The clan system of the Wei, Jin, southern and northern dynasties
The clan system of the two Jin and southern and northern dynasties
The clan system of the two Jin and southern and northern dynasties
Although the Wei, Jin, southern and northern dynasties were in It has been in a state of division and confrontation for a long time, but it has made many achievements in the political and economic system and plays a connecting role in Chinese history. The nine-grade Zhongzheng system, the gentry system, and the equal land system were the first political and economic systems of this period.
The gentry system is a unique historical phenomenon during the Three Kingdoms, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is characterized by the different political, economic and cultural status of the gentry and the common people according to their family status. Historically, the gentry system There is a long process of germination, formation, full development (also known as heyday), decline and demise; we should based on the scientific point of view of historical materialism, put the gentry system under the specific historical conditions at that time, seek truth from facts and divide it into 2. Analysis and evaluation.
Use the perspective of development to understand the emergence, development, decline and demise of the gentry system and the inevitability of the emergence of the imperial examination system
The concept of clans and clans
Official dignitaries in ancient my country There are two pillars standing outside the door of the house, "the one on the left is called Valve, and the one on the right is called Yue" ("Yupian·Menbu"). The owner used it to indicate the status of the family, and it became a symbol of a noble family. Therefore, in ancient China, those families who had been officials for generations were often called clans, clans, clans, clans, clans, etc.
The family members and family members mentioned here generally refer to the family background of wealthy families with surnames. Qin Guan, a scholar of the Song Dynasty, wrote in "On Jian Lun": "Since the Jin Dynasty, people have been employed by clans, and the Wang Xie family is the most prominent." In the two Jin and Southern Dynasties, aristocratic families monopolized political power.
The formation of the gentry system
The Western Jin Dynasty took the gentry, the privileged class of the landlord class, as the basis of its rule, and the gentry system and gentry politics were consolidated and developed.
Politically, the nine-grade Zhongzheng system guaranteed the political privileges of the gentry. Zhongzheng only paid attention to family status. At that time, someone wrote a family tree specifically recording the surnames of the nobles. Zhongzheng used this as a basis to evaluate people's grades, regardless of talent and virtue. In this way, the political power of the Western Jin Dynasty was completely monopolized by the gentry, and there was a situation where "the public family has the public and the qing family has the ministers", and the high-ranking gentry controlled the power;
Economically, the official occupation system ensured that the gentry economic privileges. The accelerated formation of the gentry system and the prevalence of gentry clan politics were also important aspects of the political corruption and darkness of the Western Jin Dynasty.
Causes
(1) Historical roots: the development of powerful landlord forces since the Eastern Han Dynasty. (2) Political reasons: The basis of the Wei and Jin regimes was the gentry, and the emperor relied on the support of the gentry;
(3) Political guarantee: The nine-grade Zhongzheng system was the political guarantee of the gentry system. (Becoming a tool for aristocratic families to cultivate private power and maintain political privileges,)
Development of the gentry system
(1) Germination (Eastern Han Dynasty)
Politics: Since the Han Dynasty Since Emperor Wu, Confucianism has been advocated, and most bureaucrats started their careers in Confucianism. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the situation of being a public minister gradually formed. Cao Wei implemented the nine-level Zhongzheng system, which allowed landowners from aristocratic families to participate in political power based on their family background.
Economy: In the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, land annexation was very serious, and a powerful landlord force consisting of bureaucrats, businessmen, and landlords gradually formed. The regime of the Eastern Han Dynasty was established with the support of powerful landlords. Therefore, powerful landlords enjoyed political and economic privileges in the Eastern Han Dynasty. They controlled the central and local political power politically, annexed land economically, and ran manors. They gradually became separatists and became famous families. The gentry landlords (also known as aristocratic clans and clan landlords) began to form in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which provided a class and economic basis for the establishment of the gentry system in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
(2) Formation (Cao Wei, Western Jin Dynasty)
The formation of the gentry system refers to the ruling class promulgating various laws to institutionally maintain the political, economic, and cultural status of the gentry landlords. , social life and other aspects of privileges. The nine-rank Zhongzheng system implemented by the Cao Wei regime was an important symbol of the formation of the gentry system.
(2) Consolidation (Western Jin Dynasty)
After the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Sima family continued to implement the policy of indulgence and win over them in order to gain the support of big landowners from aristocratic families, thus forming a typical Clan politics.
(3) Peak (Eastern Jin Dynasty)
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the gentry system was fully developed and entered its heyday. The reason is that the Eastern Jin Dynasty relied on the support of the northern and southern gentry to exist.
The Eastern Jin Dynasty was a joint dictatorship between the Sima imperial power and the northern gentry represented by the surnames Wang, Yu, Huan, and Xie, as well as the non-mainstream gentry with the Wu surname in the south of the Yangtze River. This political pattern lasted until the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which lasted for a century. for a long time. At that time, the power of the gentry clan was enough to be on par with the imperial power, or even surpass the imperial power. The emperor had to rely on the support of the gentry clan, and clan politics reached its peak. During this period, the gentry had high political positions and generous salaries, monopolized political power, economically restricted the mountains and rivers, occupied large tracts of land and labor force, and culturally advocated free conversation. In order to maintain this system, during the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, the gentry attached great importance to the compilation of genealogies and paid attention to the origin of the gentry's lineage as evidence of their own privileges. Genealogy flourished, and genealogy monographs became a tool for the officials to select officials and maintain the privileged status of the gentry.
During this period, the Tu people had political privileges, and important official positions were monopolized by the gentry; economically, they owned farms, occupied a large amount of land and population, and often competed with the government for the labor force; culturally, they inherited family learning and occupied a monopoly position. He also vigorously developed the study of genealogy, advocated metaphysics, and was good at calligraphy, painting and other arts. In society, he did not intermarry with the common people. The gentry held great power but were unwilling to get involved in practical affairs, and they rotted away in elegance and luxury.
(4) Gradual decline (Southern Dynasties)
The gentry system gradually declined from the late Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties. The fundamental reason lies in the decadence of the gentry themselves. Under the gentry system, noble gentry, especially high-ranking gentry, can become officials by virtue of their family status and control senior official positions for generations. The special social environment made many nobles not want to make progress, indulge in a leisurely and dissolute life, and disdain government and military affairs. In addition, the gentry were closely related and had extremely poor physical fitness. Therefore, after the Feishui battle between the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the former Qin Dynasty, some generals from common people stood out and showed high political and military talents, and their reputation and power rose rapidly. In the Southern Song and Qi Dynasties, The emperors of Liang, Liang, and Chen Kaiguo were all generals of the common people. Although the emperors of the Southern Dynasties could not change the situation in which senior nobles monopolized high-ranking officials, they used common people officials to entrust them with positions of low taste but with real power, and shared the privileges of the nobles in actual governance. The second reason for the decline of the gentry system during this period was that it was hit by the peasant uprising; the third reason was that the gentry was hit and weakened by the internal conflicts of the ruling class. The interaction of the above three reasons greatly weakened the class and economic foundation of the gentry system.
In the Southern Dynasties, due to the decadence of the wealthy families themselves. Losing the ability to rule politically and militarily; conflicts and intensification of social class contradictions, peasant uprisings one after another, Han landlords took advantage of the opportunity to rise with military exploits, while suppressing peasant uprisings, and then took charge of secrets and controlled local areas , commanded the army and became emperor with martial arts, such as Liu Yu, Xiao Daocheng, etc., breaking the situation where the powerful landlords dominated the world. Although the aristocratic landowners held high positions at this time, they no longer had real power and were heading for inevitable destruction. After the Hou Jing Rebellion and the Sui Dynasty's annihilation of Chen and other changes, the clan hierarchy was on its last legs, and the common landowners jumped to the main position on the political stage. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the nine-rank Zhongzheng system was abolished and the imperial examination system was implemented. "Scholar selection does not ask about family background, and marriage does not ask about the status of the clan." Finally, the gentry system that originated in Wei and prevailed in Jin finally died out in the political and legal systems. .
(5) Destruction (late Tang Dynasty)
The gentry system disappeared during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The first reason is that the implementation of the imperial examination system in the Sui and Tang Dynasties allowed the common people landowners with low family status to participate in the political power through examinations, which destroyed the political foundation of the gentry system, the "nine-grade Zhongzheng system"; and the implementation of the land equalization system and the rent adjustment system It allowed some farmers with little land to obtain some land, and also guaranteed the farmers' production time. Its regulations prohibiting unlimited land occupation and random land buying and selling have to some extent inhibited land annexation and protected self-cultivators, and weakened the economy to a certain extent. The economic basis of the gentry system. The second is the struggle for power within the ruling class of the Tang Dynasty. Third, the peasant war further destroyed the decadent gentry system. From then on, the gentry system that had existed for six to seven hundred years finally disappeared from the stage of history.
The gentry system developed fully in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the early Southern Dynasties, and the power of the gentry reached its peak. At that time, family status became the only criterion for measuring nobility. The nobles enjoyed privileges and were superior to others by virtue of their family background. Since the Yongjia Rebellion, a large number of gentry moved to the south, "the crown belt of the Central Plains, and hundreds of families crossed the river with the Jin". Together with the original gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, they became the ruling pillars of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The power of the gentry clan expanded, especially the high-ranking gentry clans such as Wang, Xie, Yu, and Huan. Their social status was extremely noble and they had great power. "Although the Lord of Jin had the dignity of the south, he had no actual ability to be the general emperor. ".
In the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the early Southern Dynasties, in order to maintain their superior family status and noble bloodline, the gentry paid great attention to well-matched marriages. They only allowed marriages between noble families of the same family. "Marriage that is out of character" will be despised by the nobles, and they will attack them in groups. During the Southern Qi Dynasty, Wang Yuan, a native of Donghai, married his daughter to the Fuyang Man clan. Wang Yuan was a member of the gentry clan, and he had been an official for generations. His great-grandfather also served as the minister's right servant. This marriage shocked the nobles of the Southern Dynasty. Shen Yue, the imperial censor, made a special impeachment report against Wang Yuan for this matter. He said, "Wang Man's marriage is really shocking" and accused Wang Yuan of "humiliating the descendants. This is not the case." , requesting the emperor to "remove the official who lives in Yuan for seeing something, and imprison him for life" ("Zoutan Wang Yuanwen"). Later, Hou Jing rebelled against Wei and defected to Nanliang. He once proposed to marry Wang Xie from the Wang family. Emperor Wu of Liang said: "Wang Xie's family is not coincidental, so he can visit him under Zhu Zhang." That is to say, Hou Jing and the family with the highest family status were considered to be intermarriage. The surnames of the nobles did not match each other, so they could only intermarry with inferior nobles. Hou Jingwenzhi was furious and said: "We will use the children of Wu as slaves!" ("Southern History·Hou Jing Biography")
The decline of the gentry system
The southern gentry was the most powerful in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the early Southern Dynasties. . In order to maintain their privileged status and vested interests, they advocated the natural separation between scholars and common people.
However, privilege also caused their incompetence, and many people among the gentry have become waste parasitic on society. The nobles were unwilling to lead troops in war, so some common people gradually gained real power by virtue of their military exploits.
For example, Liu Yu grew powerful and controlled the political power, and finally established the Liu Song Dynasty.
The nobles disdain to be officials with complicated affairs, and their own abilities are poor. The Han people of the Southern Dynasties took the opportunity to gradually master the secrets.
The nobles and nobles of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties were once prominent and popular, but that was just a flash in the pan and fleeting.
In the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, the gentry gradually declined. In the late Southern Dynasties, especially after the impact of the Hou Jing Rebellion, the hundreds of noble families who moved to the south during the Jin Dynasty were "completely wiped out."
Li Bai lamented that "the clothes of the Jin Dynasty turned into ancient hills" ("Climbing the Phoenix Terrace of Jinling"). The second song of Liu Yuxi's "Five Titles on Jinling", "Black Clothes Lane", satirizes the decline and demise of the gentry. Wuyi Lane and Zhuque Bridge in the poem were the places where Wang Xie's wealthy family lived and traveled. They were very lively and prosperous at that time, but now they are a desolate and lonely scene. Liu Yuxi sighed:
There are wild grasses and flowers beside the Zhuque Bridge, and the setting sun is setting at the entrance of Wuyi Lane. In the old days, the swallows in front of Wang Xietang flew into the homes of ordinary people.
Causes of decline
(1) Self-destruction: The decadent luxurious life and inherent privileges caused the gentry to lack the ability to hold power and even lack the ability to survive;
(2) The internal struggles within the ruling groups of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties were fierce, and the common people took advantage of the opportunity to gradually gain control of secrets;
(3) The impact of Hou Jing's Rebellion. In the Jin Dynasty, the gentry who traveled to the south were "exhausted";
(4) The implementation of the imperial examination system in the Sui and Tang Dynasties shook the political foundation of the gentry;
(5) The impact of the peasant uprising in the late Tang Dynasty . (Comprehensive sweep to end the gentry system)
Influence
The gentry system was the most prominent political feature throughout the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. It was also a manifestation of the dark political corruption of the Western Jin Dynasty and determined the politics of this period. The characteristics of the bureaucracy in various aspects such as economy, culture and so on have a profound influence on future generations.
Negative effects:
The political and economic characteristics of the gentry system determined that class conflicts, ethnic conflicts, and internal conflicts within the ruling class were often particularly acute during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, leading to long-term divisions between the north and the south. political situation. The gentry farm economy strengthened the closed natural economy and hindered the development of the commodity economy. The gentry were a decadent group among the landlord class. They became more decadent in the later stages and were a group of social parasites.
Objective positive effects: 1. Economically, the gentry farm economy was a feudal large-scale land ownership system. The gentry occupied a large amount of labor force, which strengthened the feudal dependence relationship. Under the turbulent political situation in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the peasants with household registration were attached to the aristocratic families and had relatively guaranteed production conditions, which was very important to the feudal society. Economic development is obviously beneficial; during the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, the south was relatively stable. The gentry landowners who were the core of northern immigrants came to the south to establish a country and start businesses. The objective situation made them the organizers of developing the southern economy. After all, the farms and mountain villas they built in the south were It played a role in promoting the development of the barren hills and swamps in the south of the Yangtze River. 2. In terms of ethnic relations, gentry officials played an important role in promoting the feudalization process of various ethnic minorities in the north.
3． In terms of thought, technology and culture, the gentry lived a prosperous life and had the conditions to engage in cultural undertakings. Some gentry despised etiquette and advocated freedom of individuality. Their thoughts were full of imagination and romance. Therefore, during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, there were more achievements in philosophy, literature, calligraphy, painting, and science. Many achievements and full of characteristics