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Text Chapter 440 The four peoples coexisted in ancient times

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    "This is the 'table leg' argument!" Wen Xiang pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice.  "Sure enough, the one who knows me is Bochuan." Prince Gong said with a smile, "The one who knows Lin Kunyu is also Bochuan!"  The legs of a table for a country are both indispensable. What a wonderful piece of writing!" Wen Xiang said, "I'm afraid those scholars will be unable to argue with you again!" "Last time, his article "An Examination of the Holy Way of the Western Kingdom" really embarrassed this group of people!  When people come back, they don't recognize foreigners as human beings, but since foreigners follow the holy way, they can't ridicule them. Therefore, there will be no big obstacle in the management of foreign affairs." Prince Gong sighed, "At that time, I  I thought it was the best to write such an argument. Unexpectedly, today he took it to the next level and broke the shackles of "scholar, farmer, industry and commerce"! He is truly a genius in the world!" "Yes!  Agriculture, industry and commerce are arranged in an orderly manner, and they regard business as a lowly industry. This has been the case since ancient times. If you want to develop business and benefit the people, you must get rid of these stereotypes!" Wen Xiang said, "Who knows how difficult it is to get rid of these stereotypes!  Lin Kunyu can do this! We are not as good as others!" No wonder Prince Gong and Wen Xiang lamented that the stereotype of "the scholar, the farmer, the businessman, the businessman is the last" has really troubled them for too long.  In fact, early civilizations in both the East and the West valued agriculture over commerce, and aversion to commerce was a common early tradition.  The same was true in the early West: "The disdain for commercial phenomena - the disgust with the market order, does not all come from issues of epistemology, methodology, rationality and science. There is also a more obscure antipathy.  Hatred of businessmen,  The hatred of historians, in particular, is as old as recorded history.¡± For example, the ancient Greek thinker Plato divided the citizens into three classes in ¡°The Republic¡±: the first class is philosophers, the second class is warriors, and the third class is.  were merchants, craftsmen and farmers.  In China, the Confucian Mencius disdainfully called businessmen "cheap husbands."  "Mencius Gongsun Chouxia" said: "In ancient times, it was a market, and those who used their possessions to change their possessions had to be governed by administrators. How could there be a mean husband From then on, the search for business began with a mean husband." However.  Guan Zhong, who pointed out that "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce" were the pillars of the country, was one of the very few mercantilists.  Guan Zhong used the methods of merchants to rejuvenate Qi. When Sima Qian commented on his way of governing the country, he said: "In politics, he is good at turning misfortunes into blessings, turning defeats into merits, and weighing the important and the important carefully."  It was Guan Zhong's words in the reform that "the four people are divided into industries, and scholars, farmers, industry and commerce", which are quite familiar to later generations.  It also caused the greatest degree of misunderstanding.  Guan Zhong divided the people into four classes: sergeants, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants, and they lived in fixed areas according to their respective professions.  "Guoyu Qiyu" records that Guan Zhong planned fifteen scholar townships and six industrial and commercial townships, each with 2,000 households.  Guan Zhong believed that the separation of industries among the four peoples had four advantages: First, "talk to each other about things, and show each other skillfully". People in the same industry lived together and could easily exchange experiences.  Improve skills; the second is to "talk to each other to benefit, to tell each other to tell the time", and "to tell each other to know the price", which has a great effect on promoting the production and circulation of commodities; the third is to create a professional atmosphere so that people can be content with their own business.  It will not lead to career instability; fourth, it will create a good social and educational environment invisibly, so that children can be influenced by it from an early age and naturally master professional skills under the influence of their fathers and brothers.  "Guanzi Xiaokuang" said: "He is accustomed to it when he is young. His mind is at ease and does not see foreign objects. This is because his father and brother's teachings are not serious. His children can learn without working."  Guan Zhong was the first person in history to divide management according to occupation. This specialized commodity economic model has been respected as the basic form and guiding principle since the Han Dynasty.  The meticulous professional division of labor and the institutional arrangements passed down from generation to generation are one of the important reasons why China's early civilization was ahead of the world.  However, since the Qin Dynasty, the "separation of industries among the four people" in the strict sense has been abandoned, but it became the prototype of the household registration system, and the craftsman registration system was still used until the Qing Dynasty.  What caused major misunderstanding was the ranking of "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce".  When later generations discussed this, they first replaced sergeants with intellectuals or learned officials, and then thought that this was a hierarchy of rank, with scholars at the top, agriculture second, and industry and commerce at the end. This formed the so-called "  Late commercialism¡±.  In fact, the "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce" proposed by Guan Zhong meant that they should be promoted simultaneously, and there was no distinction between superiority and inferiority.  It seems that the ancient Chinese did not take business lightly.  As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, people were very willing and good at doing business and engaged in handicraft manufacturing.  After the fall of the Shang Dynasty and the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, the founders of the Zhou Dynasty reflected on the lessons of the demise of the Shang Dynasty and believed that the demise of the Yin and Shang Dynasties was due to the people's enthusiasm for industry and commerce and the abandonment of agriculture, which resulted in impetuous people and an unstable national foundation.  Therefore, they turned to promote agrarian policies that despised industry and commerce.  In the Zhou system, the status of industrial and commercial workers was very low. In bronze inscriptions, "hundred workers" were often juxtaposed with ministers and concubines who were in the status of slaves.  "Yi Dun Gua" says: "A gentleman keeps away from villains, and is not evil but strict." "Yi Zhou Shu Cheng Dian" says: "Scholar officials are not involved in industry and commerce." "Book of Rites King System" says: Industry and commerce"Don't talk to the scholar-officials when you go out to the countryside." In other words, scholar-officials must stay away from businessmen and must not live together with industrial and commercial people. Industrial and commercial people are not allowed to talk to scholar-officials when they leave their place of residence. "Zhou Li? Local Officials? Si Shi"  It was also stipulated that nobles could not enter the market for transactions, otherwise they would be punished! Guan Zhong's position was completely different. He ranked "businessmen" and "scholars and peasants" and considered these people to be the "pillars of the country". If Guan Zhong proposed "  "Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce" is based on "scholars and farmers" being the best and "industry and commerce" being the worst, so it is difficult to understand his subsequent reform policies.  The embodiment of the concept of governing the country. This politician with many years of business experience has long discovered that the profitability of industry and commerce is greater than that of agriculture, and revitalizing the commodity economy is the best way to enhance national strength.  "The concept of parallel status was not a consensus among the scholar-bureaucrats at that time. There is a sentence in the dialogue between Yao Jia and the King of Qin recorded in "Warring States Policy": "Guan Zhong, he despises Jia people.  "I quite despise Guan Zhong's business experience. And Guan Zhong's thoughts were deliberately submerged in later generations because of two major reasons. First, Qi State declined in one generation, and the idea of ????ruling the country by business was completely bankrupt. Qi State sits on the strongest  In the late Qi Dynasty, the Jin State in the Central Plains and the Chu State in the south did not have much effect.  By annexing small countries and expanding their territories, their military adventures undoubtedly gained greater benefits. In 645 BC, Guan Zhong died. Two years later, Duke Huan of Qi died in a palace coup, and Qi quickly gave up its hegemony.  , the princes who successively conquered the world intimidated the world by opening up territories, and "respecting the king and resisting the barbarians" became "holding the emperor to order the princes", and Guan Zhong's way was replaced by violence. Second, Guan Zhong's thoughts were incompatible with Confucianism.  In their view, Guan Zhong had many shortcomings from his background to his style of conduct and political outline. In "The Analects of Confucius? Xianwen", Zigong determined that "Guan Zhong is not a benevolent person." ["  The Analects of Confucius: "Xianwen": "Zigong said: 'Guan Zhong is not a benevolent person?  Duke Huan killed Young Master Jiu, but he could not die, so he killed him.  ¡¯ Confucius said: ¡®Guan Zhong, Prime Minister Huan Gong, dominated the princes and brought order to the world, and the people are now receiving his blessings.  Micro-management, I will be punished!'"] Many of his economic policies, whether they were to stimulate commerce, encourage consumption, or "use commerce to end wars," were all heretical in the eyes of Confucians, and the salt and iron monopoly policy  It was also resisted by Confucianism. In the following chapters, we will see that in the reforms of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty and the reform of Wang Anshi in the Song Dynasty, the great Confucians Dong Zhongshu and Sima Guang were the biggest opponents of the monopoly policy.  "axe": the first is "based on agriculture", the second is "light corvee and low tax", and the third is "self-denial, benevolence and righteousness". Unfortunately, these three principles cannot be found in Guan Zhong. In this sense, Guan Zhong is a  A reformer who was "murdered" by ideology. In this sense, Guan Zhong was a reformer who was "murdered" by ideology. In 645 BC, Guan Zhong died. Two years later, Qi Huangong died in a palace coup.  After giving up the power of hegemony, the princes who successively claimed hegemony intimidated the world by expanding their territories. "Respecting the king and resisting the barbarians" became "holding the emperor to order the princes", and Guan Zhong's way was replaced by violence. Second, Guan Zhong.  Thoughts are incompatible with Confucianism. Confucianism is known as a "cheap businessman". In their view, Guan Zhong has many shortcomings from his background to his style of conduct and political agenda. In "The Analects of Confucius? Xianwen", Zigong believes that "Guan Zhong is considered a master."  He is not a benevolent person." ["The Analects of Confucius? Xianwen": "Zigong said: 'Guan Zhong is not a benevolent person?  Duke Huan killed Young Master Jiu, but he could not die, so he killed him.  ¡¯ Confucius said: ¡®Guan Zhong, Prime Minister Huan Gong, dominated the princes and brought order to the world, and the people are still receiving his blessings.  Micro-management, I will be punished!'"] Many of his economic policies, whether they were to stimulate commerce, encourage consumption, or "use commerce to end wars," were all heretical in the eyes of Confucians, and the salt and iron monopoly policy  It was also resisted by Confucianism. In the following chapters, we will see that in the reforms of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty and the reform of Wang Anshi in the Song Dynasty, the great Confucians Dong Zhongshu and Sima Guang were the biggest opponents of the monopoly policy.  "axe": the first is "based on agriculture", the second is "light corvee and low tax", and the third is "self-denial, benevolence and righteousness". Unfortunately, these three principles cannot be found in Guan Zhong. In this sense, Guan Zhong is a  Reformers "murdered" by ideology (To be continued)
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