Chapter 5 Chapter Four: Mr. Three in the Early Qing Dynasty

In the era of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, intellectuals generally had the following manifestations: one was to submit to the Qing Dynasty; the other was to adopt a non-cooperative attitude with the Qing Dynasty and become a "hermit"; We should carefully summarize historical experience, sort out cultural heritage, explore the correct thinking of mankind, and cultivate a generation of talents who are capable of practical use.Three outstanding scholars and thinkers emerged from this latter group, namely Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu and Wang Fuzhi.In history, they are collectively referred to as the third Mr. Qing Dynasty.

Huang Zongxi, born in 1610, with the style name Taichong and the name Nanlei, known as Mr. Lizhou in the world, was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang.His father, Huang Zunsu, was an important member of the Donglin Party in the Ming Dynasty, and had close contacts with Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, the core figures of the Donglin Party. In 1626, he was stripped of his position as a censor because of a fight with the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, and was later killed in prison. When the young Huang Zongxi heard the news, he was determined to avenge his father. Ming Xizong died in 1627, and his younger brother Zhu Youjian came to the throne and changed Yuan Chongzhen.After receiving the news that Wei Zhongxian was executed by Emperor Chongzhen, Huang Zongxi took the sharp cone and rushed to Beijing in the starry night, determined to avenge those eunuchs who killed his father.

After Huang Zongxi arrived in Beijing, although his father's injustice was brought to justice and Wei Zhongxian was given death, some of Wei Zhongxian's remnants were still at large.Huang Zongxi wrote to Emperor Chongzhen, requesting to behead Xu Xianchun, Cui Yingyuan, Li Shi and others who directly killed his father. One day, during the confrontation in the trial hall, Huang Zongxi burst into anger, holding a sharp awl, and stabbed Xu Xianchun bleeding all over his body, and even shouted for mercy. Cui Yingyuan was so frightened that his face turned pale.After Huang Zongxi argued hard, Xu and Cui were sentenced to death.

When Li Shi, who fabricated the crime of Huang Zongxi's father, heard the news, he hurriedly sent Huang Zongxi three thousand taels of silver, hoping that Huang Zongxi would not be held accountable for him, but Huang Zongxi was unmoved at all, and wrote to Emperor Chongzhen again to expose Li Shi's crimes. For his crimes, Li Shi was finally sent into exile. Huang Zongxi's actions caused a sensation in the entire capital and won praises from the people. Even Emperor Chongzhen praised him as a "loyal minister and orphan". Afterwards, Huang Zongxi returned to his hometown to read and copy books angrily.He carefully read the collections of Shixue Building and Dansheng Hall in his hometown, Qianqing Hall and Jiangyun Tower in Nanzhong. In about two years, he finished reading "Twenty-one Histories", "Records of Thirteen Dynasties" and other great works.The tireless study life has laid a solid academic foundation for him, and also made him see more clearly the political fate of the imminent collapse of the Ming Dynasty.

In the third year of Chongzhen, he joined Yifushe, the literati group with the greatest social influence at that time.This is a joint organization of literati fighting against the traitor party.Huang Zongxi and Gu Gao, the grandson of Gu Xiancheng, as the initiators, jointly posted the "Southern Metropolis Chaos Public Exposure" denouncing the second Wei Zhongxian-like figure—Ruan Dacheng, which caused a sensation in Nanjing.Just as Ruan Dacheng was about to try his luck, imitating Wei Zhongxian's ugly and sinister face was exposed, so he had to hide and never dared to act in public again.

After Chongzhen's death, Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng's best friend, assisted Zhu Yousong to proclaim himself emperor in Nanjing, and Ruan Dacheng served as Minister of War of Emperor Hongguang's regime.As soon as he came to power, he threw out a blacklist called "Locust Grass Records" and hunted and killed members of the Donglin Party and Fushe members. Unfortunately, Huang Zongxi was arrested.Later, due to the postponement of the trial, after the Qing army invaded Nanjing in 1645, Huang Zongxi was lucky to escape. At this time, Zhang Guowei, Zhang Huangyan and others supported Lu Wang Zhu Yihai in Shaoxing to insist on resisting the Qing Dynasty. Huang Zongxi gathered hundreds of Huangzhupu children to respond. arduous journey.Sun Jiaji, Xiong Rulin and others who were in charge of military affairs in the King Lu regime were a group of scholars who had no commanding skills, let alone lead troops to regain lost ground.Huang Zongxi was controlled and manipulated by these mediocre people everywhere, so he couldn't do anything.

In June 1646, Qing soldiers entered eastern Zhejiang, and King Lu fled south.Huang Zongxi led 500 remnants of soldiers to defend in Siming Mountain to resist the attack of Qing soldiers, but they were finally defeated due to their weak strength. In order to avoid the rewards offered by the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Zongxi was in the mountains and grass.In the case of very difficult board and lodging, he still created and completed "Spring and Autumn Eclipse Calendar", "Shoushi Calendar", "Gu Datong Calendar", "Newly Pushed Shifa Grant Calendar" and "If the Western Calendar" with tenacious perseverance. ", "Pythagorean Diagrams", "Foretelling of Prescribing Squares", "Eight Lines of Cutting Circles", "Essentials of Measuring Circles" and other works on astronomy and mathematics have added a glorious page to the history of science and technology in our country.

In the days when he was in exile, he learned that King Lu was in Jiantiao, and once again defected to King Lu's account. No, what are you still doing here?So he decided to return to his hometown and "devote himself to writing". Emperor Kangxi ascended the throne in 1661, and the rule of the Qing Dynasty had stabilized. In this year, Huang Zongxi also ended his life of fighting against the Qing Dynasty with arms. Since then, he has avoided living in the countryside and devoted himself to writing. In 1663, the famous "Ming Yi Dai Fang Lu" came out. In this book, Huang Zongxi put forward two famous ideas, which set up a monument in the history of Chinese thought and culture.

First, he put forward the idea that "the order and chaos of the world does not lie in the rise and fall of a surname, but in the happiness of all peoples", and he severely denounced the autocratic monarchy system, and the brilliance of democratic ideas shone between the lines in the book.The book later became a powerful ideological weapon for the reformers in the Reform Movement of 1898 in the late Qing Dynasty. Second, Huang Zongxi also put forward the advanced thought of "business is the foundation" in "Ming Yi Dai Fang Lu".In ancient Chinese society, businessmen were always suppressed and regarded as the most humble industry. As a result, ancient Chinese society was always in the state of small-scale peasant economy, and the social development was slow.Huang Zongxi dared to challenge the traditional ignorant and autocratic thinking, which required considerable courage and foresight at the time.

In 1665, Huang Zongxi accepted apprentices to give lectures, and Wan Sida and Wan Sitong, who later became famous scholars, all came from his disciples. In 1667, he resumed the Witness Academy founded by his teacher Liu Zongtong. Huang Zongxi paid attention to teaching students the ways and methods of learning, and emphasized that reading must be practical.In addition to classics, history, zi, and anthology, his teaching content also includes natural sciences such as calendar, astronomy, and mathematics. He is very popular among students. In more than 20 years, more than 100 people have worshiped him. As a teacher, at this time, he is already a scholar with students all over the world.

In 1678, in order to win over the Han landlords, Kangxi opened a erudite course to obtain scholars, and ordered the central and local officials of the third grade or above to recommend talents.The academician Ye Fangai recommended Huang Zongxi to Kangxi, but Huang Zongxi politely declined.Two years later, the Qing government hired him as a consultant for the compilation of "History of Ming Dynasty".Kangxi didn't force it, but asked him to copy all his works on history to Beijing. Although Huang Zongxi did not directly participate in the compilation of "History of Ming Dynasty", the completion of "History of Ming Dynasty" also embodies a lot of his hard work.For example, "Li Zhi" was not written by him, but it was finalized after his review.In addition, he let his son Huang Baijia participate in the history bureau. In 1676, he completed another important work "Ming Confucianism Case".In this work, he systematically compared the works of more than 200 scholars in the Ming Dynasty, and clarified each scholar's academic origin, theoretical purpose and evolution.The comments are fair and the analysis is profound, which is the first in Chinese history.In his later years, he completed the "Song and Yuan Xuean", which made the portal of Confucianism in the past 700 years clear at a glance, which is an outstanding contribution in the history of Chinese academics. Huang Zongxi was still very diligent in his later years. He never rested until he finished reading the prescribed number of volumes every day. At the age of 84, he compiled the 482-volume Ming Wenhai. In 1695, Huang Zongxi passed away.Before his death, he left a will, asking his family to "buy him on the next day, with the clothes of the time, one quilt and one bedding, and a stone bed. Not at all." This is the greatest contempt for the prevailing Buddhist idealism at that time, and it is also a thorough expression of his materialist view of knowledge. He has made a very good summary of his life with his unique vigor, high-spirited fighting character, and broad and profound academic thoughts. . Gu Yanwu was born in Kunshan, Jiangsu.Born in a wealthy family in the south of the Yangtze River, his father is a very knowledgeable person who believes that reading must study reality.Influenced by his grandfather, Gu Yanwu liked to read books such as "Historical Records" and "Sun Tzu's Art of War" since he was a child, and he was very concerned about current affairs.Later, he took part in the imperial examination and failed the exam, so he simply gave up the imperial examination, read through historical classics, studied geography from all over the country and memorials of famous figures in the past dynasties, and began to write an important historical and geography book "Book of the World's Commandments, National Benefits and Diseases". While he was devoting himself to his studies, the Ming Dynasty fell, and the Qing soldiers went south, and people from all over the south of the Yangtze River rose up and organized struggles against the Qing Dynasty.Gu Yanwu and his two friends also participated in the battle to defend Kunshan. After 21 days of fierce fighting with the Qing soldiers, the Kunshan soldiers and civilians were finally defeated due to being outnumbered. When Kunshan fell, Gu Yanwu’s biological mother had her right arm cut off by the Qing soldiers. .The aunt who raised him (also his stepmother) committed suicide on a hunger strike when she heard that the Qing soldiers had broken the city. When she was dying, she told Gu Yanwu to swear that she would not be paid by the Qing Dynasty, and closed her eyes after speaking. Gu Yanwu cried bitterly and buried his stepmother, and was about to leave his hometown to join King Lu, but before he left, King Lu's regime had already been destroyed.Later, Gu Yanwu concealed his name and ran around the north and south of the Yangtze River, trying to organize a team to resist the Qing Dynasty, but in the end he was alone and unable to succeed. At that time, there were still sporadic anti-Qing activities along the coast and Taihu Lake, and the Qing government was very strict. If anyone suspected of resisting the Qing was found, they would be accused of "passing the sea" and sent to prison. There was a landlord named Ye Fangheng in Kunshan who wanted to annex the land of Gu Yanwu's family, so he bribed the servants of Gu's family and reported Gu Yanwu's "Tonghai".Gu Yanwu was arrested and imprisoned by the Qing government.In order to rescue him, some friends went to Qian Qianyi, who was an official in the Qing Dynasty, for help.Qian Qianyi was originally the Minister of Rites of the Hongguang regime in the Nanming Dynasty, and a well-known writer.When the Qing soldiers went south, he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and his reputation was not good. Regarding Gu Yanwu's difficulties, Qian Qianyi said that as long as Gu Yanwu admits that he is his student, he is willing to protect him.That friend knew that Gu Yanwu would not do that, so he made up his own mind and forged a famous post of Gu Yanwu and sent it to Qian Qianyi for help.Gu Yanwu later found out about this incident, and blamed that friend for being meddlesome. He insisted on getting the name card back, but his friend refused, so Gu Yanwu simply posted a notice on the street, declaring that the name card was fake, which made people feel uncomfortable. Qian Qianyi was very embarrassed. Gu Yanwu was released only after many efforts by his friends.But Ye Fangheng still refused to give up and sent someone to follow him.One day, Gu Yanwu passed by outside the Taiping Gate in Nanjing, and was attacked by mobs and suffered serious head injuries. Fortunately, he was rescued by kind people and escaped from danger.Gu Yanwu knew that he couldn't stay in the south of the Yangtze River any longer, so he decided to travel to the north.He traveled to the north for two purposes. One was to investigate the geographical situation and customs of various places; the other was to find opportunities to make some like-minded friends and carry out anti-Qing activities. Gu Yanwu did not give up on academic research even in the difficult environment of the long journey. Along the way, he used two horses and four mules to carry his books. If the local conditions and customs are different from what he read in the books, he will take out the books to check, so that his knowledge will be more enriched and substantial. From the age of forty-five, Gu Yanwu spent more than twenty years running back and forth in Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, and Jiangnan.He poured his anguish into academic research.On the journey, I can't put it down.Unfold and whisper on horseback; turn on lights in the hotel to circle, survey the terrain, and look for the history of place names.During this period, he completed a number of important works such as "Historical Events of Yingping Erzhou", "Shandong Archaeological Records", "Maoping Landscape Records". In his later years, he settled down in Huayin, Shaanxi.Gu Yanwu had a habit of reading books since he was a child. He would write down his experiences on paper. If he found mistakes later, he would revise them at any time. A book with a wide range of content, including politics, economy, history and geography, and literature and art, was compiled. This book is recognized as a work of great academic value.In it, he put forward the important thought of "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world", and believed that if the moral atmosphere of the society is corrupt, the world will be destroyed; in order to keep the world alive, every ordinary person with a low status should take responsibility. In 1679, Kangxi ordered Xiong Cilu, a university scholar, to preside over the Ming History Museum to compile "Ming History".It is well known that Gu Yanwu is familiar with Ming history.Xiong Cilu knew that it was difficult to do the job, so he asked Gu Yanwu's nephew Xu Xueqian, an important official of the Qing Dynasty, to mediate and hired Gu Yanwu to enter the museum for assistance.Gu Yanwu didn't show favor to anyone, and once again resolutely refused. Not only did he not participate, but he also advised Xiong Cilu not to do such an act against his will. When Kangxi opened the "Boxuehongci Department", someone wanted to recommend him to be called into the Boxuehongci Department. He wrote and replied: "What else do I want for a 70-year-old man? The only thing I want is to die. If I must be forced to I answered the call, and I had no choice but to die." On the eighth day of the first lunar month in 1682, in Quwo, Shanxi Province, Gu Yanwu stumbled and fell while riding a horse. In the early morning of the next day, this great patriotic scholar passed away, leaving nothing in his simple luggage except the unfinished manuscript. Gu Yanwu is a thinker who advocates "learning from the world".He is a great poet, historian, linguist, phonologist, and a philosopher with strong materialistic tendencies.He wrote a lot of rich works throughout his life, leaving us a lot of precious legacy, and "The Book of the World's Commanderies and Countries' Benefits and Diseases" has long been popular.The style of study he advocated, avoiding emptiness and emphasizing practicality, had a profound impact on later generations. Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692), a famous thinker and writer in the early Qing Dynasty.The name is Ernong, the name is Jiangzhai, Xitang, another name is Shuangji Waishi, Yipiao Taoist, and it is renamed Hu.Born in Hengyang, Hunan. In the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642), Wang Fuzhi once promoted people.After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, volunteer soldiers were raised in Hengshan to fight against the Qing Dynasty.After the defeat, he retired to Zhaoqing and served as the pedestrian secretary of the Yongli regime in the Southern Ming Dynasty. He retired and moved around in Hunan and Guangdong. He finally lived in Shichuanshan in Hengyang and was engaged in writing. Scholars called him Mr. Chuanshan. Wang Fuzhi's knowledge includes classics, history, poetry, prose and Ci.On poetry, he emphasizes "mainly focusing on meaning", and opposes "seeking for form, comparison, style of words, and truth", and "establishing a family and relying on others".In art, it emphasizes that emotion and scenery are "naturally picked up when God and reason make do".Wen is also good at Sao, Fu, Pian, and San, and does not imitate the imitation of the seven sons of the Ming Dynasty, the frivolity of Gong'an, and the slenderness of Jingling.The words are fragrant and lingering, and the style is strong, often breaking through the restrictions of rhythm. Wang Fuzhi's philosophical thought is self-contained. He criticized the views of "all laws are ideal", "existence is born of nothing" and Cheng Zhu's views that "reason comes first" and "there is nothing outside the heart". Reason is in the utensils", affirming that "there are only utensils in the world", and "there is no way without utensils", with a simple materialist thought. Wang Fuzhi wrote more than 100 kinds of works in his life, and later generations compiled them into "Chuanshan Suicide Notes".Among them, there are mainly "Jiang Zhai Anthology", "Jiang Zhai Poetry Collection", "The Second Collection of Gu Zhaochu", "Xiao Xiang's Resentment Ci", "Zhouyi Wai Zhuan", "Lao Zi Yan", "Zhuang Zi Tong", "Du Tong Jian Lun" "Wait. The academic thoughts of Mr. San in the early Qing Dynasty made Chinese ideology and culture have made great progress compared with its past.In particular, Huang Zongxi's thoughts of "democracy" and "both business and industry" and Gu Yanwu's thought of "shaping national character" are more epoch-making.However, since the rulers of the Qing Dynasty entered the culturally developed areas of the Central Plains from a relatively backward civilization, China's decadent autocratic monarchy was still new to them.Therefore, these thoughts of criticizing and transcending the absolute monarchy can only be relegated to the sidelines.It is only after three hundred years that such cultural tragedies have caused the human body to realize that they have delayed the development of our national culture, which is really deplorable.