Ming Taizu is such a great man. Ming Taizu not only ended all kinds of protracted civil wars, but also held high the banner of "expelling the Tatars and restoring China", wiped out the barbaric foreign enemies who stole from China in the past century, freed the people of China from "all kinds of civil wars and brutal massacres by foreign enemies" and sent troops into the desert several times to recover the remnants of the enemy, so as to prevent foreign invasion.
In addition, Song Taizu and Ming Taizu are not at the other extreme of Emperor Taizong. There are many differences between the two dynasties, even between the Song and Ming Dynasties, especially in the early Song and early Ming Dynasties. For example, in the Song Dynasty, literature was highly valued, surpassing martial arts, and scholar-officials were extremely favored. They tried their best to compromise with the nomadic people in the north, did not hesitate to bend their knees to foreigners, surrendered to foreigners, signed humiliating unequal treaties, and rarely took the initiative to attack. This was not the case in the Ming Dynasty. This is a dynasty full of vitality and masculinity. In the Ming dynasty, especially in the early Ming dynasty, scholars were not only ignored, but even ruthless. Ministers are worried about whether they can go home safely before going to court This is also an important reason why the Ming Dynasty was later discredited by literati. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Ming Dynasty has taken the initiative to attack the nomadic people in the north. Even Enemy at the Gates, even though its domestic troubles and foreign invasion have reached the moment of national subjugation, still refuses to negotiate with other nationalities, and it is even more impossible to kneel down and sign humiliating and unequal treaties like the Song Dynasty.
Take the late Ming Dynasty as an example. At that time, the emperor did not go to court for decades, and was regarded by many as the Wanli period when the Ming Dynasty was not even as good as the Manchu Dynasty. When the Japanese army with advanced firearms invaded Korea, a vassal country of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming government, regardless of its own serious crisis, such as the harassment of the northern Lu, the growing power of the Nuzhen in Northeast China, and the domestic people's livelihood and social security, resolutely sent troops to defeat the Japanese army and drove it back from Korea. Three hundred years later, North Korea's opponent is also Japan, and its own weapons and equipment are not much worse than Japan. However, when the Qing Dynasty was defeated, it soon bowed its knees and surrendered, and ceded land for reparations. As for the Song Dynasty, not to mention. From the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, and then to the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, not only can we not go to the land of North Korea, but even the sixteen States of Hebei Province cannot recover it.
Ming Taizu's personal expedition to Mobei several times was an unprecedented feat in the history of China.
Song Taizu and Ming Taizu did not "forget the danger of the invasion of unincorporated nomads in the north". Before the unification of the South was completed, Song Taizu carried out military operations in the Northern Expedition against other ethnic groups. After the reunification of the south was basically completed, the Northern Expedition began in the second year, attacking the Northern Han Dynasty, an alien regime supported by a strong enemy of Qidan. Unfortunately, he died mysteriously on the way. Song Taizu not only wants to destroy the alien Northern Han regime, but also wants to recover the sixteen states presented to Qidan by the alien Shi Jingtang. Therefore, it is not true that he died halfway and "forgot the danger that the north was not incorporated into the nomadic invasion of the south".
Ming Taizu didn't even "forget the harm of the naturalized nomads in the north", and of course there was no such thing as "paying too much attention to preventing warlords from becoming independent". During Ming Taizu's reign, the Ming army not only took the initiative to attack Mobei, but also mostly arranged its elite soldiers on the northern border, and made his descendants become warlords to support themselves. This is also one of the important reasons why Ming Chengzu was able to gain political power. Therefore, Ming Taizu and Song Taizu are not the other extreme of Emperor Taizong, they have completely different properties.
As for what Zhao Fengnian said, "Since the chaos in China, China has fallen into a vicious circle of going to extremes in some aspects." Of course, it does not conform to historical facts. In fact, China still had a period of prosperity after the "Five Chaos", creating an era that surpassed previous civilizations.
Zhao Wen accused the Ming Dynasty of "completely abandoning the valuable experience of developing civilization in the Song Dynasty while abandoning the disadvantages of the Song Dynasty. In Song Dynasty, there were few policies to encourage the development of commodity economy, political openness and kindness. When western civilization began to make great strides, the Ming Dynasty greatly regressed from the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty. The retrogression of these systems, despite the short-term national defense interests in the early Ming Dynasty, promoted the decline of the Ming Dynasty and was once again destroyed by the nomadic people in the north. " This accusation obviously does not conform to the objective facts.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty did not "completely abandon the valuable experience of the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty". The Ming Dynasty also encouraged the development of commodity economy, and it also produced the seeds of modern capitalism. Let's talk about various policies such as "political openness and kindness". If we don't kill the literati with words, if the treatment of the literati is not as good as that of the Song Dynasty. However, this does not mean that the politics of the Ming Dynasty was not enlightened and merciless, and there were few policies such as "political openness and compassion" in the Song Dynasty.
In fact, the political system of the Ming Dynasty was not much worse than that of the Song Dynasty (in fact, the Song Dynasty was also centralized, and the emperor had greater rights), and it was also more advanced than most countries in the world at the same time. For example, ministers are also selected through relatively fair and strict examinations. Its selection procedure is stricter than that of the Song Dynasty. Moreover, even poor mountain people, as long as they can pass this selection examination, can become the pillars of governing the country, and may even become a person below one person and above ten thousand people. Moreover, leading cadres at all levels from the central to the local, that is, the pillars of the country at all levels, are not hereditary. Therefore, even if they are the pillars of the country at the prime minister level, if their descendants fail to pass the selection examination, they can only be ordinary people.
The Ming government, like the Song government, was independent of the royal family and was managed by ministers headed by cabinet ministers (essentially prime ministers). In other words, the state power is shared by the emperor and ministers, and they contain each other. In the Ming dynasty, there were also remonstrators who supervised the emperor. Not only government officials, but also people can directly criticize the emperor and directly accuse him of his faults. If the criticism of the ruling and opposition parties is correct, even if the emperor is unhappy, he can only tolerate it on the surface. Therefore, even if there is an emperor and a fatuous king like Wanli, the state machine can still operate normally.
Throughout the Ming Dynasty, there has never been a traitor like Qin Gui in the Song Dynasty in its central government, which is related to its higher political system than in the Song Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty produced more thinkers, writers, dramatists, doctors and natural scientists than the Song Dynasty, not fewer. Thinkers such as Liu Ji, Wang Yangming, Li Zhi (Zhuo Wu), Xue Jue, Hu, Luo Qinshun, Zhan Ruoshui, Tang Hezheng, Wang Gen, Luo Hongxian, He, Liu, Sun Qifeng, Chen Que, Wang Ji, Lv Kun and Fang Yizhi (Fang is still a scientist. Writers such as Li Kaixian, Wu Cheng'en, Tang Xianzu, Feng Menglong, Ling Mengchu, Pu Songling, Kong, Wu; Scholars of history, political theory and textual research, such as Zhang, Gu Xiancheng, Sun Qifeng, Zhang Pu,, Quan (although this person was born in the early Qing Dynasty, his family background is quite ethical, and he is also influenced by Huang Zongxi and Wan Sitong. Others); Natural scientists such as Zhu Zaiyu, Li Shizhen, Pan Jixun, Xu Guangqi, Xu Xiake, Song, Fu Shan, Fang Yizhi and Wang Xichan. A great architect like Ji Cheng.
It was also the relaxed political environment in the Ming Dynasty that made China people's thoughts extremely active and forward-looking. Critical spirit, skeptical spirit, practical thinking, practical experience and active acceptance of western learning are the characteristics of politics, economy, philosophy, literature and art in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the late Ming Dynasty.
There are a group of anti-feudal thinkers with modern democracy, freedom and egalitarianism. For example, Li Zhi's ideas such as "All men can be holy" and "Sages can't be high, and people can't be low" are all against Confucianism and feudal ethics. Gu's "pluralistic governance" replaced the "unitary governance" of absolute monarchy; Wang Fuzhi's Don't be selfish in the world; Tang Zhen's The Imperial Capital is a Thief; Huang Zongxi's I am the king of the world, I am the ruler, I regard the world as a big industry, and my descendants will enjoy it endlessly, I take all the benefits of the world for myself and all the harm of the world for the people, and I come out as an official, for the world, not for the king; For all people, not for the same surname "and the idea of replacing" the law of one family "with" the law of the world "and" governing people first ". These are all related to the ideas of individual freedom, human liberation, equality for all, democracy and the rule of law in modern Europe.
Song dynasty, it seems that there is no such idea, right? Why did the Ming Dynasty completely abandon the valuable experience of the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty while abandoning the disadvantages of the Song Dynasty? ..... When western civilization began to make great strides, the Ming Dynasty greatly regressed from the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty. "Say what?
As we all know, with the emergence of movable type printing technology, handwritten books can be copied in large quantities and quickly, so that ordinary people who have not been able to contact books can easily buy and read books. This played a decisive role in the rise and development of the religious reform movement originated in Britain and the formation of modern nationalism. In the Ming Dynasty, China has entered an era when a large number of books were published by using copper-lead letterpress printing technology more advanced than that in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, if there were no great turmoil in the late Ming Dynasty, brutal alien invasion and its long-term suffocating rule, those ideas with modern democracy, freedom and egalitarianism would be widely known and gradually accepted by the people, thus awakening or establishing people's modern nationalist consciousness and promoting the reform of political, economic and educational systems and the industrial revolution. Then China will never do this. How come "while abandoning the disadvantages of the Song Dynasty, it completely abandoned the valuable experience of the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty. ..... When western civilization began to make great progress, the Ming Dynasty greatly regressed from the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty. " Say?
In fact, China's junior high school history textbooks clearly point out that advanced weaving and dyeing, sugar making, paper making, porcelain making, iron ore, copper casting, shipbuilding, weapons manufacturing, agricultural production technology, handicrafts and civil buildings should be planted in the Ming Dynasty, Longjiang Shipyard in Nanjing, Ordnance Bureau and Baoyuan Bureau in Beijing, Zunhua Iron Works and Weaving and Dyeing Bureau in Suzhou, and royal buildings in Raozhou. During the reign of Hong Wushi, the quota of state-owned iron smelting reached18.47 million Jin per year, and the maximum amount of coins minted per year reached/kloc-0 1.9984 billion Wen. When Xuande proclaimed himself emperor, Raozhou made 443,500 pieces of porcelain at a time, as well as countless other consumer goods such as twisted silk, colored satin and carved lacquer. Due to the development of agriculture and handicraft production, the commodity economy is also unprecedentedly active. After the middle period, the social situation in Europe was similar to that before the industrial revolution, and the capitalist relations of production sprouted, which laid the economic foundation for the formation of modern democracy and liberalism.
As early as the early Ming Dynasty, there was the technology to build ships that could sail to Africa, but in the same period, only a few small wooden boats could be built in Europe [The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by paul kennedy (translated by Suzuki Zhushui, printed and distributed by Cao Si Co., Ltd. 10/0/8)]. The output of iron in Ming Dynasty exceeded that of any previous dynasty. Due to the prevalence of architecture, cranes using simple mechanical principles were invented. Firearms developed greatly in the Ming Dynasty. Guns include Frankenstein and Chiyi guns imported from the west, fast guns, beak guns and various spears, which are close to modern weapons. "【 Shang Cheng's A Brief History of China 374 】 In the early Ming Dynasty, he had a large number of technologies to manufacture the most advanced weapons at that time, and actively put them into actual combat, making the enemies at that time (nomadic people such as Tatars and Waci) fearful. The Ming Dynasty not only possessed these advanced firearms, but also made bows and arrows more advanced than the nomadic people who were all soldiers. Therefore, the Ming government not only prohibited the sale of those advanced firearms to Mongols, but also prohibited the sale of bows and arrows and ironware used to make armor knives and arrows to Mongols. Mongols racked their brains to steal these advanced weapons. For example, they secretly bought these advanced weapons from Ming soldiers and unscrupulous businessmen by sending tribute groups, and forced China people to teach and imitate these weapons in their places of residence by means of seduction and kidnapping.
Take the well-known Zheng He's seven voyages to the West as an example. Zheng He led a huge naval fleet to the ocean in Africa, which was an unprecedented feat. However, without the most advanced shipbuilding, pilotage, ship formation technology at that time, and even the technology of long-term survival at sea, it is impossible to achieve. And such a high degree of science and technology, not to mention contemporary western civilization, is the "civilization of the Song Dynasty" has not been realized. How come "while abandoning the disadvantages of the Song Dynasty, it completely abandoned the valuable experience of the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty. ..... When western civilization began to make great progress, the Ming Dynasty greatly regressed from the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty. " Say?
Not only in the middle and early Ming dynasty, but also in the late Ming dynasty, it was more developed than Europe in the same period. When missionaries who came to China wrote reports on the development of China at that time and sent them back to Europe, they had a great impact on European intellectuals. "In all pre-modern civilizations, China is the most advanced and has a superior position. The population of15th century is 654.38+billion to 654.38+billion, compared with 50 million to 55 million in Europe. Most of them have excellent culture, and irrigated fertile farmland has a very good canal connection since 1 1 century. Confucian servants with higher education manage an administrative organization with a complete staff hierarchy. The appearance of its relaxed and unified country envies visiting foreigners. Indeed, the culture of China was violently attacked by Mongolian tribes and was invaded and ruled by Kublai Khan. However, China was not changed by conquerors, but by the performance of rulers. 1368, the Ming dynasty was founded, the Mongols were driven away, China was reunified, and many previous orders and knowledge were preserved. Readers who have received scientific education in Western Europe are probably most surprised by the high level of science and technology of China civilization. China has had large libraries since ancient times. Movable type printing appeared as early as 1 1 century, and soon a large number of books were printed and published. The construction of canals and the increase in population triggered the development of industry and trade. China's cities are much bigger than any other cities in medieval Europe at the same time, and the trade road extends far. Paper money has been used for a long time and has played a great role in commercial development and market growth. ..... When the Mongolian ruler was overthrown in the late14th century, the cannon was already in use. " [paul kennedy's The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, pp. 28-29]
In fact, the Ming dynasty was not only the early stage, but also the late stage, which was not much behind the west. In many places, it was spread to Europe by western missionaries, which made European intellectuals suffer greatly.
As Japanese historians have pointed out: "After the end of16th century, Jesuits (Christian missionaries) who came to China reported a lot about China. Compared with contemporary Europe, they saw that China was a more developed society, which gave intellectuals in the Enlightenment a big thorn. For them, China's cultural relics system is amazing, even ideal. Of course, it may contain overestimation caused by insufficient understanding, but if compared with the pre-capitalist stage, the fact that China is one of the most developed countries should be correct. ..... One of the new elements of this era is constant contact with Europe. This kind of contact has both cultural and economic aspects, but the cultural aspect was interrupted in the Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the learned Jesuits went to the Western Seas, China people attached great importance to the new knowledge and technology they brought. Not only have many translations been published, but they have also been incorporated into the works of China people. Even if it is not directly shown, the appearance of so-called practical learning and many technical books in the late Ming Dynasty can be considered to be influenced by foreign books. And religious intellectuals. In particular, the appointment of Jesuits as the director of the Qin (Observatory) is famous for making calendars. But by the time of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the so-called ritual problem appeared. ..... As a result, not only did we lose contact with foreign learning through missionaries, but incredibly, our concern for foreign learning did not last. Therefore, the scientific and technological development in Europe since then was not known to China until the late Qing Dynasty. ..... (to the end of the Qing Dynasty) paid attention to the westernization (which was called western learning by China at that time), only to solve the difficult situation of the Manchu dynasty in reality. Although it is very practical, it also has a strong utilitarian side, which is very different in nature from paying attention to westernization in the late Ming Dynasty. " 【 Hiroshi Iwami+Taniguchi Kio's General History of China/New Book History of the East, 4,6-11Page,1The Eighth Brush Tour on August 5, 988, organized by the joint-stock company 】
As far as the life span of dynasties is concerned, the life span of Ming Dynasty is not only much longer than that of Northern Song Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty, but also much longer than that of Eastern Han Dynasty and Western Han Dynasty, and also longer than that of Manchu Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty died not from nomadic people in the north, but from natural and man-made disasters. But in the Song Dynasty, no matter the Northern Song Dynasty or the Southern Song Dynasty, they all died of nomadic people in the north. Therefore, if the demise of the nomadic people in the north is due to the "retrogression of the system", it should refer to the system of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, Zhao Fengnian's statement that "the retrogression of these systems, despite the short-lived national defense interests in the early Ming Dynasty, promoted the decline of the Ming Dynasty and was once again destroyed by the nomadic people in the north" is also untrue.
Let's talk about the cultural life of civil society in Ming Dynasty. . The cultural life of ordinary people in Ming Dynasty was relatively free and rich, and the whole society was full of vitality. For example, the ancient society in China attached great importance to the etiquette system and had strict hierarchical order, and the dress crown scarf was a symbol of a person's status hierarchy, so there were strict hierarchical regulations. Not only between ordinary people and the literati class, but also between officials at all levels and ordinary people in different industries, we can't mix them casually. However, from the middle and late Ming Dynasty, not only ordinary people were free to wear the clothes of the literati class, but also yellow, which was forbidden in the past. Even the dragon pattern used only by emperors in the past was a symbol of the supreme monarch. In the past, headdresses that only ladies could use could be used by prostitutes.
At the same time, a large number of high-level literary and artistic works have emerged among the people. For example, the vernacular novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin Loyalty, The Journey to the West and Jin Ping Mei occupy an important position in the history of China and even the world literature, and still have great influence today. In addition, there are novels such as The Legend of Pingyao and The Romance of the Gods, as well as Cut the Lights, Yu Shiming's Ci, Warning, Wake Up, Surprise, and The Peony Pavilion written by Tang Xianzu, a great playwright in the Ming Dynasty who is not inferior to Shakespeare, the most famous playwright in the European Renaissance.
These works boldly expose social problems and attack feudal ethics, and are full of yearning for the ideal society of individual freedom and human liberation. The advanced nature of his thought can be compared with that of the modern west.
Not only that, but also novel critics appeared in Ming Dynasty. They dare to praise those love novels and vernacular novels that were despised by previous literati. Novels and operas of the Ming Dynasty even had a deep influence on foreign countries. For example, China's Little-known and almost lost "Cut the Lamp Mandarin" has had a great influence on Japanese literature and art since it was introduced to Japan, and has been adapted into traditional Japanese stage play kabuki, traditional stand-up comedy and novel. For example, Kabuki's Strange Tales of Peony Lantern, Guayu's Strange Tales of Peony Lantern, and Yu Jia's Handmaid and Story of Rain and Moon were all born under the influence of this work.
"As we all know, European literature and art in 17 and 18 centuries were deeply influenced by Asia. In particular, the French culture in this period (also a representative of European culture) was obviously influenced by China's thought and art. " 【 Maekawa Sadajiro's "The Age of Kings-New Works of Western History 5", page 60, was published in Showa on February 20th, 55, and published by the company. ]
These literary and artistic works can be said to be the representative works of China Renaissance Enlightenment.
This is unmatched by the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty.
Unfortunately, due to the unfortunate collapse of the Ming Dynasty, it was replaced by backward and barbaric slavery, extremely closed and ignorant, and extremely afraid of the "rebellion" of the Han nationality because of the small number of backward people, so various means such as cruel repression and large-scale literary inquisition were adopted to stifle the vitality of China people, and this independent development of the China Renaissance Enlightenment was aborted.
There were also scientific and technological professional works representing the highest level of the whole world at that time in the Ming Dynasty. For example, Song's Heavenly Creations was introduced to Japan at the end of17th century, and Japanese scholars attached great importance to it. When the French learned about it, they also got a treasure and translated it into French. Since then, European countries have translated the book into Chinese and praised it as an "encyclopedia of science and technology". On the contrary, in China, the hometown of the book, it disappeared because of the cruel rule of the Qing Dynasty. Another example is the Compendium of Materia Medica compiled by Li Shizhen, which records 187 1 ancient and modern materia medica; There are also the earliest and most systematic works on landscape technology compiled by Ji Cheng, and Fang Yizhi's encyclopedic works "Tongya" and "Keys to Physics". With the development of business and the popularity of abacus, an arithmetic book guided by arithmetic was published, which reached the world level at that time. Folk, "three universal authentic" and other daily encyclopedias are also widely circulated. Great geographers and travelers like Xu Xiake also appeared in the Ming Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, the improvement of existing domestic agricultural products and production technology was actively emphasized in agriculture. For example, the technical problem of double-cropping rice popularization has been solved, so double-cropping rice has been widely popularized in southern China. Three-season rice has also appeared in Lingnan area. Thereby doubling and tripling the output per unit area. This is unmatched by the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. China people in Ming Dynasty were not satisfied with this, but actively communicated with overseas countries and introduced other advanced overseas varieties. Such as corn, sweet potato (also known as sweet potato, sweet potato, sweet persimmon, sweet potato, dried sweet potato and other crops. ) and potatoes, native to America, were introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty. Before the introduction and popularization of these agricultural products, it was difficult for the population of China to increase greatly for a long time (even in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the population was only over 50 million). One of the important reasons is that grain production is greatly restricted. If there are many people and few people, it is difficult to maintain food and clothing even in good years. The vast majority of peasant wars are caused by a serious shortage of food, and even farmers who farm land can't survive. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the population of China increased exponentially. The most important reason was that the large-scale conquest war made by the Qing Dynasty finally ended. These crops with high yield, drought resistance, strong land adaptability and simple planting methods introduced by the Ming Dynasty were popularized throughout the country, thus providing more food sources and output.
These facts prove that the Ming Dynasty did not abandon the valuable experience of the development of civilization in the Song Dynasty, as Zhao Wen accused. In Song Dynasty, there were few policies to encourage the development of commodity economy, political openness and kindness. When western civilization began to make great strides, the Ming Dynasty went backwards from the civilization development of the Song Dynasty. "But far beyond the civilization of the Song Dynasty.