Chapter 4 1. The impact of changes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period on books

From 770 BC when King Ping of Zhou moved eastward to Luoyi until 221 BC when Qin Shihuang unified China, this period is the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in Chinese history.The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were a period of great social change in our country.With the appearance of iron tools, social productivity has been developed unprecedentedly, which has caused changes in social economy and politics.Slavery began to disintegrate, and divisions began to appear within the slave-owning class. The upper slave-owning aristocracy was no longer able to rule everything.The lower strata of the ruling class and the emerging landlords transformed from slave owners are eager to participate in the regime to safeguard their own interests. At the same time, they urgently need to gain experience and knowledge about governance, so the situation that academics are inferior to private individuals has gradually formed.

In the ancient times of our country, the power in charge of documents was in the hands of historians. "History" is commonly found in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions, and "history" refers to officials related to relevant written records.In the Shang Dynasty, Wu Heshi was responsible for divination and keeping oracle bone inscriptions, etc., and the system of historians in the Zhou Dynasty was more perfect.In order to manage political affairs, record the current affairs of the court, handle official documents of the royal family, convey government orders, and manage documents and archives, the Zhou Dynasty set up a variety of historians with different duties.In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the status of "history" was very high, even among the three gongs, and it was kept and passed down from generation to generation.They are in charge of the country's documents and archives, and use documents to educate slave owners and noble disciples, imparting experience and knowledge of slavery rule, in order to maintain the long-term stability of the slavery system. "History" is very knowledgeable. Laozi (Li Dan) once "kept the history of Tibet" for Zhou, that is, the official historian in charge of documents and classics. Confucius once "asked Laozi about etiquette".Due to the importance of the literature and classics under the control of "History" to the ruling class, it was strictly preserved and could not be passed on to the outside world. Ordinary civilians and even some small and medium-sized slave owners and aristocrats had no right to have access to books.This is the period of "academic unification of royal officials".

Zhou destroyed Shang and enfeoffed the princes. After the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the royal family was weak. Zong Zhou only accepted court appointments, unable to control the princes of various countries, so that the princes of various countries could strengthen their own power.With the development of the well field system and the gradual emergence of private fields, slavery began to collapse rapidly.Due to the change of production relations, people's ideology has been awakened, culture and learning have been developed, and the class of "scholars" who specialize in serving the ruling classes of various countries has begun to appear. "Scholar" is composed of intellectuals from the declining aristocrats and rising intellectuals from small private owners. They have political ambitions, actively run under the rulers of various countries, and are eager to learn political and academic knowledge from the documents and classics collected by the government. , to further clarify their political views.The spread of literature and classics provides them with the convenience of learning and using.Due to the continuous mergers and wars among the princes, the literature and classics were dispersed.This kind of dispersal, on the one hand, caused the loss and damage of literature and classics, and on the other hand, objectively caused the circulation of literature and classics, thus breaking the phenomenon of a few people monopolizing knowledge and preserving classics, and gradually forming a situation where "academics are subordinate to private individuals" .In order to meet the needs of the times and spread knowledge, private lectures and private writings gradually emerged, and the book business developed rapidly.