Sima Qian recorded the words of Prime Minister Li Si: Today's people learn from the past but not from today, and confused the first minister of Guizhou to ask historians to burn all the records of the Qin Dynasty. Those who dare to have poems, books and hundreds of languages in the world without being doctors will carefully preserve and burn them. Those who don't go, the book of planting trees. If you want to study law, you should take an official as your teacher. ? What Prime Minister Li Si means is that Confucian scholars nowadays worship the ancient times instead of learning from modern people, so as to slander the contemporary world. I want to ask historians to burn all the non-Qin classics. If it is not a doctoral officer, those who dare to collect hundreds of poems and books will be burned by the official. Books such as medicine, divination and planting are not included in the scope of burning books. If someone wants to study law, they should learn directly from officials, not books. From this passage, we can know the basic background and general situation of burning books.
1. The scope of burning books is limited. ? Burn all the records of the Qin dynasty? According to Li Si, books from other countries in the Warring States Period, except Qin Jing, were burned. However, when Sima Qian wrote this part of Historical Records of the Six Kingdoms, it can be seen between the lines that it was based on the national history of the Warring States countries, and even quoted parts. It can be seen that even the pre-Qin ancient books recorded by non-Qin were not completely destroyed by Qin fire. Burning books is mainly aimed at Confucian classics such as poems and books. Books circulated in the pre-Qin period will not be completely burned without identification. Secondly, this book ban is aimed at folk books, the central government and? Doctor? The book in hand is not within the scope of this ban. Finally, books with practical skills, such as books on medicine, divination and planting, are no longer banned.
From where? Ask historians to burn all the records of the Qin dynasty? It can also be seen that the preservation of ancient books in various countries is decided by specialized personnel, and historians play a very important role, that is, it is necessary to pass the appraisal of historians before deciding whether to burn books. In the final analysis, burning books and burying Confucianism is a means of Qin Shihuang's cultural dictatorship. What is its purpose? Is it stupid to borrow the past for the present? Some intellectuals think that they are not conducive to the stability of the political power, and they have no enmity with Confucianism, let alone cultural knowledge.
2. The implementation of the book burning order is in doubt. It took less than four years from the thirty-fourth year of Qin Shihuang (2 13 BC) when he ordered the burning of books to the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shihuang (2 13 BC) when he died of illness on the sand dune platform. The promotion and implementation of general decrees will take some time to complete, so the effect of burning books has yet to be verified. Plus Qin Shihuang? Burning books and burying Confucianism? The policy made Confucian scholars flee to the deep mountains, and a large number of ancient books were preserved among the people.
Of course, burning books and burying Confucianism is indeed a dark product of cultural autocracy. According to ancient records, a considerable number of folk books were destroyed by the Qin fire, which ended the cultural prosperity of a hundred schools of thought contending during the Warring States Period and really destroyed China ancient books, but it is impossible to determine how many, let alone right? A lot? . However, it conforms to the requirements of the era of cultural unity and has certain inevitability.