Chapter 7 Chapter 2 Timpani

It is not uncommon for the sun to rise in the west.Zhou ago, Emperor Yan came from the west and was the "Sun God".After Zhou, the people of Qin also came from the west and became "First Emperor".From Zhou to Tang, "China" has always been in the west, and the "sun" has always moved from west to east.Only then did the Western Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Western Han Dynasty, Eastern Han Dynasty, Western Jin Dynasty, and Eastern Jin Dynasty come into being.But without exception, the west is in front and the east is behind. After the Tang Dynasty, it moved from north to south.Although Kaifeng was the capital of the Song Dynasty, there were four capitals: Kaifeng in Tokyo, Henan in Xijing (Luoyang), Yingtian in Nanjing (Shangqiu), and Daming in Beijing.In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was Lin'an Prefecture in Hangzhou, the accompanying capital, which shows that "China" can also move southward.It was not until the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties that they "sit north and face south" and stopped moving.Zhu Yuanzhang's capital in Nanjing is only a small episode.

Obviously, the "China" mentioned here is not a geographical concept at all, but a political concept and a cultural concept, and it is mainly a cultural concept.Because only a regime that continues Chinese culture is qualified to call itself "China", no matter whether it is in the west or east, south or north.If a foreign race takes over, one must "unify the world", and the other must "turn barbarians into summer", otherwise no one will accept it. This concept is Zhou's cultural heritage. Indeed, the background and tone of Chinese civilization were established by the Zhou people.Before the Zhou Dynasty, from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors to Xia, they were all groping; Shang, it was the naughty and wild behavior of our nation's youth.After a week, he matured and became calm.The national system changed only once before the Revolution of 1911, from the Warring States Period to the Qin and Han Dynasties.The social system and cultural system continued from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is the "patriarchal clan system based on the small peasant economy" and "the system of ritual and music centered on Gangchang ethics".It is they that determine the spiritual temperament of the Chinese nation.

Zhou is the "Timpani" of Chinese civilization. Zhou people are the founders of Chinese civilization. However, Zhou system and Zhou culture are a special case in the world. Not to mention Mesopotamia, chaos.Not to mention India and Greece.Before King Wu defeated Zhou, the "Indus Civilization" created by the Dravidians, the "Crete Civilization" created by the Minos, and the "Mycenaean Civilization" created by the Achayans had all fallen one after another.After the fall of the Indus Valley Civilization, there is still a gap of several hundred years.At this moment, India is the "Vedic Era" of the Aryans, and Greece is the "Homeric Era" of the Dorians, both of which are equivalent to the "Yao and Shun Era" in China.

Comparable to Egypt. Egypt is simply another Yin Shang.The kings are all "sons of gods", and the gods are all birds, except that the ones in Egypt are eagles (Horus), and the ones in Yin and Shang are swallows (black birds).However, the years of Egyptian theocracy were much longer than those of Yin and Shang.From the establishment of the first dynasty to the time when they became the provinces of the Persian Empire, there were 2,500 to 600 years.Of course, there were many dynasties in the meantime, and there were even Libyan and Ethiopian dynasties.The highest patron saint of the dynasty also changed. Horus, Ra, Amon, and Aten (Aten) took turns sitting on the manor, but they were all sun gods, and they couldn't live without the sun god.

In fact, the divine right of kings is the norm in monarchies.For example, King Hammurabi of Babylon called himself "the descendant of the gods"; King Akkad simply called himself a god.The feudal monarchs in the Middle Ages in Europe also had to be crowned by the Pope.Only Zhou people said it was "given by heaven", isn't it out of the ordinary? Is there a difference between God's gift and God's gift? Have. Divine grant is religious, and divine grant is ethical. In fact, the "heaven" of the Zhou people was not a supernatural or supernatural existence, such as the God of Christianity; nor was it a personal god, such as Horus in Egypt or Emperor Ku in Yin and Shang Dynasties.It is the natural world, and at the same time it is the "great man", the parent of man, and it belongs to all the people in the world and all mankind.Only in this way can it show "humanistic care" to human society.

So different, isn't it "the sun rises from the west"? The rising sun in the west is surprisingly persistent.Egypt, where the monarchy was granted by god, was wiped out by other nations; the concept of monarchy by god was subverted in Europe.Only China's "monarchy granted by heaven" lasted for three thousand years before the trend of democracy swept the world.All the subsequent emperors called themselves "Fengtian Chengyun".No one doubted this, and no one thought that the emperor could be dispensed with.The only thing that can be discussed is the reliability of the emperor's destiny.

Mr. Right seems to be what everyone needs and accepts. Is there no mystery here?