When we were schoolchildren around the age of ten, we were told that everyone in society belonged to a constant class.Among them, the working class in the countryside, which we hadn't seen much at that time, was at the top of the stairs, and the peasants were second, and among the peasants, the poor peasants were second only to the farm laborers.Most of the children in the mountain villages in the south are from poor peasants, so they can't help but feel proud when they see a few children from families above the middle peasants.One morning self-study, everyone self-studied "Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society", the opening chapter of the first volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", and finally some students asked the question that everyone often thought of:

"Teacher, what class do we belong to?" An answer that left us stunned was thrown: "You are students, and students should belong to the petty bourgeoisie." Our children from poor peasants will turn into "bourgeois" who are scolded by thousands of people and trampled on by thousands of people?Although "small"!At that moment, we were all angry.Finally, one of the bravest classmates stepped forward: "If we are petty bourgeois, you are big bourgeois!" More than two decades later, when I stood in Pyongyang and looked up at the Juche ideological tower, which symbolizes the joint construction of socialism by workers, peasants and intellectuals, this event inexplicably popped into my mind.

In ancient China, in addition to the actual political power controllers, there was another kind of people who could stand up to them, that is, "witches".Wu was an intellectual in that period. He possessed knowledge and the ability to communicate mysteriously with the heavens.We can say that society is decentralized.And a decentralized society has more or less democratic features.Now when we read "Shangshu", "Zuo Zhuan", "Guoyu" and even "Warring States Policy", its people-oriented thought can be seen everywhere. Marxist historians call it "remnants of ancient slave democracy".However, after the washing of history, especially after the Warring States Period, China has never left a place for heaven to compete with the real rulers on an equal footing, and a practical and rational society has been constructed.Practical interests have become the overriding fundamental interests, and religion has been exiled from everyday life.

Whether this transition will be a blessing or a curse for the future development of the Chinese nation is hard to say.But intellectuals must have shouldered an extra burden.It turns out that human life always includes two major parts, ideal and reality.Human knowledge is basically divided into two types: ideal and reality: the latter provides effective knowledge of real life, such as agriculture, meteorology, medicine, military affairs, social organizations, etc.; the former includes value judgments such as what is happiness and what is truth .In many places, the responsibilities of both can be shared by intellectuals and religious people, but in China, because the latter are exiled, they are destined to be carried by the same kind of people.

The only problem is that this is a burden that intellectuals are destined to be difficult to carry.Why?To carry heavy burdens, one must have a good body. Intellectuals also need to have something to rely on to bear the burden of history.They have ample food and clothing, and study the world in their spare time, which should have provided scientific knowledge and ideal beliefs.But to maintain beliefs in the real world, religious people have God to rely on, and the ancient Western "law" is "natural law", which means relying on God.However, Chinese intellectuals live within the unified imperial power, and their private property and even their lives have never been respected, let alone guaranteed. Every move has to obey the breath of the real ruler. How can they resist the thunderous wrath of the autocratic monarch?

In this sense, Chinese intellectuals are unparalleled in the world.They only rely on their righteousness and belief to deal with the huge real political power.This is what the so-called "poor and humble cannot be moved, rich and noble cannot be licentious, and mighty cannot be subdued".They are not born dissatisfied with the normal operation of the real society, they just feel that the operation of the real society needs to conform to an ideal of justice.If they deviate too far from this ideal, they will protest, appeal, and take action.As for where the ideal of justice is, there is no trace in the real society, it only lives in their hearts.

As rulers who wield real power, if they look at it from a longer-term perspective, they can tolerate or even use intellectuals.Because they also know that the rule that is more in line with the way of heaven must be longer.The only problem is that politics can only be attached to dirty soil forever. If it is separated from the soil, it will naturally become a castle in the air, so ideals have to give way to reality.And all kinds of evils from the human heart, such as greed, cowardice, arrogance, evil desires, etc., are always driving people who operate politics.Sometimes they are not afraid to fight against the self-righteous way of heaven just for a little satisfaction in their hearts.And for this kind of boldness, there will be no punishment in the short term, unless a solar eclipse, earthquake or other astronomical warnings happen.Against such a background, the advocacy of atheism is sometimes helpful: If the mysterious retribution is removed, what fear do those who hold real power have to worry about?The misty heaven and Tao are mixed together, which is the pitiful support of intellectuals.From the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, Chinese society operated in such a pattern of distinct strengths and weaknesses.On the one hand, it is the holders of real power; on the other hand, it is the hundreds of millions of people who are prostrate under this power.Scholars climbed into the power class with the help of knowledge, morality and belief. While participating in governance, a few strong people followed their ideals and dealt with the rulers with the harmony of heaven and Tao.

However, only the Song Dynasty was the golden age of Chinese intellectuals.Since the Yuan Dynasty, the rulers of successive dynasties began to suppress intellectuals. Although the Ming Taizu reused Liu Bowen, and the founding of the Qing Dynasty also reused Fan Wencheng and others, they were helpless.As soon as the power is monopolized and they can do whatever they want, they show their true colors and use political power to fight against ideals, even denouncing the classic "Mencius". "Famous religious sinner" (Qian Mingshi), and it is said that scholars even collect broken copper and rotten iron (Hang Shijun).Unless Wang Gang gets rid of the knot and the world is in chaos, intellectuals can show their talents with their own talents; once the sea is clear, the intellectuals are not as good as the army of Fangma Nanshan, trembling like a black magpie flying south when the moon and stars are rare, circling the trees There are no branches to rely on in three circles, and they are like hungry crows in the wind, even having no time for food and clothing.Why does the more history develops, the more miserable the situation of Chinese scholars becomes?This was my first naive question about the one-line historical development in my youth.However, to this day, this problem is still entrenched in my chest, and it is hard to get rid of it.Intellectuals have to become "part of the working class" to have a legitimate reason for existence.So, if there is no working class, shouldn’t they be released to the four descendants, surrendered to jackals, punished by the whole party, condemned by the whole country, or even died without a place to bury them?

Of course, the intellectual has his own special weaknesses.To put it bluntly, they are not suitable for manipulating real power.Political power cannot be handed over to scholars just because they have researched good strategies for governing the country and have longings for eternal peace.The power of the scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty was not small, but they did not necessarily do many good things, which is the best historical lesson.Of course, this does not mean that a society should ignore them. On the contrary, in a healthy democratic society, these thinkers should be the most respected, because they are the teachers of the society. "The true heroes of a democratic society are not the warriors and political leaders, but mentors like Jefferson, Holmes, Dewey, Whitman, etc., and all others who gave insights, methods, and knowledge to the people. People." (Sydney Hooker).As for politicians, they are just servants serving the people.Often the strongest reason why the people honor their statesmen is that they are not tempted by power, but obey the will of the people, even when they know they are wrong.

This goes back to the old question in China: How can intellectuals resist the real political authority? In any case, Chinese intellectuals took up this historical burden without hesitation without looking back.From Confucius, Mencius, to Dong Zhongshu, Sima Qian, Wang Anshi, Huang Zongxi, you can pull out a long list of names that make people feel shuddering. Of course, their efforts have left deep marks. Their bodies and many important officials of the emperor Generally, they will be wiped out, but their spirit will last forever! The book before you, in my opinion, is about such stories and such a spirit!

To be more precise, in this book, the author selects some representative figures and events in Chinese history, and uses desolate and emotional brushwork to outline a thick and freehand brushwork scroll of 3,000 years of Chinese history. It cannot be limited by a simple sentence or two.However, after reading it carefully, the most striking feeling to me is that among the seemingly heterogeneous content, what the author is really trying to express, or the focus of his efforts, should be the spirit I mentioned above: Chinese literati— —Intellectuals, passed on from generation to generation, with a never-depressing sense of responsibility to the real society.In the face of power, they have always worked tirelessly, appealing, protesting, and taking actions, trying to guide the society towards the ideal direction of justice, harmony, warmth, and great unity—even if there is nothing to rely on, even if no one pays attention, even if it is useless, even if it is exhausted. , Even if the knives and saws add to the body! This tragic and precious spirit can almost be summed up by "knowing what can't be done and doing it". The author, Mr. Zheng Xiaofeng, is from my hometown.The hometown of Yongkang has experienced rapid economic development in recent years, ranking among the top 50 counties in the country.However, due to years of poverty, the cultural soil is obviously thin, and the cultural achievements and the economy are far from matching.Recently, I suddenly saw Zheng Jun's writing, which is fluent, mature, and thoughtful. I am pleasantly surprised by the progress of culture in recent years.Therefore, I would like to write a preface for this article, and warmly recommend it to readers. Summary: Sometimes I doubt the rationality of these dirty nobles' power, but if the action is too violent, blood will flow!But he always had a hunch that some new forces were secretly gearing up in a corner.But he understands that his talent is just like Nu Wa, at most he can try to repair the broken sky, and open up the world like Pangu, which he never dared to imagine. He didn't leave an illusory paradise, but just pointed out a direction for future generations to work hard—he never thought of being that high god. And now, he's really old. In the distance, there was finally a sound of horseshoes, getting closer and closer, overwhelming and thunderous.A group of wild ducks jumped up from the withered grass on the bank with a "quack", and flew to the opposite bank.The wings slapped the snow off the tip of Xiang Yu's halberd, and the light flashed. The originally gentle water of the Wujiang River suddenly boiled. Dong Zhongshu, this pedantic and cute Dong Zhongshu, actually wanted to take that pair of bright clothes and tiptoe to my head, eager to try.condemn?We must not allow him to set this precedent, otherwise the group of arrogant Confucian scholars will really think that they are the messengers of God's will, and justifiably point fingers at government affairs endlessly. The warning from heaven is nothing but an excuse and a word game for window dressing.But such an excuse can only be Liu Che's own excuse, and it must not be the basis for any subject to challenge the monarch! Later generations sometimes really cannot equate the new emperor Mang who cried hoarsely in the southern suburbs of Chang'an with the great Sima Wang Mang who steadily controlled the Western Han regime.It seemed that there was a pair of huge sharp scissors that cut Wang Mang's reputation and career in half with a click, and cut him in half with his enthronement as the boundary. It was the all-out restructuring after he ascended the throne that dragged Wang Mang into the abyss of eternal doom. On the desk, the old gentleman with a pockmarked face straightened his long gown and sat down.He scanned the surrounding area with white and black eyes, and said proudly: "Today, I will talk about "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It is said: The world must be divided for a long time-" Having said this, he cleared his throat, and the pockmarks were bright red. The noisy teahouse suddenly seemed to be filled with a thick layer of smoke, and someone called Ma Ming Jin Tie clang faintly... The tea in the cup was slightly turbulent, like waves. It’s another wake-up call: "For a long time, we must unite!" When the court and the people of the Northern Wei Dynasty used rich mutton buttermilk to celebrate the glorious achievements of unifying the northern land and half of the world in the rapid rhythm of the jiegu and pipa, Yuan Hong sat alone in the deep palace, frowning slightly, and took a sip of the cup in his hand. Southern literati and bureaucrats are indispensable for a day, the bitter liquid called "tea", and at the same time respectfully open the Confucian classics that the southerners regard as gods.He wandered jerkyly between rows of square characters, eagerly looking for the next step of enlightenment. Yuan Hong's gaze has already crossed the rolling Yangtze River and projected to the misty and rainy southern land. This kind of concept is subtly reflected in our national quintessence of Chinese medicine: they regard excess energy or excessive physical function as a disease, and use an ominous word to describe it: "hyperactivity".If you want to be healthy, you must find a way to bring it down to normal and harmonious by using means such as "suppression", "levelling" and "nourishing". If we use a tree as a metaphor for knowledge, when all living beings, grandparents and grandchildren, have cultivated soil, fertilized, pruned, and climbed around the tree one after another, they respectfully hold up the leaves to the sun, muttering to themselves and pondering the petiole stone cells of the veins. At the end of the vascular system, Huineng used his supernatural powers to chop down this luxuriant tree that had been entrenched in the hearts of the world for an unknown number of years. But forgive me for lying, I think the so-called thorough enlightenment in Zen is actually despair: the despair for knowledge, reality, and pursuit, the more desperate you are, the more thorough you are.In the middle of the desert, when water and food are exhausted, the smartest people simply lie down.Nothing can be done anyway, everything is illusory anyway, what is the Western bliss, what is the endless Nirvana, everything is empty, even the emptiness is empty.Decades of flashes and lightnings, like the shadows of geese in the river, the shadows of geese going away, everything ups and downs, let nature take turns, the tide rises and falls, I just have no heart, I just don’t have thoughts, when I look back, Nirvana is in this world, and the western sky is here Underfoot, the Buddha is himself. In the smoke of wolves everywhere at the end of the Sui Dynasty, a great empire was conceived, growing, and growing in the depths of the chaotic land, struggling vigorously. No one could suppress this growing force, not even God—— In the darkness, it ruthlessly kicked the hard wall of time and space with one foot after another, the stone chips fell down, the ground began to crack, the mountains and forests began to tremble, and the sea water began to boil... Li Shimin is the great master chosen by history to make this empire break out of the ground. Mawei slope, literally, should be a steep hillside that even horses are afraid of.It can be said that it is just a gentle and small slope.I have never been there, but in my impression, it is a towering mountain with white snow on the top of the mountain. In June of the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), the road of history was cut into two sections here. Ever since I read Feng Dao's biography, I have always had a small wish, hoping to see the tombstone of this Changle old man.Not only to see if there are countless angry criticisms written by moralists over the past thousands of years, just like improvisations such as "so and so is a big turtle" written by urchins on the wall, or like an article that risked the world I spit and spittle follow-up posts after such a big article; the main reason is that I am curious: how can a small tombstone be engraved with the official name of this tumbler, which has a long series of five generations? —— On his stele, which dynasty and generation, which position is engraved on it? Caressing the side of the boat, he suddenly remembered the name his father gave him: "Shi". Shi, isn't it just the crossbar of the armrest on the car?Of course, it is more stable to have armrests, but without armrests, will you fall off the car? Without Shi, wouldn't the car not be able to move? He knew that Da Song's fists were no longer bleeding, and thick calluses had grown from suffering.But now, this fist has concentrated all the power of revenge, the muscles are desperately contracted, slightly convulsed, just waiting for the final blow, and smashed hard towards the smelly north. At this moment, he is standing at the forefront of this huge fist with the blood of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River and the knuckles of Songyue Tai. With piercing eyes, Yue Fei passed through the tent door and pointed towards the north. Outside Shuaiying, the apricot-yellow banner embroidered with the imperial pen bestowed by Zhao Gou was fluttering in the wind. The four golden characters of "Jing Zhong Yue Fei" are shining under the starry sky in autumn night. But after reading Chen Liang's reply, Zhu Xi was sweating profusely. He clearly saw all the fire dysprosiums gathered together, turning into a ferocious poisonous dragon, twisting and hesitating in Chen Liang's hands, roaring and struggling in a low voice, eager to try the card master gods that firmly controlled the world of China. He felt that the burden on his shoulders was getting heavier and more worrying.He has to do his best to defend and maintain this holy religion that has been violently attacked. The freshest and hottest blood of the twelfth century surged in his veins, tormenting Chen Liang to be restless, prompting Chen Liang to scream to the sky again and again. As he grows old, the filthy and conformist world is even more anxious, making him mad like mad, screaming louder and louder: In such a perilous world, the one who overthrows the wisdom and bravery of this life, opens up the heart of the ages, and brings peace to the ages—who else is it?Who else can I?Who else can I? What is even more thankful to Xingxiu is that he cut off the heavy shackles on Chu Cai's body with a slash: there are many ways to help the world, and they are not limited to Buddhist scriptures and scriptures. You can use the subordinating pestle or willow nectar.You, Chu Cai, are also a well-educated scholar. Take a look at this world, which technique can save all people from suffering?Confucianism!Only the years of experience of Confucianism can lead this group of wild horses to the right path!You, Chucai, have spent many years in the Confucian classics, didn't you make a vow to help the common people? —— If you don't go to hell, who will go to hell? It seemed that a thunderbolt shattered the dark clouds above his head. After sweating all over his body, Chu Cai felt relaxed.Since this ferocious torrent from Mongolia is flooding the world, and it is a fact that all the Daluo Jinxians can't get back together, then, when Genghis Khan recruited him for his name—— Chu Cai got up from the futon, stretched his arms in the face of the red sun, breathed out to his heart's content, and embarked on the journey. Master Xingxiu has countless disciples, but he always claims that the layman Yelu Chucai is his best disciple. Deep down in his heart, Zhu Yuanzhang regarded the hundreds of millions of living people crawling under his feet, the hundreds of millions of ant people who were the same as himself in the past, but regarded them as opponents in his imagination—so, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was behind the yellow robe, did not feel relieved. He took a long breath and carnivally rested with the people of the world, but paced around in the deep palace with his hands behind his back and his teeth clenched night after night, racking his brains to think of a strategy to keep the Zhu family's foundation forever.The poor and frightened man regards anything that falls in his hand: a broken bowl and a bamboo stick, he sees it as big as the sky, and he won't let it go-not to mention the big world! Therefore, it should be quite reasonable for historians to lightly cover up this rectification with the term "harming Zhongliang". In addition to the awe-inspiring righteousness, is it true that historians are still secretly worried that if they say such a good word to Liu Jin and his like, and give a little affirmation to his political achievements, even if it is ambiguous, it will be like a small person on the levee. Will ant nests cause floods to come?This kind of evil force cannot be condoned even for a moment, otherwise, would there be a bright future for these many people suffering from poverty? ——Who doesn't know that eunuchs are the closest to power in the world, as long as one knife is cut down, it may be worth my life's hard study? There is only so much power in the world, if we put aside the self-discipline of women and beat you to death, how can you let us get involved?What's more, attacking humans is in line with the hearts of the world, why not do it? Therefore, all of Liu Jin's crimes can actually be summarized into one: the crime of eunuch, one is enough. Eunuch, who stole the supreme imperial power, should be killed!Eunuch, who tramples on the loyalty of the world, deserves to be killed!Eunuch, what kind of bureaucratic rectification are you doing? You should be killed! It's not just you Liu Jin, any eunuch who has a biography in the history books, nine out of ten are guilty and should be killed! So there must be some people who have become victims of the times. In this fair arena, Xu Wei failed fairly. Let the giant pillars of the sky compete with sewing needles; let Kuafu, who is chasing the sun, wear embroidered shoes and compete with women; Say. Genius is Xu Wei's real enemy.The hand that can stir the sea and split the mountain often cannot pick up a small grain of rice in front of you. The ending of King Chuang, since the day he called off the curtain on the historical stage, has been a complicated and weird mystery, with no less than ten kinds of answers: there is a saying that he died in Jiugong Mountain in Tong County; Qingcheng said and so on.There are also different methods of death, some were attacked by villagers, some hanged themselves, and some died in the so-called gods in the temple... After the only truth is swallowed by the black hole of history, Cheng Jiubo is just one of the answers that are closest to the truth calculated by future generations from the pile of old papers.However, I would rather believe that this is the truth.The farmer Cheng Jiubo and the "Ming Dynasty" mentioned "he dies in his own mind", in my opinion, has a very subtle symbolic meaning—— The hero of the peasant uprising died at the hands of a peasant! Died under the peasant's hoe! Abandoned fish traps quickly disappeared in the long river of history; posterity did not feel much regret, anyway, they ate fish. The representative discipline of this way of thinking——Chinese medicine, although it can see more comprehensively than Western medicine and go further than Western medicine, but because the research of the past dynasties has despised the process, such an embarrassing situation inevitably appeared: I don’t even know How can I get to this point, how can I see this point—I don’t know how to get this fish.If someone asks that Chinese medicine summarizes the five internal organs with the five elements, then you can tell me why the liver must belong to wood and not other water, fire, or earth?You said that the liver grows and stretches like a tree, can the word "like" explain everything? Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners over the years are either dumbfounded, or give you a blank look, and are too lazy to talk to you anymore—anyway, prescribing medicine according to the five elements, the curative effect is obvious to all. The history of the Qing Empire progressed along the track chosen by the monarch and his ministers. In the early morning of January 8, 1839, the Anding Gate in Beijing slowly opened. Amidst the sound of drums, many officials, relatives and friends watched a large sedan chair carried by eight people set off southward in the cold wind.The destination is the strange and distant Guangzhou. The bearers should not be very strenuous, Mr. Lin, who is not tall, really can't be regarded as a heavy burden.But if they can feel the mood of the imperial envoy at the moment, they will immediately feel that the sedan chair has become as heavy as Mount Tai. In the sedan chair, Lin Zexu's face was full of solemnity: he knew that the fate of the entire nation was on his shoulders. Along the way, he murmured from time to time the two words of Zheng Zichan in the Spring and Autumn Period: "Gou benefit the community, and life and death depend on it." It is true that there are more troops appearing on the city walls of Tianjing Iron Barrel than water, but they are not Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly Soldiers, but Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army. Hong Xiuquan didn't see this water-like army. He went to his holy heaven more than a month ago. The cause of death is said to be the lack of food in Tianjing and the poisoning of the nectar after eating for too long—Hong Xiuquan believed that it was a holy object like the manna dropped by God when Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt.But after all, they are just weeds. When the yamen opened, I saw the majestic master sitting upright; when the six doors were closed, the abacus was ringing, and the knives and pens were flying around... It is said that the government office is the coolest place, and it is a place where there is no sun. No wonder the Jie stone tablet at the entrance is gloomy and covered with moss, making it difficult to distinguish the words; but since ancient times, no one has seen it. Anyway, everyone knows what is written on it: "Your salary is rich, the people anoint the people; the people are easy to abuse, but the heavens are hard to bully!" No one ever takes it seriously.Ordinary people have suffered a lot and have their own set of countermeasures: never go to the yamen unless they have to - die unjustly and don't enter the county! Is this what the sage said, "There must be no lawsuits"? In the early morning, when it was still dark, he dressed up and went to court early.He felt that the dragon chair seemed to be a bit higher than usual today, and he looked farther away than usual when sitting on it; he actually found that his hands and feet were trembling slightly.Guangxu settled down, coughed a few times like the queen mother before speaking, suppressed his excitement vigorously, and said word by word to the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty standing solemnly in the main hall: "I have awarded it—"Dingguoshi", I announce, political reform!" The sky was bright, it was sunny and windy, and a flock of white pigeons flew over the Forbidden City with melodious whistles.Guangxu, the sentimental young man who would hide in Weng Tonghe's arms when he heard the thunder, felt his whole body full of strength, and he was never more excited than before. For so many years, Yuan Shikai, who has been sitting under the stage and doing tricks such as demolishing pillars, digging corners, throwing fire plates, and fighting roosters, now sits on the stage shirtless and bears open guns and hidden arrows from all directions. Get restless every day.It is said that he often sat alone in Ju Ren Tang, muttering to himself: "This republic can't go on." He raised his head and stared blankly at the ceiling.The bright yellow light from the chandelier hit his eyes, and Yuan Shikai suddenly felt refreshed.He remembered another kind of power, a kind of power that could make him immediately defenseless with just a piece of imperial edict even when his power was intertwined and spread all over the court and the opposition - imperial power.His blood boiled immediately, and he suddenly felt that the future of the country and his personal destiny were so consistent and inseparable.He was determined to find this kind of power again from the miserable cold palace, cleanse it, and inject it into his own veins, so that these already somewhat weak hands regained the supreme authority, and heavily suppressed the restless and disorderly world. I think that some people are only suitable for keeping images in black and white photos, such as Mr.I have also seen some photographs or portrait oil paintings colored by my husband, but I always feel that they lack some charm.As for what was missing, I couldn't tell for a long time, but I just felt that the husband in the black and white photo gave me a more stern feeling. Perhaps, this feeling is what Mr. called "horizontal eyebrow". Is this a coincidence or a mockery of fate?Hu Shi, who grew up shaking his head by reciting the Four Books and Five Classics, and Liang Shuming, who read the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and ABC from a young age, why did they end up tuning each other? Or is it that Hu, Liang, etc. all have the limitation of being in this mountain, but the true meaning of a theory needs to be observed from a long distance or even from the opposite direction to truly understand it?