Many people are critical of Kangxi's prosperous times. What is the reason?

Many people are critical of Kangxi's prosperous times. What is the reason? In Bian Xiao's view, whether it can be called a prosperous time depends first on whether the country is unified and whether its territory is consolidated. According to historical records, Kangxi put down the rebellion in galdan three times, regained Taiwan Province Province by force, and adopted a harmonious but different ethnic policy, which greatly promoted the relationship between Tibet and Mongolia and the Central Plains. These measures consolidated or expanded the territory of the Qing Dynasty, laid the present territory of China, and safeguarded national unity. Therefore, from the perspective of territory, Kangxi's flourishing age is worthy of the name.

Secondly, in the so-called prosperous times, people's lives must be stable. According to historical records, generally speaking, peasant riots rarely occurred during the Kang Yong period and before Qianlong. At the end of Qianlong period, large-scale uprisings in various places gradually formed momentum, such as An Baili. In fact, ordinary people don't have high aspirations, but as long as they have enough to eat and wear warm clothes, no one likes to rebel. During the reign of Kangxi, the people could basically solve the problem of food and clothing, so there were fewer peasant riots and the people's lives were fairly stable. From this perspective, the prosperity of Kangxi is still real.

Since Kangxi's heyday is true, why are many people still critical of it? The reasons may be as follows: First, Kangxi implemented a more severe policy of closing the sea than any previous dynasty, which directly isolated the Qing Dynasty from the world and left us far behind, which eventually led to the backwardness and beatings of modern China. Secondly, cultural autocracy was practiced in Kangxi period. They wantonly destroyed the culture, scientific and technological civilization of the Central Plains, and collected and burned more than 20,000 ancient books at one time, which was a cultural disaster.

As a result, many books and even ancient poems were returned from Japan. Therefore, Maldini said that the rule of the Qing Dynasty 100 years was actually retrogression, not to mention the later period. To sum up, the prosperous time of Kanggan was indeed a prosperous time, but it also did great damage to the civilization of the Central Plains. The backwardness of modern China was caused by the disadvantages of the Qing Dynasty, which is why after the demise of the Qing Dynasty, the standard-bearers met with hostility from all over China, which is also why so many people refused to admit the prosperity of Kanggan.