The 2230 anniversary of the unification of Qin Dynasty
The merits and demerits of Qin Shihuang are always an endless topic. Twothousand years ago, he created a “centralized system”, which, for unknown reasons, angered some scholars today, and was once again accused of being a “tyrant” with a new big hat &\8211; The initiator of authoritarian centralism. Of course, some people agree with this view, but others oppose it. Opponents believe that centralization should be affirmed. Because it adapted to the national conditions of China at that time, it was inherited by the previous dynasties and was effective. As for the problem of “tyrants”, it seems to be one-sided. We cannot attack one point and ignore the rest. I will talk about it in brief.
(I)
Qin Shihuang’s first great achievement is “to eliminate the six countries and unify China”. Some people think this is a cliche. Although it is a cliche, it cannot be regarded as echoing others. In fact, there are different opinions. If a historical cyclist looks at this, he will “say that the general trend of the world is to divide and unite for a long time”. Judging Qin Shihuang from this point of view, his achievements must be unclear. But if you ask a historical development observer to look at this, his comments may be very different. He would say: Qinshihuang eliminated an old era and opened a new era. Not only that, but also said: Qinshihuang “abolished feudalism and set up counties”; Continue to expand territory and set a good example for future emperors of “the son of heaven’s strategy, princes are being sealed” (poem · Xiaoya · Beishan).
The so-called “old era” refers to the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties before the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, it is “old” because the systems of all countries in the three generations were very backward, and the territory was never unified. As far as its system is concerned, countries of all sizes at that time evolved from clans and tribes at the end of primitive society, and established their political system based on kinship patriarchy. Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were originally three big countries, and their cultures were relatively developed. The Middle Kingdom is called the Fang kingdom or princes, and the small ones are scattered in the name of clan. Its survival state has been in the process of integration and merger. According to history, in the summer, the princes were known as all kingdoms. There were 3000 kingdoms in the Shang Dynasty, 800 kingdoms in the Zhou Dynasty, and only more than 100 kingdoms in the spring and Autumn period. The spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period are the period of social transformation. There are many wars and a vicious circle. There is even the saying that “there is no righteous war in the spring and Autumn Period”. During the Warring States period, the seven heroes were known as “the country of ten thousand times”. Every time there was a general war, both sides sent hundreds of thousands of troops. “Fight for land and kill people everywhere; fight for city and kill people everywhere.” (Mencius, Li Lou) it’s hard to say how tragic it is. As a result, social chaos is aggravated, the economy is depressed, the strong are scattered in all directions, and the old and weak turn to death. Facts show that this old era has come to an end.
Although the Wei state of Liang Xiang king was quite backward, it was still a big country. He was worried about the long-term war, and asked Mencius for advice. He asked, “is the world evil?” A: “scheduled for one.” Then he asked, “who can be one?” A: “those who don’t like killing can do it all.” (Mencius, Liang Huiwang I) both of them hope for stability in the world, but how to achieve stability in the world, Liang Xiangwang is “belligerent” and Mencius is “anti war”. Their ideas are diametrically opposed; And they are not practical. But at that time, the state of Qin found a more feasible new way for the “old era”, that is, through the “Shang Yang reform”, the old and the new, relying on agriculture to support the war, enriching the country and strengthening the army, gradually annexing the six countries, and taking the road of “domestic unification”. After six generations of operation, Qin Dynasty “destroyed the six kingdoms and unified China” in only ten years (230-221 BC) when King Qin was in power. It ended the centuries old era of chaos and ushered in a new era of world unification.
There are few documents about the territory of the old era. The territory of the Xia Dynasty spanned the north and south sides of the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The Shang Dynasty destroyed the Xia Dynasty, and the territory expanded to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, but there was no clear boundary. After the destruction of Commerce in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was known as “under Pu (PU) heaven, is it the king’s land?”. (poem · Xiaoya · Beishan) according to Zhan Huanbo, a royal doctor in the early spring and Autumn period, “since the summer, Ji, Wei, Tai, Rui, Qi, Bi, my Western soil; and King Wu Ke Shang, Pu Gu, Shang, Yan, my Eastern soil; BA, PU, Chu, Deng, my Southern soil; Su Shen, Yan, Hao, my northern soil.” (Zuo Zhuan, nine years of Zhao Gong) the royal family of Zhou Dynasty is still not unified within this range. The royal family only occupies the areas within bangji, and the rest are feudal states, both in an independent or semi independent state. In the spring and Autumn period, the royal family declined and great powers competed for hegemony; During the Warring States period, the seven heroes fought together, and there was no reunification. Only when Qin Shihuang came, did “Six Kings complete, four seas one”, (Du Mu’s “a Fang Gong Fu”) fundamentally change the original territorial situation. However, this is not all the value of Qinshihuang; But after he had destroyed the six countries, he did not stop moving forward, but ordered Wang Jian, the military commander who destroyed Chu, to continue to march to the southeast. East Vietnam surrendered and divided its territory into Kuaiji prefecture (governing today’s Suzhou, Jiangsu). Fujian and Vietnam surrendered and set up Minzhong prefecture (governing Fuzhou, Fujian today). He also ordered Wei Tu Sui and others to march into the south of the five ridges, and set up three prefectures in the north area of South Vietnam: Nanhai (governing today’s Guangzhou, Guangdong), Guilin (governing today’s Guiping, Guangxi), and Xiang (governing today’s Chongzuo). He also ordered Chang Kai to march to the southwest, opening a five foot Road, starting from today’s Yibin, Sichuan, Nantong, Qujing, Yunnan. In the 32nd year of the first emperor (215 BC), general Meng Tian was ordered to lead 300000 soldiers to the north to drive the Huns, recover Henan (now YIKEZHAO League in Inner Mongolia), and set 34 counties. It also crosses the river in the north, according to Yinshan Mountain, connecting the great wall of Qin, Zhao and Yan in the old times. It starts from Lintao (now Minxian County, Gansu Province) in the West and ends at the Yalu River in the East. It stretches for thousands of miles to prevent the Huns in the north. This is the famous Great Wall. At this time, Qin’s territory “extends to the sea and Korea in the East, Lintao and Qiangzhong in the west, Xianghu in the South (now central Vietnam), the river as the fortress in the north, and Yinshan to Liaodong”. (the history of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty) is at least five times larger than that of the Western Zhou Dynasty, laying the foundation for the territory of today’s motherland.
(II)
Qinshihuang’s second great achievement is “abolishing feudalism and setting up counties”. The term “Feudalism” does not refer to social nature, but to political system. That is, the provincial language of “seizing princes and building vassal guards”. Some people understand that this is just a change in the local administrative system, such as: “change the country to a county, stop waiting and guard.” This understanding is too superficial. Its actual content is many, including the comprehensive and thorough reform of all political systems from the central to local governments, including the reform of the personnel system.
The old political system before the reform was based on the blood patriarchal relationship, which began in the Xia Dynasty and developed in the Shang Dynasty. By the early Western Zhou Dynasty, a relatively perfect system had been formed. The core values of this system are: strict distribution of rights and interests; Govern the common people with the direct line, and supplement the direct line with the common people. When said: “feudal relatives, to fan screen week.” (Zuo Zhuan · the 24th year of Xi Gong) in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, this system was used to rule the world, and the royal family and vassal states achieved stability and development, which proved that this system was effective at that time. However, 200 years later, this system has become increasingly corrupt and not observed by people. First of all, the serious destruction of patriarchal politics occurred in the Zhou royal family. For example, king you of Zhou abolished Shen and took another concubine Baosi as the empress; He also abolished the crown prince Yijiu born after Shen, and established Bofu born of Baosi as the crown prince. This matter angered Shen Hou, the father of Shen Hou. He united with Gongrong to attack the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Haojing (now Xi’an, Shaanxi), and killed the king Youwang. The Western Zhou Dynasty perished. The crown prince Yijiu was established as the king of Ping and moved east to Luoyi (now Luoyang, Henan), which was called the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in history. It seems that the royal families and princes of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty did not get the lessons they should have from the Youwang incident. From the son of King Ping, King Huan, almost all generations have abolished their legitimate rights and established their concubines, and both have caused war chaos. This is true of the great kingdoms such as Qi, Lu, Wei, Jin and Zheng. In the early spring and Autumn period, Xinbo, a royal doctor, once warned, “after the merger, PI Di, the two governments, my country, the root of chaos.” “Merging” means “concubines like empresses”; “Pi Di” is “Shu Ru Di”; “Two politics” is “ministers are good at life”; “Our country” means “all are like a country”. (Zuo Zhuan, the 18th year of Duke Huan and Du Zhu) for these reasons, during the spring and Autumn period of more than 200 years, “there were countless people who killed 36 monarchs and 52 nations, and the princes ran away unable to protect their country.” (preface of Shi Ji Tai Shi Gong) from the Warring States period, patriarchal politics became more serious due to corruption, and officials with different surnames took advantage of the weakness. At the end of the spring and Autumn period, the three families with different surnames in Jin, Han, Zhao and Wei, had controlled Ji’s state power and divided its territory into three parts. In 403 BC, King Wei lie of Zhou granted three families as princes. In 376 BC, three families destroyed Jin. The king of the state of Qi was originally surnamed Jiang, but the Tian surname with a different surname had already controlled the state power of Jiang. In 386 BC, King Zhou’an granted Tian He as a vassal, taking Jiang surname instead, and still took Qi as the state name. Kanto, including the two old countries of Yan and Chu, has carried out some reforms in the old and new six countries, but with little success. Basically, the old system and forces are dying. Once Qiang Qin attacked, he would abandon his armor and wait for death.
Qin Shihuang’s innovative system can be said to have completely eliminated the shackles and models of the old patriarchal system, and created a systematic and complete national system based on the actual needs of politics and society at that time. For the convenience of explanation, this article is divided into central and local levels, with two examples each, which are briefly described below.
1? Central &\8211; Led by the emperor, the central organization is composed of three gongs and nine Qings
1. The emperor is the head of state; Qinshihuang dared to “destroy the system of the first king”, abolish the “King” and call it “the emperor”, which was out of the need of comprehensive reform. The emperor is no longer the “bulk” of the old family, but the supreme monarch. Accordingly, the queen is no longer the rightness of the wives of the old king, but the mistress in charge of the six palaces and the mother’s world. The crown prince is no longer the “patriarch” of the old family, but the crown prince, the legal heir to the throne. This new system will reduce the probability of “merging, competing, two governments, our country” in the old system, and eliminate the source of chaos.
2. The central government organization is composed of three gongs and nine Qings &\8211; Abolish the old system of appointing ministers and officials, or the system of appointing officials and officials, and form a central government agency to handle daily political affairs. Sangong is the prime minister, Taiwei, and censor doctor. The prime minister is “the chief of all officials”, but he is not the old Zaiheng, but the emperor’s assistant. It is said: “the emperor is in charge, and he is an assistant.” (in the book of Han Dynasty, the list of hundred officials and ministers, cited below, and no longer noted) Taiwei is in charge of military affairs, and the censor doctor is in charge of the Deputy Prime Minister and supervisor. Jiuqing was in charge of general affairs, such as military affairs, punishment, and money valley. Nine ministers are insufficient, so they are set up as ministers. Gongqing was appointed and removed by the emperor.
The Qin Dynasty was a multi-ethnic country, and the Dian guest in the nine Qing Dynasties and the Dian vassal state in the lieqing dynasties were in charge of national affairs. “Baiguan Gongqing table” said: “Dian Ke, Qin officials, in charge of the righteousness of barbarians, there are Cheng……. There are pedestrians, translators, biehuo three orders, Cheng and county residence chief, Cheng.” “Dian’s vassal state, Qin officials, those who control barbarians,… Vassal state, nine translation orders.” The Central Committee of Qin Dynasty has only sixteen ministers, and the two ministers are in charge of national affairs, which shows that the first emperor of Qin attaches great importance to national issues.
2? Local administration &\8211; Local governments are divided into counties and counties, and the grass-roots level is divided into townships, kiosks and Li
1. The local administration is a two-level system of counties and counties; The first emperor of Qin completely abolished the old feudal system of land division. At the beginning, the country was divided into 36 counties, and then increased to 40 counties. The counties are directly under the central government, with three chiefs, namely, guard, Captain and supervisor, who are respectively in charge of administration, military and supervision. There are counties under the county, with three chiefs of order (chief), Cheng and Wei, respectively in charge of administration, civil prison and military affairs. The chief officers of counties and counties are appointed and removed by the emperor.
2. Xiangtingli &\8211; Merge the natural settlement into the township Pavilion of the grass-roots administrative region. There are townships under the county and pavilions and Li in the countryside. Grassroots officials include Township elders, pavilion chiefs, Li Zheng, etc., all of whom recommend local rich heads of household to act as heads, and each has his own leadership.
The system innovated by Qin Shihuang is a relatively complete and systematic multi-ethnic, unified and centralized state system. The establishment of this new system is a sign of the development of ancient Chinese political system to a higher stage, and it is also a model of ancient Chinese political civilization. From “the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system” (the biography of ban Biao in the post Han Dynasty) to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, all dynasties took the Qin system as the basic mode of national system. This system is the patron saint of the Chinese nation. For more than 2000 years, the defense of territory, the unity of the country, social stability, national unity, economic development and cultural heritage all depend on this system.
(III)
The third great achievement of Qin Shihuang is “unifying the economic system and writing”. The economic system of the old seven countries and the shape of the characters are very different. Xu Shen, a scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, said: “the (Warring States period) is divided into seven countries, with different fields, different roads, different laws, different clothes, different voices and different characters.” (preface to Shuowen Jiezi) the existence of these problems is extremely detrimental to a unified country. Emperor Qinshihuang ordered many things to be unified. The most important one is summarized as follows.
1. “Make Qianshou land himself”, and implement the land private ownership system &\8211; The so-called “different mu of farmland” not only means that the size of Mu is different, but also includes land ownership and related problems. Problems have accumulated for a long time, forming a chronic problem. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the state-owned land system was established, which was called the well field system. By the spring and Autumn period, this system was out of date, resulting in the situation of “no field, Fu Tian, Wei and you arrogant” (poem Qifeng Fu Tian). It reflects that the social relations of production at that time did not adapt to the new productive forces. It also affects the tax collection of the country. In this case, many countries are carrying out “tax reform”. In 645 BC, the state of Jin first “made the field”; It was followed by the Qi State’s “tax on land”, or “tax on land”; Lu “initial tax Mu”; Chu “Book Soil Field”, “quantity into repair Fu”; The state of Zheng “wrote Qiu Fu”; The tax reform of the state of Qin was carried out at the latest in 408. But tax reform alone does not solve the fundamental problem. The state of Qin used Shang Yang’s method to “sell and buy except the minefields” 50 years after the “first lease of grain” (Hanshu · Shi Huozhi I) the state of Qin took the lead in completely abolishing the old state-owned land ownership and implementing private land ownership. After the first emperor of Qin destroyed the six countries, in the 31st year (216 BC), he ordered to “make the head of Guizhou land from the real land”, (the collection of the records of the first emperor of Qin quoted Xuguang language) is to abolish the state-owned land ownership nationwide, implement the private ownership of land, and farmers register their fields according to the facts and pay taxes according to the mu. The promulgation of this order by Qinshihuang was the symbol of the establishment of private ownership of land in ancient China.
2. Unified currency, weights and measures, train tracks &\8211; This matter was presided over by the left and right prime ministers kuixiang and Wang Wan, and unified on the basis of the original Qin system. This has played a positive role in stabilizing social order, improving people’s lives, facilitating national taxation, promoting non-governmental trade, and forming a larger common market.
3. Unified text &\8211; Chinese characters are of the same origin and have been quite mature until the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty. In the Warring States period, the countries were divided for a long time, and various factors such as “abnormal speech” affected the development of characters, resulting in the phenomenon of “character abnormity”. After the Qin Dynasty destroyed the six countries, he appointed Ting Wei Lisi to preside over the unification of the text. Based on the font of the former Qin Dynasty, Lisi created a small seal script (or Qin seal script) with fixed font, simple strokes and convenient writing, which was implemented throughout the country as a standardized text. Unified writing has played a great role in consolidating the political unity of the country and promoting the development of economy and culture.
(IV)
Qin Shihuang’s mistakes were also serious. There are two main mistakes:
1. Burn books and bury Confucianism &\8211; Qin Shihuang burned the folk books and killed a large number of innocent scholars and scholars, which seriously destroyed China’s ancient culture. This is a kind of political atrocities.
2. The corvee is too heavy and does not care for the people &\8211; After the destruction of the six kingdoms, Emperor Qinshihuang should immediately implement the policy of light corvee and low tax, giving the people the opportunity to “recuperate”. However, he made great achievements, building large-scale projects inside and expeditions outside, which made the broad masses of the people miserable. So Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up and the world responded, overturning the rule of the Qin Dynasty.
On the whole, Qin Shihuang’s merits outweigh his demerits. His merits and demerits are valuable cultural heritage of our country. Well, we should cherish, critically inherit and carry forward. Bad things should also be summed up. As a lesson, we should always take it as a warning.