Chapter 33 Do we have a choice

Starting from this volume, this history of China enters the second volume. The second part is called "The First Empire". The empire occupies a very important role in the history of Chinese civilization.It lasted 2,132 years, which is about six tenths of 3,700 years.The previous Warring States period was a stage of transformation from state to empire.Before the Warring States Period, the Western Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and Spring and Autumn Period were the era of states.Before the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was the era of early states, in which Shang was the tribal state alliance, and Xia was the tribal state.Going back further, the so-called "Three Emperors and Five Emperors" are in prehistory, not in the history of civilization.

Therefore, from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods can be collectively referred to as the "pre-imperial era".Before Xia, it was the "pre-national era". The story of the pre-imperial era and the pre-state era constitutes the first "Chinese Roots" of this Chinese history.It's been a difficult but fascinating journey. "Ancestor" is an ice-breaking journey, "National" is a cruising journey, "Founders" is a journey of seeking roots, "Youth" is a journey of the soul, "From Spring and Autumn to the Warring States" is a master's trick, and "A Hundred Schools of Thought" is a brainstorming .After a hundred schools of thought contended, Qin merged with the world.

Entering the age of empire, the sea becomes open. Yes.The six volumes of the second part of this history of China will show a history of 800 years.Here, there are two short-lived dynasties (Qin and Jin), one or two long-lived dynasties (Western Han and Eastern Han), as well as the three divisions of the world (Three Kingdoms) and the confrontation between North and South (Northern and Southern Dynasties). The content is rich enough and the vision is enough open. However, openness is not necessarily a good thing, because it is easy to get lost. The only way to get direction is to see the goal clearly.What is the goal?For 3,700 years, our fate and choices.Therefore, when we come to the historical juncture when Qin merged with the world, we cannot help but ask: Is there a choice?

Maybe not. That's right, we have indeed chosen, explored, and practiced. The feudal system or state system established in the Western Zhou Dynasty is that.Yes, three levels of ownership, decentralization of power at each level, separate administration, contracting production to households, everything is contrary to the imperial system.If this system is successfully tested, can it go another way? Unfortunately, that's not possible. Why it is impossible, this volume has already explained: the establishment of a centralized unified empire through war is the general trend of world history.The difference is that our nation had states before the empire.

The state system is an original creation of the Chinese, just as the city-state system is an invention of the Greeks.The obvious difference between the states and the city-states, including the differences between the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Indian countries, and the difference between them and the West Asia, lies in the fact that above all the states, there is also a "common master of the world", which is the Kingdom of Zhou and the Emperor of Zhou. Such a world of "couldn't it be the king's land" and the emperor who "followed the heavens" were not available to other nations in the "pre-imperial era", and even Greece, which had a city-state system, did not have it. It is unique.

What is the result? Compared with the Assyrian Empire, the Persian Empire, the Mauryan Empire, etc., the Chinese Empire has more legal and psychological legitimacy.Yes, the Son of Heaven originally existed and must have.There was no emperor in the Warring States period, and the world was in endless wars and chaos.The birth of the empire is nothing more than changing the emperor from Zhou to Qin Shihuang, or Han Gaozu, why not? Thus, the state system, which seemed to be opposite everywhere, became the cornerstone and paving stone of the empire.The Chinese Empire, therefore, is more mature and more like an empire than any other empire in the world.

Is this luck, or misfortune? Is this fate, or choice? Perhaps, only by sailing into the open sea and looking back can we see clearly.Before that, you might as well recall the pre-battle dialogue between Liu Bang and Yingbo. Liu Bang asked: Why do you bother to rebel? Yingbu replied: I want to be emperor! hehe!

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