"Burning books to bury Confucianism" has created a "unified" pattern in China.
"Burning books to bury Confucianism" has always been the evidence of Qin Shihuang's cruelty. It has been reviled by scholars all over the world for more than 2,000 years, so that some people are still worried about this historical event, wishing that they could not dig graves and whip corpses, penetrate more than 2,000 years of time and space, and absorb bone marrow from Qin Shihuang. This hatred is actually a collective fear in the subconscious of later literati, which has been passed down from generation to generation. Emotionally, the old monk also felt that Qin Shihuang's method of burning books and burying Confucianism was too intense, and it was really cruel to Confucian scholars at that time. He could have taken some milder measures. But if we want to evaluate a historical event, it is best to evaluate it from the effect of the event, rather than using moral or emotional standards. So what is the historical role of burning books and burying Confucianism? I believe that after this incident, the historical pattern of great unity of the Chinese nation has been formed.
Let's look at the essence of "burning books to bury Confucianism". The essence of "burning books to bury Confucianism" is actually a movement to unify thoughts. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he abolished the enfeoffment system in political structure and implemented the county system nationwide. Culturally, unified writing, official writing with Xiao Zhuan as the standard; In the economic field, unified currency and unified measurement. These measures are the basic elements of national unity and can be controlled by powerful national violence. However, some things are difficult to control by the powerful structure of the country, especially in the early Qin Dynasty, just after the Warring States Period, when a hundred schools of thought contend, and the ideological field is extremely chaotic. To what extent a country can be unified, the most important condition is to what extent it can form the same values, and ideological confusion is the enemy of forming the same values. Therefore, it is not enough to have unified measures in politics, economy and culture. The most crucial and long-term unification factor is the unification of ideas and the formation of unified core values, so that the unification measures in politics, economy and culture can be effective. The two biggest ideological trends at that time were Confucianism and Legalism. Confucianism respects the ancient times, but Qin Shihuang's unification of China is a new thing, and the measures taken are also new measures, which do not conform to the Confucian concept. At that time, the nobles of the six countries also tried to restore the enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty through the Confucian "self-denial", thus gaining lost power. Therefore, for the newly unified Qin Dynasty, unifying thoughts is the key measure to maintain great unity. Therefore, after Qin Shihuang found several Confucian scholars, he began a cultural movement to unify his thoughts. The means are a bit intense, but the objective effect is obvious. Although the unified Qin dynasty only lasted for more than ten years, the rulers after the Qin dynasty regarded the idea of unified rule as the key means to maintain their rule. By the time Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty ousted hundreds of schools of thought, China's thought of unification was formally formed. Since then, the rulers of past dynasties have basically regarded Confucianism as the core concept of the country. What needs special explanation here is that the essence of "burying Confucianism" in the Qin Dynasty and "respecting Confucianism" in the Han Dynasty is the same, and they both want to unify their thoughts. In fact, since the Han Dynasty, all feudal rulers have basically practiced "Yang Confucianism and Yin Buddhism" or "True Confucianism", that is, on the surface, they adopted the Confucian point of view, but in fact it was a means of legalism. The emperor ruled the world in a legalist way and educated the people in a Confucian way. Legalists emphasized power, skill and power. The ancients regarded these things as the skills of emperors and as a way to control the people and ministers. Confucianism mainly emphasizes benevolence, righteousness and propriety. The greatest advantage of benevolence, righteousness and propriety is to form a sense of behavior in morality, and it is a good tool to maintain the hierarchy without resorting to violence. Therefore, rulers of past dynasties have used Confucianism to educate the world. At that time, Qin Shihuang took drastic measures because he didn't realize that Confucianism could be used. But burning books and burying Confucianism actually set the tone of Yang Confucianism and Yin Buddhism. Therefore, I think that burning books and burying Confucianism has created the great unity of China.
Of course, I'm not here to say that Qin Shihuang was right to lie to Confucianism. I just want to say that his unified thinking direction is right, and. The specific method can be better, but in an era when human life is worse than dung, there is no cleaner method than direct physical elimination. In addition, I think that evaluating a historical event must be based on its historical effect, which may be more objective.