People's views on burying books into Confucianism in previous dynasties

Burning books and burying Confucianism are two things, and they are also the most concrete evidence for historians to list the "crimes" of Qin Shihuang's tyranny. The earliest record of Qin Shihuang's burning books and burying Confucianism was Historical Records. In The Biography of Qin Shihuang, in the thirty-fourth year of Qin Shihuang, Dr. Chun spoke against the centralized county system, demanding the restoration of the feudal system of Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and said, "It is unheard of to be able to survive without learning and skills." Qin Shihuang held a ministerial meeting to discuss, and Prime Minister Lisi suggested to Qin Shihuang: "I asked historians to burn all the books of the Qin Dynasty. They are not doctors. Those who dare to collect hundreds of poems and books in the world will burn them, and those who dare to connect the words of poems and books will abandon the market and be regarded as people who are not ancient and modern. Those officials are all guilty of the same crime if they don't mention it. If you don't burn it for 30 days, it will be a city. If you don't go, books such as medical skills, divination, and tree planting. " The other is historical records. Biography of Li Si also records that Li Si suggested that Qin Shihuang burn books. In 2 12 BC, Lu Sheng, an alchemist, deceived Qin Shihuang, saying that he could be an alchemist and wanted an elixir. After receiving a generous reward, he secretly attacked Qin Shihuang with Confucian scholars and fled. Qin Shihuang sent an imperial censor for interrogation, and various Confucian scholars exposed each other, resulting in more than 460 people. Qin Shihuang ordered the pit killing according to law. Historical Records also reserved comments on this, such as Historical Records. "The Scholars" has: "The season of Qin Dynasty, burning poetry books, pit warlocks, and the six arts are missing from now on." Historical records. The Preface to the Chronology of the Six Kingdoms also said: "Qin is proud of himself, burning books all over the world, and the historical records of governors are particularly good, which is also ridiculed by him. "Poetry is common, many people hide, and historical records are hidden in the Zhou room to be destroyed. What a pity! " It can be seen that it is an indisputable fact that Qin Shihuang burned books and buried Confucianism. Why do future generations have different views on this? The reason is that the class position of later critics is different from their understanding of Qin Shihuang's motives. The Qin Dynasty wiped out the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in 256 BC, and wiped out Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei from 230 BC to 22/kloc-0 BC, establishing the first unified and centralized feudal country in the history of China. Qin Shihuang implemented a series of measures to strengthen national unity, established a centralized system and established a central government. Establish a county system throughout the country and abolish the hereditary system of officials; Recognize private ownership of land in the form of law; Destroy civilian weapons and move to the rich; Eliminate obstacles, repair the equator, build the Great Wall, connect the original Yan, Zhao and Qin Changcheng, add repairs, send troops to guard the dangerous pass and set up forts. Although the large-scale construction of the Great Wall sacrificed countless lives and national financial resources and brought many disasters to the people at that time, the story of Meng Jiangnv crying on the Great Wall was widely circulated. However, the Great Wall played a positive role in preventing the plunder of Xiongnu nobles, a powerful nomadic people in the north at that time, and protecting the safety of people's lives and property and agricultural production in the north. The construction of the Great Wall was also one of the rakes that Confucian scholars later attacked Qin Shihuang. Unified currency, cars on a unified track and books in a unified language have promoted the unification of the Chinese nation over the years and laid the foundation for the formation of Chinese civilization. Burning books and burying Confucianism is also one of the measures. Its purpose is to "unify thoughts", establish feudal absolutism and consolidate the rule of Qin Dynasty. Qin Shihuang played an active role in this historical process. However, after the war to unify the six countries, he was obsessed with satiated with food and drink, enjoying himself, indulging in alchemy, seeking immortality, repairing palaces, cruelly oppressing the people, and lost his advanced nature. Mao Zedong once said humorously: Qin Shihuang thought that killing Confucian scholars and burning books would make the world peaceful once and for all. The result is that "the ashes are not cold in Shandong, and Liu Xiang does not study." Why did Qin Shihuang burn books? "Historical Records" also made it very clear, because at that time, "all students did not learn from today's people, but did not forget the past and were confused." In order to consolidate centralization and national unity, prevent "private learning and illegal teaching" and achieve the goal of "distinguishing between black and white and setting a statue". In fact, this practice of blocking words and destroying books was not created by Lisi and Qin Shihuang, but existed for a long time in pre-Qin countries. There are concrete examples in Wan. In order to maintain their own rule and prevent other theories from damaging the country's ideology and shaking the country's foundation, vassal States have long adopted the practice of silencing speeches and destroying books. When the article mentioned Qin Xiaogong, Shang Yang burned books to bury Confucianism during the political reform. In addition, Han Feizi also actively restricted private school, saying that "private school is also chaotic." At that time, private schools were regarded as the main obstacle to the rule of law. In order to eradicate private schools, it is natural to destroy teaching materials. At that time, there were not a few people who advocated the abolition of private schools, and they were also accepted by most national rulers. Confucius could travel around the world in the Spring and Autumn Period, but it was impossible to reappear in the Warring States Period. Since books have been burned for a long time, why do historians only put the bill on Qin Shihuang? Think of Qin Shihuang as a sinner who destroyed ancient culture? This is because there is no exact record of book burning incidents in various countries before the Qin Dynasty, and there is no material to be verified. It was divided before the Qin Dynasty. Even if a country destroys books and burns them, it is impossible to cause great damage to cultural classics. Other countries can still keep books. The most important thing is to have class prejudice against Qin Shihuang. Lu Xun said in the article "On the Similarities and Differences of Huade Burning Books": "Qin Shihuang was really wronged. He died the next year, and a group of idle classes spoke ill of him for the new master. Yes, Qin Shihuang burned books to unify his thoughts, but instead of burning medical books and agricultural books, he included' guest ministers' from many other countries. These people did not attach importance to Qin's thoughts, but adopted various ideas. " The right and wrong of Qin Shihuang's burning books to bury Confucianism should be based on the historical conditions at that time and on respecting historical facts. As a feudal emperor, Qin Shihuang took it for granted to unify his thoughts after the great cause of reunification was completed. After the birth of the Republic of China, didn't we also kill hundreds of thousands of people? If not, can the country have peace for decades? Ban Gu in Hanshu. "Preface of Kings with Different Surnames" says: "Qin is the emperor, falling into the city, selling blades, clamping words and burning books." Ban Gu believed that attacking the city, selling blades, using pliers and burning books were all measures for Qin Shihuang to unify and strengthen centralization. Why didn't the fall of the city, selling the blade and even killing Hao Kun be condemned by later generations, but the burning of books and burying Confucianism was cursed by later generations forever? In fact, some people left the specific historical background and looked at this incident in isolation. Today, we don't need to excuse the ancients. There are different opinions about the evaluation of the consequences of Qin Shihuang's burning books. Sui Shu. "The Story of the Year Red" said: "Qin Shihuang controlled the characters and swallowed up all the weather. He buried the king's tomb first and then swept the floor." Old Tang books. Jing Ji Zhi also said: "The Book of III was burned to the ground by Qin." These views are that all the books in the pre-Qin period were destroyed by fire, but some people think that the burning of books in the Qin dynasty was limited to historical books, and the scholars of books did not lose much. Chong Wang is on the balance. "Book Interpretation" said: "Although Qin has no way, it does not burn the philosophers, and the philosophers are full of books and articles." Liu Xie also has the same view, in Wen Xin Diao Long. In "Zhuzi Pian", he said: "The Qin dynasty is violent, and the fire is threatening Kungang. The poison of smoke is not as good as that of Zhuzi." Kang Youwei pointed out in the article "A Study of the New Classics and Pseudo Classics" that "burning books to bury Confucianism is a political abuse and has nothing to do with the survival of the Six Classics." How many books did Qin Shihuang burn? I remember the records of historians very clearly. In addition to Zhouyi, the representative works of legalists such as Shang Yang and Han Feizi, books on mathematics, agronomy, Ji Fang and medical skills, and other historical books, six arts and hundreds of works were basically destroyed. In that case, why are there so many classics handed down from generation to generation? "Historical Records" holds that "poetry and books are re-seen, and more are hidden in others." This record is correct, which shows that Sima Qian is serious. Many books should be preserved and collected by people. The discovery of bamboo books in Ji 'an County and Taikang County in Jin Dynasty and the birth of bamboo slips and silk books in later generations are also evidence. "Historical Records" also records that the books written by doctors were not burned, indicating that there were still a large number of ancient Chinese classics in the doctor's palace after the Qin Dynasty, but Xiang Yu entered the customs. "Burning Qin Gong, the fire will not go out in March." Ancient books and records suffered a complete disaster. Qin Shihuang burned books for political purposes and left some. Xiang Yu ravaged the riots, burned the rest, and destroyed all the classics. It is fair for future generations to put this account on Qin Shihuang's head. But in any case, Qin Shihuang burned books to bury Confucianism, which caused unprecedented catastrophe to China's classical literature, and the loss was incalculable. From this point of view, no matter how well Qin Shihuang had reasons at that time, it was unforgivable, and it was inappropriate to say that this measure was progressive. It is right to criticize Qin Shihuang himself cruelly. Mao Zedong said that China has not been divided into dozens of countries like Europe, but has always maintained the strong vitality and assimilation of Chinese culture. Even if modern imperialism tries to carve up China, it can't succeed. It is very important that Qin Shihuang unified weights and measures and writing, and formed a nation with great cohesion and centripetal force, which is also the reason why the Yellow River civilization did not decline like the Nile civilization, the Ganges civilization and the two rivers civilization.