Later, when Confucius recalled the achievements of his predecessors, he constantly mentioned "self-denial and courtesy" and thought that the hierarchical order of the Zhou Dynasty was the most perfect appearance of human society. "Zi Nan, Duke of Hou Bo" born under the hierarchy is like a gust of wind in the valley. Somehow, such a gust of wind also blew in the western mainland. Is this a coincidence?
You know, Zhou Tianzi witnessed the demise of the Shang Dynasty, so he naturally paid attention to the problems that occurred during the reign of the Shang Dynasty. It can be seen from Shang Zhouwang's forcing his uncle to fight, oppressing loyal ministers and allowing tribal development that Shang Zhouwang paid too much attention to the management of Ji Wang and neglected the personnel arrangement in the overall situation of the world, which led to the final tragedy.
Based on this, the three systems of rites and music, patriarchal clan system and enfeoffment system formed the ruling foundation of Zhou Dynasty (in fact, Shang Dynasty also had enfeoffment system, but it was not perfect). Why do you see it? After Zhou Wuwang made its capital Haojiang, it began to reward the heroes, leaving all the fields other than Wang Ji to the heroes and the imperial clan.
Under the enfeoffment system, everyone is like a chess piece on a chessboard. This chess game can't flow, just like a doll nailed to a cross. There is a subtle difference between these dolls, that is, the blood relationship with Zhou. Like the brothers and descendants of the Zhou emperor, they usually get better land, and the descendants and heroes of the ancient emperor will go to the frontier to be frontier defense ministers.
The land foundation of the enfeoffment system is the well field system, which is similar to the word "well". The most central land is farmland, and everyone should serve Zhou for free, even in the vassal States. In addition to the economic base, the feudal system was accompanied by patriarchal clan system and ritual system.
Patriarchal clan system is also based on people's blood relationship, and men are respected, so family values can be consolidated. When inheriting the throne and official position of Ji Wang and the vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty, we must abide by the principle of "establishing a position based on years instead of virtue, and establishing a son based on dignity rather than length", and only the position of the eldest son is the noblest.
In addition, it is the superficial effort to maintain the hierarchical order under the feudal system-the ritual and music system, and this is the most important representative of Confucius' "self-denial and courtesy". The so-called ritual collapse at the end of the Zhou Dynasty is that the princes no longer abide by the etiquette, and even the princes can enjoy the emperor-level dance at home. Confucius thundered, "What can be tolerated? What can't be tolerated!"
After completing a series of basic steps, every official must have a name, and the title system was born naturally.
When we are feeling that the Indian caste system has not given people a chance to breathe, and racial discrimination in the United States is getting worse, we must not forget the shackles of hierarchical order that appeared in this land thousands of years ago.
In addition to the distinction between nobles and civilians for thousands of years, there was a chain discrimination between nobles in the Zhou Dynasty, which is obvious and irrefutable. There is a "distinction between men and women" among nobles, and there is no flow between different grades under normal circumstances.
Generally speaking, if you draw a tree with the Zhou Emperor as the source, there are vassal states, big and small, besides the emperor, and the domestic governors of the vassal states arrange their own doctors and scholars, which is a complete aristocratic chain. Theoretically, the son of a warlord can only inherit the warlord, and the son of a doctor can only inherit the doctor. It is impossible for the son of a warlord to inherit the position of the son of an emperor.
Of course, there are exceptions, that is, in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty after Zhou Pingwang moved eastward, the authority of the Emperor of Zhou declined, and signs of the collapse of rites and music began to appear. The infighting among princes changed from the original infighting to open infighting, and unjust wars broke out everywhere. Of course, powerful vassal states are not satisfied with their titles, and Qi Huangong is a typical representative.
At first, the title of childe was "Hou" rather than "Gong", but after Guan Zhong became prime minister, the strength of Qi jumped to the first place and successfully reached the top of the Spring and Autumn Combat Power Rankings. Beixing and Kuiqiu Meng Hui were meetings in which Qi Huangong alluded to its advantages, and even the king of Zhou had to lose face. At the meeting, King Zhou publicly promoted Qi Huangong as a "male" and lost face.
Is it a historical coincidence that the western countries thousands of miles away also have the title system of "male masters and female masters"?
Compared with China's "emperor-vassal-master-scholar" sequence, there seems to be no separation of officials and titles in western Europe, and its rank sequence is generally "king-prince, prince, earl-son, baron-knight". Of course, it's not because China people come to Wan Li to teach.
We are used to comparing the titles of western feudal dynasties with those of China according to the titles in China's ancient books and the translations of western languages. So apart from the name, what's the difference between East and West?
In fact, although the vassal states of the Western Zhou Dynasty wanted to be loyal to the Zhou Emperor, pay tribute, fight with the army and make regular pilgrimages, it was not the emperor's turn to intervene in the specific kingdom issues, which was also the reason why the Zhou Dynasty ushered in a scuffle among local princes.
Although the aristocrats in the west have their own manors, they are still politically controlled by kings, such as 16 and 17 century British Tudor dynasty. After several exchanges of blood, the king's control over the nobility was obviously strengthened, which reflected a profound religious problem, namely the contradiction between Catholicism and Protestantism.
There is always an unspeakable beauty in the interconnection between world civilizations. Perhaps this is the * * * nature of human society. The multi-line rise of civilization, the diversified development of culture and the title system are inevitable in historical development.
However, history is sometimes like a master gardener. After the same seeds are sown, they are pruned into various forms. The two-way title system between China and the West reflects the different trends of eastern and western civilizations, and is a different trace left by the nobles of the East and the West in the long history.
Ironically, China's title system went to extremes, turned into an infinite cycle of kingship, and finally trapped this dream in the "heaven". Fortunately 1949 The sun rises in the east, and an equal country gives everyone the right to pursue happiness.
References:
The Analects of Confucius, The Warring States Policy and The Book of Rites