First: extravagance and corruption.
The corruption of the ruling group in the Western Jin Dynasty began with the emperor. Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, was a maid-in-waiting in the civil service election. There are thousands of ladies in the harem, but he is still not satisfied. After the downfall of the State of Wu, thousands of maids in the Palace of Wu were transported to Luoyang, bringing the number of maids in the harem to 10,000. Sima Yan didn't know what to do because there were too many ladies-in-waiting. Sometimes he sits in the car pulled by the sheep and wanders around the palace. The car stops at the door of which maid-in-waiting and stays at which maid-in-waiting house for the night.
The emperor is so arrogant and extravagant, how can he restrain the following? So those royal relatives and bureaucrats followed closely, indulging in luxury. Some pay attention to eating. He used to be a high official in the imperial court, Hou Lu. "There is nowhere to go, but there is nowhere to go." His son, He Zha, is even more extravagant. He spends 20,000 yuan on meals every day, twice as much as his father.
In the Western Jin Dynasty, it was popular to show off wealth and compare wealth. The story of Shi Chong and Wang Kai fighting for wealth and treasure is typical. In the Western Jin Dynasty, some people with too much power and property were arrogant and lacked self-control, and even took killing people as a joke.
According to the biography of Wang Kai in the Book of Jin, Wang Kai, a consort, often arranges some prostitutes to play music to entertain guests. Once a woman who plays the flute is out of tune, Wang Kai will execute her in public. Shi Chong is also an extremely cruel guy who takes pleasure in killing people. Every time he treats people to drink, he often asks beautiful people to pour and persuade them to drink. If the guests don't drink, let the guards kill the beautiful woman. Once Wang Dun and Wang Dao went to Shi Chong's house for dinner. Wang Dun just doesn't drink. As a result, Shi Chong beheaded three beautiful women, but he still doesn't drink. Wang Dao blamed Wang Dun, but Wang Dun said savagely, "What happened to Yi's suicide?"
The story of "cutting beauty to persuade wine" is recorded differently in historical books. Wang Dun Biography of the Book of Jin is about Wang Kai, not Shi Chong. Shi Shuo Xin Yu Fei was written by Shi Chong. Later scholars thought that the characters were mistaken in the process of legend.
However, neither Wang Kai nor Shi Chong can be held accountable for their murder. We can only say that Wang Kai, Shi Chong and Wang Dun are a group of cold-blooded animals. Their conscience disappeared, selfish and cold, which was the product of the corrupt society in the Western Jin Dynasty.
People of insight are worried about the phenomenon that society advocates luxury from top to bottom. Minister Fu Xian wrote to the court and angrily pointed out: "Luxury is more expensive than natural disasters!" He also said: "The ancients had no hair, but today people compete for housing. The ancient people had no jade to eat, but today Jia forgives Liang meat. Empresses and concubines in ancient times had special ornaments, and now ladies-in-waiting and concubines are all wearing silk. In ancient times, doctors did nothing, but today humble servants take advantage of CD-ROM drive grease. The ancients were thick and narrow and had savings because of festivals; Nowadays, people are vast and sparsely populated, but they suffer from shortage because of luxury. "
Second: the wind of money worship.
With Sima Yan's connivance and cover-up, the bureaucrats in the Western Jin Dynasty spared no effort to pursue interests and greedily plundered people's wealth, and money became the most attractive thing for them. In their view, nothing is impossible with money.
The Western Jin Dynasty was the most popular period of money worship in ancient China. Money was originally the medium of commodity circulation, but in the Western Jin Dynasty, money became an omnipotent god. People feel the corrosion of this social atmosphere to society and write articles to attack it. Among them, Lu Bao wrote a famous "On the God of Wealth", which satirized the social phenomenon that everything is for money and everything is for money.
Lu Bao's exposition on the role of money is very incisive. He vividly described the greedy plunder of money by bureaucrats and nobles and the role of money. The article writes:
If you lose, you will be poor, if you win, you will be rich ... if you have no virtue, you will be respected, and if you have no potential, you will be hot. Where money is, danger can make you safe, death can make you live, where money goes, expensive can make you cheap, and life can make you kill. Therefore, it is hard to say that litigation is not money, loneliness and stagnation are not money, and hatred and hatred are not money. ...
Lu Bao also wrote: Hold my hand and hold me to the end. Regardless of the advantages and disadvantages, regardless of age, guests are always crowded, and the door is often like a city. As the saying goes, "money has no ears, but it can be used secretly." He said, "Money can make ghosts." Today all people are only interested in money. Therefore, Japan: the army has no money, and scholars do not come; If the army has no reward, the scholars will not go; It is better to return to the field than to be an official; Although there are people who have no brothers, they want to fly without wings and want to walk without feet.
Lu Bao's criticism really hit the nail on the head. Money has become a powerful lever in society. People openly talk about money, love it, covet it and plunder it. Everything between the government and the opposition is money first, and everything can be exchanged with money. Social atmosphere is extremely corrupt.
Mencius said: "If the people of the whole country are competing for profits, then the country will be in danger." . If this phenomenon becomes a social fashion, the country will definitely have problems. Driven by money, the social problems in the Western Jin Dynasty became increasingly serious, and the ruling crisis became increasingly apparent.
Third: talk about the wind of vanity.
In the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a wind of empty talk. Talking calmly, also known as "talking about metaphysics" and "metaphysics", is devoted to discussing some abstract problems that are divorced from reality. Discuss some abstract philosophical issues, such as being and not being, talent (ability) and nature (morality), Confucianism (political system and morality), nature (heaven, human nature) and so on. If scholars study and discuss, it is not only irrelevant to the political situation, but also elegant.
The problem is that the bureaucrats in the Western Jin Dynasty also advocated metaphysics. They pretend to be "celebrities", wagging their tails smartly, talking about Kan Kan, and being mysterious. For example, Wang Yan of Langya was called the leader of Tan Xuan. He is a leader and a secretary among all the assistant ministers of Huangmen. The position is very high, but he doesn't do practical things. "The mouth doesn't care about the world, only cares about elegance and metaphysics." Holding the tail of jade handle, "Miao Shan metaphysics", Yue Guang is good at talking about metaphysics with him.
"The Book of Jin Yue Guang Chuan": "Guang and Wang Yan both care about themselves, and their names are more important than the world. Therefore, those who talk about romance in the world are called kings, and those who are happy are the first. " Outside the house, your mind is outside political affairs, and you are not doing well. What you like every day is chatting. Officials in the Western Jin Dynasty talked about lofty ideals and indulged in drinking all day long without dealing with and solving practical problems, which would inevitably bring serious consequences to the country. Before the Western Jin Dynasty perished and the minister Wang Yan was killed, he sighed, "Alas! Although Cao Cao is not as good as the ancients, if he has no ancestors, he is still vain and still struggling to conquer the world. " Later, it was called "nonsense, making mistakes".
However, empty talk is only appearance. Scholars often talk about philosophy and concepts, and some propositions are very valuable. This can't be said to be the fault of the state, and officials don't work and talk nonsense, which affects work efficiency, but it won't be the fault of the state. The fundamental reason for the national subjugation in the Western Jin Dynasty lies in the social unrest caused by political corruption. Officials' speaking freely is the expression of political corruption, which is the appearance rather than the essence.
Extended data:
Wei-Jin period (220-420) refers to the period from the Three Kingdoms to the Jin Dynasty after the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which is usually called the early Wei-Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties (220- 589 AD).
Wei Jinzhong's "Wei" refers to Cao Wei, the northern regime of the Three Kingdoms, and "Jin" refers to the Jin Dynasty established by the Sima family. At this time, the north is in the period of Wuhu Sixteen Countries.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the state power changed frequently and the thoughts were free and open. Culture has been greatly developed, and literature, thought, art, calligraphy and music have had a great influence on later generations. People's evaluation of characters has changed from moral demeanor to appearance, and then developed into spiritual temperament, which is called Wei-Jin romance or Wei-Jin demeanor in cultural history.
Starting from the demeanor of Wei and Jin Dynasties, the scholar-bureaucrat spirit with complementary Confucianism and Taoism laid the personality foundation of China intellectuals and had a far-reaching influence. Nowadays, young people's love for life, self-discovery and affirmation are in the same strain as the values of Wei and Jin Dynasties. Nowadays, young people pursue beautiful and elegant personality, which is complementary to the aesthetic relationship in Wei and Jin Dynasties.
References:
Weijin-Baidu Encyclopedia