Examining the ways of expressing public opinion in ancient China, it can be roughly divided into the following categories: First, beating drums to express grievances. Mainly, people express their opinions to officials at all levels about specific events involving themselves. The second is folk songs and folk songs. Mainly people express their opinions on some common social phenomena.
The third is, the ministers admonish and criticize. The official's own supervision and correction system. Fourth, clear discussions on rural schools. According to "The Property Will Not Destroy the Rural School", it is mainly composed of lower-class intellectuals discussing the pros and cons of government affairs, which is an unofficial criticism. Because most of the participants in the Qing discussion were the intellectual class, it looked at the issues more profoundly than folk songs and ballads; and because most of the discussions were "metaphysical" issues, it was more rational than discussing things like beating drums to complain about grievances; because it was a folk discussion and criticism, Naturally, there is more freedom in admonishing ministers.
Compared with the first three, it appears to be more detached and more representative of the mainstream value trend of society at that time. (Generally speaking) Just like in "A Dream of Red Mansions", "The Han system is deplorable, and the oak tree should be ashamed of all ages." In the Han Dynasty, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism," Chinese scholars have regarded the core of Confucianism as Values as the highest ideal:
Benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and trust; gentleness, kindness, respect, modesty, and yielding; wealth cannot be immoral, poverty cannot be moved, and power cannot bend. In the Han Dynasty, Confucian scholars were unprecedentedly noble and pure. At the same time, a strong atmosphere of judgment and judgment formed in society, and strong public opinion gradually became an invisible political force. This made the scholars of the Han Dynasty attach great importance to the cultivation of character. In addition, In addition, I personally believe that this phenomenon was also caused by the official selection system at that time and the power of the whole society to emphasize morality:
At that time, officials were selected through elections, and they could only be recruited based on the clear deliberation of public opinion. It was often the case that a general would be promoted to a prime minister based on one comment, and on the contrary, he would be dismissed from office and lose his position. This method of appointment actually completely hands over the power of making suggestions for the selection of officials to the society, often allowing honest and truly talented people to be selected to government departments at all levels. As you said, it is inevitable that hypocritical and pretentious people will be misled. Choose? If a person hypocritically does good deeds all his life, do you think he is a good person or a bad person?
Because the Qing Dynasty's Qing Dynasty will follow you all your life. If you become an official, no one will criticize you anymore. Therefore, scholars and officials were very sensitive to public opinion and acted very cautiously in order to win the favor of the court and avoid being ridiculed.
Therefore, Gu Yanwu had a high evaluation of the role of Qingyi. He said: "The Qingyi still exists in the place with the worst customs in the world, which is enough to maintain one or two. As for the Qingyi's death, the war will end." For example: "Book of the Later Han" records : "Cui Lie, a famous scholar in Jizhou, became a Situ because his mother paid five million, so his reputation declined."
After a long time, he felt deeply uneasy and asked his son: "I live as the Third Duke, what do you think of the people who discuss it?" Cui Jun replied: "It is rare that you have an honorable title. I have been ministering to you all the time. The commentator does not say that I should not be the Third Duke. But now When he ascends the throne, the world will be disappointed." Cui Lie asked again: "Why is this so?" Cui Jun replied: "The commentators think it smells like copper."
This invisible force avoided the shortcomings of the imperial examination system in later generations that only valued talent. Gu Yanwu's "Rizhilu, Qingyi": "The establishment of the Nine Ranks of Zhongzheng in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, although there are many errors, the legacy is not lost. Anyone who is corrected and paid the Qingyi will be abandoned for life and imprisoned with him." (As for the Later in the Qing Dynasty, officials protected each other and flattered each other, which is another matter.)
What really made "Qing Yi" form a unique social phenomenon and exert a strong influence was the two "party imprisonment" incidents that occurred during the period of Emperor Huan Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, the emperor was not upright, "Huan Ling was in charge of absurd politics, and the country's fate was entrusted to the eunuch temple." He appointed villains - relatives and eunuchs, and the villains were at odds with each other. The third force in the court - -The forces of upright ministers launched a fierce struggle with them.
At the same time, politics was achieved through bribery, and scholars lost their way to advance. Scholars in the opposition joined forces with the ministers of the dynasty to promote their reputation and criticize the government. The Qing Dynasty discussion evolved from the original inspection and promotion of scholars to a party discussion. The establishment organized a counterattack and dismissed the serving ministers from their posts, which further caused the opposition scholars to surround the dismissed ministers and became a truly huge opposition party.
The huge political pressure also caused the Qing Dynasty to diverge in two directions: one was to continue to join the world, and the other was to retreat from the world. The latter set the precedent for the long-standing Qing Tan and Tan Xuan in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Therefore, I feel that Qing discussion in the late Han Dynasty can be divided into several forms: first, the traditional form of criticizing characters. In the Jin Dynasty, it gradually changed from the Han Dynasty's evaluation of people's inner virtues (such as saying that Cao Cao was a capable minister in governing the world, and a traitor in troubled times.) to focusing on people's external style (such as saying that someone is handsome and handsome, etc.).
The second is to evaluate government affairs and the state of party struggle. Under the high pressure of the Jin Dynasty, it was basically extinct. The third is to talk quietly and retreat from the world. In the Jin Dynasty, the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove appeared, and in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a common trend of scholar-bureaucrats ignoring affairs became established.
Post a rank ranking of Han Dynasty generals:
First-grade general (the above are three-level generals)
Second-grade hussar general, chariot general, and guard general (the above are three-level generals)
General of the Fu Army, General of the Central Army, General of the Shang Army, General of the Zhen Army, General of the State, and General of Nanzhong (the above are second-grade generals)
The generals who conquer the east, the generals who conquer the south, the generals who conquer the west, and the generals who conquer the north (the senior ones of the four expeditions are all generals. The above are the generals of the four expeditions)
General Zhendong, General Zhennan, General Zhenxi, General Zhenbei (the above are the four generals)
The leader of the third rank (the senior one is the leader general. The above are the imperial guards)
General Anton, General Annan, General Anxi, General Anbei (the above is General Si’an)
General Pingdong, General Pingnan, General Pingxi, General Pingbei (the above are General Siping)
General Zhengshu, General Zhenglu, General Zhenjun, General Zhenhu, General Anzhong, General Anyi, General Anyuan, General Pingkou, General Pinglu, General Pingdi, General Pingnan, General Fuguo, General Huya , General of Qingchao, General of Champion, General of Duliao, General of Henghai (the above are the third-grade miscellaneous generals)
Fourth-grade Central Guards and Military Guard Generals (the senior ones in the Central Guards are Guards Generals. The above are Imperial Guards)
Colonel of Tun Cavalry, Colonel of Yue Cavalry, Colonel of Infantry, Colonel of Changshui, and Colonel of Shesheng (the above five Colonels of the Field Army)
Backbone General, Qiaoqi Guerrilla General, Zuojun General (the above are fourth-level standing generals)
General Jianwei, General Jianwu, General Zhenwei, General Zhenwu, General Fenwei, General Fenwu, General Yangwei, General Yangwu, General Guangwei, General Guangwu, General Ningshuo, General Zuojishe, Youji Shooting generals and strong crossbow generals (the above are fourth-grade generals with miscellaneous numbers)
East Zhonglang General, South Zhonglang General, West Zhonglang General, North Zhonglang General (the above are the four Zhonglang Generals)
Generals Zhenwei Zhonglang, Jianyi Zhonglang, Fengyi Zhonglang, Pinglu Zhonglang, Dianjun Zhonglang, Fujun Zhonglang, Wuwei Zhonglang, Sijin Zhonglang, Silu Zhonglang General, Protect the Xiongnu Zhonglang General, Lead Shan Zhonglang General (the above are fourth-grade Zhonglang General)
Wuji Xiaowei, Pinglu Xiaowei, Doujiao Xiaowei, Jianzhong Xiaowei, Huqiang Xiaowei, Hudong Qiang Xiaowei, Huwuwan Xiaowei, Huxianbei Xiaowei, Xiyu Xiaowei, Xirong Xiaowei, Dongyi Colonel (the above is the dispatched army)
Supervising the Army (the above are referred to as Supervising the Army or Protecting the Army)
Fifth-grade partial general and general Pi (the above are fifth-grade permanent generals)
General Yingyang, General Zhechong, General Hulie, General Xuanwei, General Weiyuan, General Ningyuan, General Fubo, General Huwei, General Lingjiang, General Dangkou, General Zhaowu, General Zhaolie, General Zhaode, General Tuini General, General Polu, General Fighting Kou, General Xuande, General Weilu, General Captor, General Wu, General Xiaoyi, General Yanglie, General Jianzhong, General Liyi, General Huaiji, General Hengye, Louchuan General, General Futu, General Zhongyi, General Jianjie, General Yiwei, General Chuyi, General Huaiyuan, General Suibian (the above are generals with miscellaneous titles of five grades)
Anyi Protector and Fuyi Protector (the above are supervisors or protectors)
Sixth-grade Herong Guards and Exterminators Guards
