is for the people, and the resistance is also for the people, and they all feel that they are fighting for the righteousness. Life, also what I want, righteousness, also what I want, the two can not be both, sacrifice life and take righteousness.
The land is rich and the agricultural output is high. The climate is suitable, and there are few personal needs for survival. The monsoon influences, and the need to fight natural disasters is strong. Only when these conditions are taken together can we produce the idea of people-oriented thinking and the idea of sacrificing one's life for righteousness.
In other civilized areas, there will always be one or two conditions lacking, so such cultural ideas cannot be produced. The people-oriented ideology and the idea of righteousness mean that the peasants of ancient China were real peasants and had the right to enjoy the rights to education, property and other rights.
Five: Root causes
Geography, the direction of the rivers, the size of the population, cultural ideas, all these are the main reasons that led to the large-scale peasant uprising.
The fundamental reason is a combination of these reasons: the evolution of the times and the historical progress of Chinese civilization can only be promoted by changing dynasties.
The only way to replace a large unified dynasty with a large territory and a large population is for all the people to unite, either in revolt or in revolution. The Shang Dynasty destroyed the Xia, known as the Chengtang Revolution. The Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty and was known as the Wuwang Revolution.
When the Qin Dynasty destroyed the Zhou, it was also to end hundreds of years of war and occupy the righteousness. Overthrow the Qin Dynasty, the same is true, Chen Sheng's uprising in addition to the cry of "princes and generals, rather have a kind of", there is also the slogan of "cut down no way, punish the tyrannical Qin".
What is the Tao? A virtuous monarch, the people live and work in peace and contentment. A monarch without a way, the people are not happy, and they are mourning all over the country. People who have watched the TV series "Awakening Age" have to cry for Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao's oath by the river.
Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, seeing the displacement of thousands of disaster victims on the banks of the Haihe River, wept and vowed: In order to let you no longer be displaced, for the Chinese people to live a prosperous and happy life, in order to let the poor no longer be bullied, everyone can be the master of the house, for everyone to be educated, to teach the young, to rely on the old, for the Chinese people to be rich and strong, for the rejuvenation of the nation, I am willing to fight for the rest of my life!
The people are rich and the country is strong, the people live and work in peace and contentment, the few are educated, the old are dependent, and the lonely, widowed, and sick are all supported. This is the ultimate pursuit of all dynasties since the Yellow Emperor created the Chinese civilization. Such a pursuit will not change with the changes of history.
In history, in order to fight against natural disasters and eliminate wars, we need a strong unified government, and we need a centralized government to eliminate all differences and twist the entire nation into a rope, so as to obtain the most powerful power to defeat natural disasters and wars, and let the people live and work in peace and contentment.
Six: Summary
The productive forces determine the relations of production, and the economic base determines the superstructure. When the social productive forces develop, the production relations and superstructure established in the past will hinder the development of the social productive forces. This requires the superstructure to be torn down and rebuilt.
In the face of a powerful unified dynastic regime, if it is to be overthrown and rebuilt, it will need a large-scale peasant uprising, and it will need an armed revolution from below.
In other civilized countries, there is no great unified dynasty and no real peasantry, so naturally there will be no large-scale peasant uprising, nor will there be armed revolution from below.
Looking at the history of other civilizations, we can see that when these countries weakened, the ancient Roman Empire, the Arab Empire, and even the modern Soviet Union, when these countries weakened, they first faced the disintegration, followed by uprisings and revolutions.
The country has collapsed, and what about the large-scale uprisings and revolutions that have come? It is only possible to produce a war for hegemony between various ** entities. In order to win the war, these leaders will carry out reforms from the top down, so as to improve the national strength.
Those countries with small territories, once weakened, face not internal uprisings and revolutions, but invasions and annexations from neighboring countries.
In fact, in our Chinese history, there are also three kingdoms, two Jin dynasties, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the five dynasties and ten kingdoms, the Liao, Song, Xia and Jin, such a big ** period. The characteristics of social development in the Great ** period are similar to those of other civilized countries.
However, the richness of the Central Plains and the explosive growth of the population will wipe out the separatist ideas of various ethnic groups and regions produced during the Great Period. After any separatist regime enters the Central Plains, it will gain these two forces in the Central Plains and transform it into a unified regime to flatten the separatist territory.
Before the Southern Song Dynasty, the great unification of various dynasties was either centered on Chang'an or Luoyang, so as to complete the unification. After the Southern Song Dynasty, the great unification of various dynasties was either centered on Beijing or Nanjing, thus completing the great unification.
Chang'an, Luoyang, Beijing, and Nanjing all existed in the core areas of the territory when the Yellow Emperor created the Chinese civilization. If the core of civilization does not change, civilization will always be passed on.
What about other civilizations? Once they experience weakness, they will be annexed, and the nation and the state will die together. The regime that annexed them would not move the capital to the birthplace of civilization in the conquered regions. In the new civilized country, the core has changed, and the civilization has also changed. Countless civilized nations have perished in this situation.
Therefore, for ancient China, there was a great unified dynasty first, then there was the continuation of a great unified civilization, and finally there was a large-scale peasant uprising. A large-scale peasant uprising is the only option to rebuild the superstructure of a unified civilization and promote the progress of civilization.
This choice can be said to be the price of the great unification of the dynasties, and it can also be said to be the inevitable pain that the great unification civilization will experience when it is reborn, continues to continue, and continues to progress. Only by going through this pain will we be reborn, rise again, and win again.
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