Chapter 2 foreword

This time, the Chenggui Association invited lectures, and the topic of the lecture was generally stipulated to talk about the political gains and losses of China's past dynasties.However, traditional Chinese politics has undergone many changes throughout the dynasties. If we talk about it in general terms, it may be far-fetched.If the past dynasties talk about it separately, it is also limited by time.It will be divided into five parts: the first is about the Han Dynasty, the second is about the Tang Dynasty, and then the Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties will be continued.One dynasty at a time, these are the five most important dynasties in Chinese history.Just talking about these five dynasties can roughly represent the entire process of Chinese history.Originally, politics should be divided into two aspects: one is about personnel, and the other is about systems.Personnel is relatively changeable, and the system is created and revised by people. It is also personnel affairs and relatively stable, and personnel affairs can also be stipulated and restricted.In this speech, I just want to talk more about the system and less about personnel.But it is not easy to talk about the system.In historiography, the system belongs to a specialized knowledge.First of all, to talk about the system of a generation, one must first be proficient in the personnel affairs of a generation.If we look at the system apart from the personnel list, the system is just a series of articles, which seems dry and boring, and there is nothing to talk about.And it's also a passing day, so there's no need to talk about it.Second, no system exists in isolation.The various systems must cooperate with each other to form a complete set.Otherwise, those systems would be divided, and they would never exist, nor would they be implemented.Third, although the system seems to be written down, it is actually subject to change at any time according to personnel affairs.The establishment of a certain system is by no means created suddenly out of thin air, it must have its origins, long before the establishment of this system, there is a predecessor of this system, and it is gradually being established.The disappearance of a certain system is by no means a sudden disappearance for no reason. It must undergo changes. Long before the disappearance of this system, there has been a shadow of this system, which is gradually deteriorating.Only by talking about the system in this way can we grasp the truth of each system. Otherwise, it will still be a written document, and it will definitely not be a system that can have a real impact in history.Fourth, for a certain system to gradually start and mature, there must be various personnel needs at that time, and it must be brewing gradually, and there must be various intentions to create this system.These were not necessarily known to everyone at the time, and even fewer people knew about them in later generations.However, the establishment of any system must have its external needs and its internal intentions, and there is absolutely no doubt about it.Even though things have changed and people in later generations don't understand it, even if it was not fully understood at the time, it is not a secret after all.At that time, and even in the not-too-distant future, some people still knew the external needs and internal purpose of the system, which were recorded in history. This is the material we must pay attention to when discussing the system.Otherwise, the times have changed and the system no longer exists, and the subjective opinions and idle inferences of people from different generations will never be able to exactly meet the actual needs and true intentions of the system at that time.Fifth, any system will never be absolutely beneficial without disadvantages, nor will it be absolutely disadvantageous without advantages.The so-called gains and losses are judged according to its actual advantages and disadvantages.The so-called pros and cons refer to the actual impact that occurred at that time.Therefore, in order to talk about the gains and losses of the system in a certain generation, it is necessary to know the reflection of the opinions of all parties concerned during the implementation period of the system.These opinions are the real evidence and true opinions for judging the pros and cons of the system.This kind of opinion I shall call historical opinion.Historical opinions refer to the opinions expressed by people in the era when the system was implemented.These opinions are more truthful and objective.After a long period of time, this system has long since disappeared, and future generations criticize the past systems in history based on their own environment and needs, which can only be said to be an opinion of the times.The opinions of the times are not totally untrue, but we should not obliterate the historical opinions of the past by relying solely on the opinions of the times.Even though we are living in an era that requires democratic politics, it goes without saying that we can no longer have an emperor.However, we should not simply wipe out history based on the opinions of our current times, thinking that since history, there should not have been an emperor. It's bad politics.This is like a mature man who does not want to sleep in a cradle, but thinks it is a bad thing to sleep in a cradle.But in infancy, it is not necessary to let him sleep in the cradle.The historical opinion I mentioned above is only a material that should be taken seriously in terms of the theory of Chinese history, and the memorials of famous officials of the past dynasties passed down today.Those people, in history, were called famous ministers at his time, and their memorials were handed down, and they were still preserved and recited for a long period of time, precisely because their words, at that time, I think it can represent the opinions of their time at that time.Only what became the opinion of the times at that time can become the opinion of history later.We now value these historical opinions as much as we value our own contemporary opinions.There should be a connection between the two, which is not a kind of contradiction and conflict.Sixth, when we discuss a system, we should pay attention to its contemporary characteristics, but also to its regional characteristics.By extension, we should pay attention to its national characteristics.In this country, in this region, it is beneficial for the system to be established and implemented, but in another country and another region, it may not be so.Just because the system is adaptable at any time and place, it cannot be universally applicable, just as it cannot be practiced for hundreds of generations without harm.When we talk about the systems of successive dynasties in Chinese history, we should pay attention to the particularity of Chinese history.If we ignore this point, like our current academic fashion, we think that everything in foreign countries is good, and everything in China is bad. What about real utility?Seventh, when it comes to the particularity of history, it must involve the entire cultural history.Politics is only one item in the whole culture. If we do not have a deep understanding of the cultural significance of the entire history of a certain country and a certain nation, it is difficult for us to isolate the political item to discuss its significance and utility.

If we just mention the seven points above, we can see that it is not easy to talk about the political system in history.Let's take a step back, but as far as the system is concerned, we should first set a certain scope.I would like to speak first of all of the organization of government at this moment: in other words, of the distribution of government functions.That is, by looking at the evolution of the distribution of government powers in Chinese history in terms of the five dynasties of Han, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing, we can use this to understand the general trend of traditional Chinese politics and its inherent fundamental intentions.The second scope wants to talk about examinations and elections.It is reasonable to talk about this item first, so that we can first know what kind of people can participate in the government according to the political regulations in China, and then talk about how the government is organized and how its functions and powers are distributed, so that it is easier to understand its inner meaning .Because the power of a country should be handed over to whom, this is the first principle.As for how to distribute various functions and powers within the government, this is already a second meaning. In the history of China, the two systems of examination and election were intended to open a way between the government and society, so that society can be governed under certain conditions. This is the most fundamental problem of China's political system.As for the distribution of powers within the government, this is the organizational law of the government, but not the fundamental law for the formation of the government.So it stands to reason that the second range is heavier than the first range.But in what I will say below, for the sake of brevity and clarity, the sequence of these two items is reversed.The third scope is about the government's taxation system, which is how the government handles the financial economy.This range can also be seen as important.The first book in China that focused on institutional evolution, the "Tong Dian" by Du You in the Tang Dynasty, firstly covered food and goods, which is the third category mentioned above.This time we talk about elections, that is, the second scope mentioned above.Let's talk about officials, it is the first category mentioned above.Now for the sake of convenience, I will be an official first, take an exam first, and be a foodie again.And the third scope only talks about one item of land tax.The fourth scope I want to talk about national defense and military service system.What feeds this government is economy, what defends it is force.This range is also extremely important.Others, such as the school system and education system, are also very important, but I want to refer to the evolution of the political system of the past dynasties from these four areas, compare its quality purely from historical facts, and explain it based on the opinions of the people at that time. gains and losses.Those outside the scope of these four are not involved for the time being.