Kangxi finally completed the unification of the whole country and established a powerful feudal empire. In order to ease class contradictions and stabilize social order, he took a series of measures to restore the rural economy. After the cruel exploitation and war in the late Ming Dynasty, the people had a chance to settle down. After decades of rest and recuperation, the whole society gradually recovered its prosperity and accumulated great wealth for the Qing Dynasty. The policy of restricting foreign trade effectively curbed the invasion of early western colonial forces and ensured the development of feudal economy.
The rulers of the Qing Dynasty inherited and further strengthened the centralized political system of the Ming Dynasty, and stipulated that all central institutions, from the cabinet to the six ministries, should be restored and divided equally between Manchu and Han. But in fact, the central power is not in the cabinet. Before Yongzheng, a king's meeting composed of Manchu nobles was held. After Yongzheng, the military department was full of military ministers, and all important issues were finally decided by the emperor, forming an extremely autocratic feudal rule.
The imperial examination system in Qing Dynasty was still based on the old system in Ming Dynasty, and eight-part essay was adopted to recruit students, but the admission quota was expanded and the donation system was promulgated. 17 (1678), Kangxi set up a branch of Xuehong to attract "celebrities", and all recipients were awarded the official position of the Hanlin Academy. While carrying out the policy of imprisonment, writers are forbidden to form associations, and literary prisons are set up to suppress ideological resistance. In the early Qing Dynasty, the social collections of literati were very prosperous. Due to the great changes in the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, most of the literati pinned their feelings of missing the motherland on their poems. Yang said: "Ming society was a family, and scholars were haggard and dereliction of duty." Those with high spirits and culture will form a poetry club to express their feelings for the old country and Lao Wang. South of the river, there is no land. " (Collection of Autumn Rooms 1) Collection of the Legacy of Shannan Cottage in Shu. Therefore, since the ninth year of Shunzhi (1652), there has been an explicit prohibition on literati association. An investigation on the revision of the Constitution in the 3rd year of Yongzheng (1725). The number of literary inquisitions is also higher than that of previous dynasties. In the second year of Kangxi (1663), in addition to Zhuang Ting's premature death and "burning the corpse", "more than 70 people were killed" ("Collected Works of Lin Ting, Two Biographies of Shu Panwu"), and nearly 200 people were implicated, most of them were community literati. In addition, such as Shen Tianfu prison, Nanshan collection prison, Yongzheng king prison, prison and so on. , a cruel repression, had a great negative impact on the literati at that time.
The cultural and ideological struggle in the early Qing Dynasty was also very sharp. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty strongly advocated Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, and Kangxi compiled The Essentials of Human Nature, reprinted The Complete Book of Human Nature, promulgated the whole country, and consolidated his ideological rule. Zhu Cheng School's Li Guangdi, Tang Bin, Lu and others are all favored.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the progressive thinkers Gu, Huang Zongxi and Wang Fuzhi who appeared in the struggle against national oppression and feudal autocracy all experienced the downfall of the Ming Dynasty, witnessed all kinds of decay and darkness in the late Ming Dynasty and participated in the military struggle against the Qing Dynasty. Through this life experience and long-term observation and analysis of social contradictions and ethnic contradictions, they summed up historical experience and produced progressive democratic ideas.
Their ideological characteristics are as follows: First, they deeply criticized the feudal society itself, and some put forward some democratic political opinions or improved methods to remedy the shortcomings and problems accumulated by feudal rule, especially in the Ming Dynasty.
Huang Zongxi boldly attacked the autocratic monarchy, arguing that "the monarch is the bane of the world" and Tang Zhen believed that "since Qin and Han Dynasties, emperors have been thieves". They also put forward the idea of equal field system. Huang Zongxi advocated that 50 mu of cultivated land should be given to each household first, and the remaining land should be enriched in proportion. At the same time, the land should be graded according to the soil quality, and the local tax should be based on eleven. In "Nightmare", Wang Fuzhi further put forward that "those who have power rule their land" and "the people have their eternal land", which can be said to be the germination of the idea of "land to the tiller".
Secondly, it is resistance and criticism to national oppression.
Cuba pays special attention to preventing foreign aggression. He said: "If you die, you will die", and "If you change your name, you will die; Benevolence is full, and as for attracting animals to eat people, it is called the death of the world. " When he said "subjugation", he meant regime change, and "subjugation of the country and the world" meant national decline. He believes that protecting the country is the responsibility of the monarch, ministers and people who perform their duties. "It is the responsibility to protect the world" (Rizhilu)!
Stimulated by the times, they opposed Wang Xue's empty talk about mind and nature in the late Ming Dynasty and put forward the idea of "combining Confucian classics without promoting Neo-Confucianism" in an attempt to awaken people's hearts and revive the nation through Confucian classics and history. Gu advocated that "everything is not based on the Six Classics, and everything is not people-oriented" (Book with People). Huang Zongxi said: "The beauty and evil of literature are divorced from reality." This began to change the style of study in the late Ming Dynasty.
Later, Yan Requ, Hu Weiwei and others raised the banner of Sinology and attacked Song Studies. These have had a far-reaching impact on the style of study in the Qing Dynasty, and also played an important role in the literary theory and creation in the Qing Dynasty. The retro tendency in poetry and even novels and operas in the Qing Dynasty is related to this style of study.
Progressive writers in the early Qing Dynasty had a strong national consciousness and a deeper understanding of reality. The works of Ming adherents, such as Gu, Qu Dajun, Wang Youding and Wei, who are famous for their poems, not only reveal a strong national consciousness, but also reflect the tragic life of the people at that time. In addition, Wu, who bowed to the Qing Dynasty, also reflected the chaotic situation between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and his poems were of high artistry. Wang Shizhen was a major poet in Kangxi period. He pays attention to "verve" in his poems and strives for "detachment" in his creation. The formation of this poetic style reflects that writers are increasingly divorced from reality. Although there were many poets in the early Qing Dynasty, they imitated more than created, such as Su and Xin, and Zhu Yizun imitated Jiang and Zhang Zong's legal system. Although Nalan Xingde has many works that express his mind directly, he is limited by your son's life and his ideological content is relatively poor.
In terms of drama, a school of writers, represented by Li Yu, appeared in Suzhou, reflecting the reality of unrest in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Li Yu and others' Zhong Qing Pu made a more profound collective criticism on the politics of the late Ming Dynasty. During the Kangxi period, Hong A's Palace of Eternal Life and Kong's Peach Blossom Fan inherited the excellent tradition of the Ming Dynasty legend, and at the same time expressed the country's "sense of rise and fall", representing the highest achievement of opera creation at that time. Li Yu's drama theory, combined with the stage reality, summed up the achievements of predecessors and achieved good results.
In terms of novels, chenchen's "Water Margin" describes the resurgence of Liangshan heroes under the dark feudal rule, and highlights the ethnic contradictions in the Southern Song Dynasty, which has strong practical significance. Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio inherits the tradition of strange novels in Wei and Jin Dynasties and legends in Tang and Song Dynasties, develops and creates them, and forms a unique artistic style. At the same time, it entrusted the author with "loneliness and anger", exposed the evil of the feudal ruling class, showed the spiritual poison brought by the feudal imperial examination system, and praised the spirit of fighting for a sincere love life and opposing feudal ethics. He achieved the highest achievement in the creation of China's classical novels.
The Qianlong period was a period when the economic and cultural development reached its peak and class contradictions became increasingly fierce in the Qing Dynasty. With the development of agricultural production, and to meet the needs of nobles, big landlords and big businessmen to enjoy life, urban industry and commerce are also active, showing a prosperous scene. At that time, the scale and level of kiln, printing, salt industry, textile industry and mining industry were considerable. There are nearly 200,000 kiln workers in Jingdezhen, and tea workshops in Guangzhou, with 500 male and female child laborers. Some machines have been used. In this process, the seeds of capitalism that were once destroyed in the southeast coast began to develop again. However, due to the unbalanced social and economic development in China, the seeds of capitalism are not obvious enough in many areas, and due to the obstruction of feudal forces, its growth process is very slow and tortuous.
So at that time, the contradiction between the feudal landlord class and the peasants was still the main contradiction in society. The expansion and merger of the feudal landlord class made the land highly concentrated. Not only did the royal family, nobles and bureaucrats gather huge wealth, but also large businesses, pawn shops, banks, salt fields and even ordinary local tyrants and wealthy businessmen gathered amazing wealth. As a result, the more concentrated the land, the poorer the farmers.
In the last years of Qianlong, politics became increasingly corrupt and corruption became the norm. At that time, Bi Yuan was the governor of Tonghu, Funing was the governor, and Chen Huai was the vassal department. People say: "the garden is like a bat, unshakable, and it specializes in sucking past insects and ants;" Happiness is like a tiger and a wolf, regardless of people or animals, it is swallowed up; Chen Rushu, drilling holes and eroding things, is unprepared. " In the early years of Jiaqing, the furniture of Xiao Shenyang, the former minister of war, was confiscated, and the estimated silver was about 65.438+0 billion taels, which was 654.38+0 times more than the military expenditure during the Qianlong period. The Eight Banners neither practiced nor produced, and became a parasitic class in society. The life of the whole ruling group is extravagant and decadent. Class contradictions and ethnic contradictions are also intensifying day by day, and large-scale military struggles break out one after another. For example, in the first year of Jiaqing (1796), the Anbaili rebellion lasted for nine years, and its active areas included Sichuan, Shaanxi, Chu, Henan and Gansu provinces. The Miao Uprising was one year earlier than Anbaili Uprising, which lasted 12 years. In Jiaqing 18 (18 13), another Tian Li uprising broke out.
The struggle of people of all ethnic groups against feudal exploitation and national oppression dealt a heavy blow to the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, and at the same time deepened the contradictions within the ruling class. During the Daoguang period, opium smuggling activities of British colonial forces became more frequent, and a large amount of silver flowed out, which made the financial resources of the Qing government even more exhausted. In the 20th year of Daoguang (1840), the Opium War broke out, which started the struggle of China people against imperialism and its lackeys, and made China gradually enter the period of bourgeois democratic revolution.
During the Qianlong period, the rulers continued to implement the high-pressure policy and win over the literati. Literal prison cases often occur. According to an incomplete archival material, there were 63 cases of * * * in the archives of Wen Prison in Qing Dynasty, from 6 years of Qianlong (174 1 year) to 53 years of Qianlong (1788), and there were cases of Wen Prison almost every year, so killing people and burning books became a common thing. Gan Long's means of wooing the scribes also surpassed that of the previous generation. In 36 years (177 1 year), Gan Long imitated Kangxi's method, and then opened the "erudite and grand speech festival". There were 267 candidates, and 220 candidates actually went to Beijing (full biography of bus recruitment). In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1773), the "Sikuquanshu Museum" was opened to collect suicide notes from the world, which not only recruited a large number of imperial "talents", but also destroyed all historical documents and other books against Qing Dynasty, national oppression and feudal autocracy on a large scale by compiling Sikuquanshu, in an attempt to eliminate Han people's anti-Qing thought and anti-feudal spirit. Results During the eight years from 39 years (1774) to 47 years (1782), countless books were destroyed, damaged and tampered with. However, it must be pointed out that this huge collection of books has also contributed to the development of China culture.
During the period of Ganjia, textual research developed into a specialized knowledge. Under the condition of prohibiting literature, the Ganjia school gradually gave up Gu's academic spirit and embarked on the road of textual research.
The style of study in Wu Pai, represented by Huidong, is "learning from the past" and "learning from the past"; The Huizhou style of study represented by Dai Zhen is "seeking truth from facts" and "don't believe or ask". The purpose of their textual research is to get through the classics. Because they only rely on the opinions of Han Confucianism, especially those of Xu Shen and Zheng Xuan, their so-called "seeking truth from facts" is very different from what we call seeking objective laws today. Although they have made great contributions to sorting out ancient academic culture, they pursue the ancient, divorced from reality, and are submerged in tedious textual research. In the final analysis, they are whitewashing the feudal rulers.
Among them, Dai Zhen, a representative of Huizhou school, sympathized with the sufferings of the people and cared more about politics. In Mencius Shuo Wen, he showed progressive philosophy and political thought. Put forward "general feeling" and "practice" to oppose Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism. He said: "The cruel officials killed people by law, and later Confucianism killed people by reason. If he is immersed in the law and argues, he will die, which is even more hopeless! ..... After Confucianism, the study of mind was more strict than that of Shang Dynasty, so it was more pedantic to learn without knowing people's feelings. And its responsibility to the people, the people are unclear, the other party thinks it is reasonable, and the world suffers. " (The Original Collection of Dai Dong and A Book). However, Dai Zhen had little influence on his thought, and he was still known as a master of exegetics.
Early textual research scholars flaunted Sinology in order to distinguish it from Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, which originated in the Song Dynasty, and later was more about reconciling the study of Han and Song Dynasties. They further summarized the academic and literary achievements of their predecessors and served the feudal ruling class at that time. Under the influence of this atmosphere, the tendency of retro in literary creation is more serious, and only novels have achieved high artistic achievements.
Wang Shizhen's "verve theory" still had a great influence in the poetry circle in the middle of Qing Dynasty. Shen Deqian, who advocates "gentleness and gentleness", is a typical Taige poet. Later, Weng Fanggang's theory of "texture" showed the influence of textual research on poetry. Only Yuan Mei's theory of opposing retrospection and advocating natural spirit inherited and developed the tradition of the public security school in the late Ming Dynasty. His theory of "soul" was not as abstract as that of the public security school, but based on reality, which was relatively progressive at that time. Zheng Xie's poems can not only break through the shackles of retro-ism, but also write some poems that sympathize with people's sufferings. Fang Bao, Liu Dakui and Yao Nai of Tongcheng School have always influenced the literary world in the late Qing Dynasty. Because the literati read more ancient books and remember more ancient things, there has also been a situation of "revival" of parallel prose, which is the opposite school of Tongcheng School, and Wang Zhong has made great achievements in this respect.
In the aspect of zaju and legend, because the author is divorced from reality and people, and pursues rules and words unilaterally, his works can only become things on the desk of literati. Only Jiang Shiquan and Yang Chaoguan have made considerable achievements. Instead, it is a vibrant local drama. Tanci and Guci, which developed from the Ming Dynasty, were popular at this time, with a large number of works. Some famous works, such as The Legend of the Righteous Demon, show the anti-feudal spirit and the pursuit of love. Rebirth praised the wisdom of women and successfully shaped the image of Meng Lijun. Rain Flower in the Sky describes the political chaos and the autocratic power of eunuchs in the late Ming Dynasty. The achievements in tanci are relatively high.
A Dream of Red Mansions, which marks the peak of realism in China's classical novels, appears in Zhang Hui's novels. Focusing on the tragedy of love and marriage between Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai, this paper writes about the rise and fall of the four major families represented by Jia Fu, and reveals the historical trend of the inevitable demise of the feudal system. The Scholars profoundly exposes and satirizes the drawbacks of the imperial examination system and shows a certain democratic tendency. The Mirror Flower Garden also shows some democratic thoughts and criticizes the feudal society. Poetry, lyrics and songs fell even more. It was not until 1840 before and after the Opium War that a new situation emerged due to major social changes.