1. Strengthening ideological control was conducive to social stability and the consolidation of feudal rule at that time;
2. Destroyed many cultural classics and many precious pre-Qin cultures;
3. Embedding people's thoughts is not conducive to innovation and development, and has a bad influence on future generations.
Say in detail:
"Burning books to bury Confucianism" and "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" are two major events in the cultural history of China. On the surface, these two events are opposite in nature, one is to kill Confucianism, and the other is to praise Confucianism. But in fact, they have the same destructive effect on culture.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, China's culture reached a peak through "a hundred schools of thought contend". At that time, intellectuals were not only free to express their opinions academically, but also received unprecedented respect in their political status. It is common for a monarch and a minister to cultivate scholars if they are thirsty for talents; Hundreds of philosophers traveled around the world and made suggestions.
At that time, intellectuals formed the habit of talking about state affairs, but "burning books to bury Confucianism" ruined all this. Although Qin Shihuang only killed a few hundred Confucian scholars and didn't burn all the books, he told readers all over the world with great power, making them understand that China has entered an authoritarian era, and the words can't be blatantly said any more. "Burning books to bury Confucianism" has brought a bad head and treated culture with violence. Therefore, all the later dynasties had "literary inquisitions".
"To oust a hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone" is different. It does not use any violence, but uses a harmonious means to set a model and an example. Want to succeed? Want to be a saint? Well, learn Confucianism and nothing else. Confucianism is the mainstream, others are non-mainstream. The non-mainstream is a poor scholar all his life, and only the mainstream can enter the ranks of literati.
This kind of "kidnapping" is actually "killing", but there is no bloodshed, and the means are very civilized and ingenious. However, the essence of culture determines that only the contention of different schools and different ideas can make progress, and only one idea can unify the world. No matter how good this idea is, it is a kind of imprisonment for culture.
China culture has spent more than two thousand years in this kind of fighting, and the glory of a hundred schools of thought has never appeared again. No matter how good Tang poetry and Song poetry are, no matter how good Yuanqu is, no matter how good Ming and Qing novels are, they can't hide the sadness of this culture.
If a nation is not culturally strong, it is easy to fall into political corruption and ideological decadence. It is useless to be strong only in technology and economy. It's not really strong. Dasong is a typical example. In terms of science and technology, the Song Dynasty ranked first in the world, and the four great inventions that China people were proud of were born in this period. Economically, the Song Dynasty was also the best in the world, and the riverside scene on the Qingming Festival showed the prosperity at that time. It happened that it was such a big country that occupied the first place in the world in science, technology and economy at that time, but it was repeatedly bullied by the small country of Xu Jin and finally destroyed by Mongolia. The development of Confucianism reached a peak in the Great Song Dynasty, which was also pedantic.
Lee? The Yue Se puzzle shows that China has developed very slowly, so it has been surpassed by the West. What's the problem? After the "dark middle ages", the west suddenly realized that it was out of culture. The emergence of a large number of thinkers such as Rousseau and Voltaire has brought the West into an era of cultural explosion, which will continue to this day. China has never seen that kind of cultural prosperity, and "a hundred schools of thought contend" has become an eternal memory and monument in the cultural history of China, which can only be seen by future generations, but it cannot be copied and carried forward.
It can be said that "burning books to bury Confucianism" and "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" have influenced culture for two thousand years, which is a huge tragedy.
imperial examination system
Imperial examination is a system of selecting officials through examinations in feudal dynasties. It is called imperial examination because it adopts the method of selecting scholars by subjects. The imperial examination system was implemented in the first year of Daye in Sui Dynasty (605), and the last Jinshi examination was held in the 31st year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1905), which lasted more than 1300 years.
The imperial examination system was implemented in China for 1300 years, which had a far-reaching impact on China's social structure, political system, education and humanistic thought after Sui and Tang Dynasties.
The original purpose of the imperial examination was to promote talents for the government from the people, break the hereditary phenomenon of nobles and rectify the official system. Compared with hereditary system and recommendation system, imperial examination is undoubtedly a fair, open and just method, which improves the employment system. At first, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese in East Asia held imperial examinations in China, and Vietnam abolished the imperial examinations after China. 16 and 17 centuries, European missionaries saw China's imperial examination system and introduced it to Europe in their travel notes. /kloc-During the Enlightenment in the 8th century, many British and French thinkers praised China's fair and just system. /kloc-The civil service recruitment method established in Britain in the middle and late 9th century stipulated that government civil servants should be recruited through regular public examinations, and gradually formed a civil service system that was imitated by European and American countries. The examination principles and methods adopted by the British civil service system are very similar to those adopted by China Imperial Examination, which absorbed the advantages of Imperial Examination to a great extent. So some people call the imperial examination the fifth invention of Chinese civilization. Today's examination system is a continuation of the imperial examination system to a certain extent. Since the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination has been conducted regardless of birth, wealth or poverty. This not only greatly broadens the basis for the government to select talents, but also gives middle and lower intellectuals the opportunity to flow to the upper class of society through scientific research. This policy has played a considerable role in maintaining the stability of the whole society. Nearly half of the scholars in Ming and Qing dynasties were "poor families" whose ancestors did not study, or although they studied, they did not become officials. But as long as you can "climb the dragon gate", you will naturally be "worth ten times". Over the years, thousands of students have bowed their heads as willing cows, hoping to become famous and honor their ancestors. It can be said that imperial examination is an effective way to network and control scholars to consolidate rule.
The imperial examination excavated and trained a large number of talents for the dynasties of China. 1300 years, the imperial examination produced nearly100000 scholars and millions of scholars. Of course, not everyone is a man of insight, but most of them are not idle. During the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, among the famous officials of the Han people and the pillars of the country, most of them came from Jinshi. The practice after Yingzong in the Ming Dynasty was "no scholar, no academician, no cabinet", and the imperial examination became the only way for senior officials. Matteo Ricci came to China in the middle of Ming Dynasty, and the scholar-officials in charge of governing the whole country were produced by the imperial examination system.
The imperial examination also played a considerable role in promoting the popularization of knowledge and the folk reading atmosphere. Although this promotion is due to the pursuit of fame by ordinary people, rather than the desire for knowledge or spirituality; But objectively, China's writing style has been generally improved, because the imperial examination has become a fashion. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the number of scholars in China was not less than 500,000 most of the time. Including children, there are millions. Except for a few who can further their careers, most of them have become grassroots intellectuals living in various places, which has played a certain role in popularizing knowledge. Moreover, because these scholars are the products of the same system, they all learn the same "sage book", which indirectly maintains the unity and centripetal force of cultures and ideas in all parts of China.
The adverse effects of the imperial examination mainly lie in the content and form of the examination. Since the Ming Dynasty, the content of imperial examinations has become rigid, requiring only candidates to create articles that conform to the form, without paying attention to the actual knowledge of candidates. Most scholars are bound by narrow four books and five classics and pedantic eight-part essay in order to take the science exam. Both vision, creativity and independent thinking are greatly limited. The only purpose of most people studying is to pass the scientific examination, while studying is only to be an official and to worship their ancestors. In addition, the imperial examination also limited the way out for talents. By the Qing Dynasty, most famous artists who had made outstanding achievements in literary creation or various technologies were frustrated in the examination hall. It can be inferred that the imperial examination system not only excavated talents for the government, but also buried outstanding talents in other fields; For a century, all kinds of elites have been trapped in the examination room and wasted their time. In order to enslave the Han people, the Qing government imposed strict restrictions on the contents of the imperial examinations. The imperial examination system in Qing dynasty declined gradually, with more and more disadvantages. Although the rulers of the Qing Dynasty criticized the cheating in the imperial examination, due to the defects of the imperial examination system itself, cheating intensified and the imperial examination system eventually died out.
Even after the imperial examination was abolished, it still left many traces in China society. For example, the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, which was founded by Sun Yat-sen, stipulated the separation of five powers, and the "examination institute" among them originated from the imperial examination tradition in China. In addition, some habits of imperial examinations can still be seen in the college entrance examination in Chinese mainland. For example, admission by province, binding the examination paper to the candidate's identity information, preventing the examiner from colluding with the candidates, and calling the highest score in the college entrance examination the champion. , are the remnants of the imperial examination.
The deficiency and negative influence of imperial examination
According to Mr. Qian Mu's research on China's ancient political system: "If a good system can last forever, it will stifle politics." With the development of the imperial examination system, especially in feudal society, the imperial examination system will also have some negative effects.
First, because the rulers changed the content of the examination, the imperial examination became a shackle that bound the intellectuals' thoughts. Ming Taizu officially designated the eight-part essay originated in the Yuan Dynasty as the style of the imperial examination. This style consists of four paragraphs, namely, title, title, beginning, head, part, middle part, back part and beam part. There are two opposite words in the last four paragraphs, which are * * * stereotyped writing, so it is called stereotyped writing. The theme of eight-part essay should be expressed on behalf of saints, that is, writing articles under the guidance of Confucius thought. In the Qing dynasty, saints expanded to include Confucius disciples and Zhu and other philosophers, and asked Zhu's writing style. After Qianlong, poetry test became an important item in the imperial examination. Like the eight-part essay, the trial poem has a fixed formula, and it is also sixteen sentences in the eight-part essay, but the eight-part essay has become six sentences. The first link is like a topic, the second link is like a topic, the third link is like a talk, the fourth link is like a middle share, the sixth link is like a back share, and the eighth link is like a bundle. We must carry forward the thoughts of Confucius and Mencius and Zhu, and we can't express our feelings at will. The original intention of stereotyped writing, I think, may be written in a fixed format, which is convenient for examiners to mark and reflects "fairness". Otherwise, everyone has his own writing style, and there will be a situation that "different people have different opinions, and the wise have different opinions". However, it later became a tool for rulers to control their thoughts. Because of the eight-part essay examination, the thoughts of those who are not good at imperial examinations are suppressed, and some intellectuals cannot innovate academically and ideologically. This leads to backward thinking and stagnant development of science and technology. Even produce Kong Yiji such imperial examination victims.
Second, the imperial examination system also produced a family tragedy. Because of the rich honor of the imperial examination system and preferential treatment, and the imperial examination is also an important way for ordinary people to get ahead, there are often tragedies in which poor people abandon their wives and children after graduating from high school. I believe that Chen Shimei (first of all, this is just a character in Chinese drama, which is totally false according to research. How could an ancient emperor be so cunning? Secondly, it is also a question of personal morality. ) As we all know. Although this is very important because of the ideological values and sense of responsibility of the parties, the imperial examination has given it such a living soil after all.
Finally, the imperial examination system led to official corruption. With the advance of the historical wheel, the imperial examination system became politicized, and the education of teacher-student relationship led to the prevalence of teacher-student relationship. This has caused a serious nepotism. These teacher-student relationships help each other in officialdom, and officials protect each other. The corrupt officials in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty are the best example. Under the favor of emperor Qianlong, he dominated the world, took bribes, and became rich. And many times, the title of the imperial examination is used as bait to ask for bribes from candidates. This is not conducive to the country to build a fair, just and open social good system. Caused the darkness of officialdom and social chaos.
In a word, the negative effect of the imperial examination system is not mainly the fault of the system itself, but the system itself should recognize that the imperial examination is a good system for selecting officials and talents. The imperial examination system is to select talents, and it can also select talents from traditional society and entrust them with heavy responsibilities. As for the stereotyped writing style of imperial examinations in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and China's tradition of emphasizing art over technology and humanism over nature, it is the real reason for the backwardness of science and technology after Ming and Qing Dynasties. Many commentators regard cheating in the imperial examination as the drawbacks of the imperial examination system, such as taking exams, bribing examiners, joints, etc., and think that the prevalence of cheating in the imperial examination system in the late Qing Dynasty shows that the imperial examination system is dark. In fact, judging from the basic rules and regulations of the examination room after the Song Dynasty, cheating is a problem of people, not the system itself. Even now there will be cheating in the college entrance examination. The exclusion of women from the selection scope cannot be blamed on the imperial examination. Without the imperial examination system, ancient women did not have the right to participate in politics, which was determined by the nature of ancient society.