Compare the two political systems in China and the West.

First, the political system of ancient Greece

1, polis system

In the unique geographical environment of the Mediterranean Greek Peninsula and under specific historical conditions, there were more than 200 small slave countries in Greece from the 8th century to the 6th century BC, which were called "polis" or "polis" in history. A small country with few people is a striking feature of a city-state. Polis generally includes urban areas and surrounding rural areas. In the eyes of the ancient Greeks, "polis" meant the absolute independence of the same blood group, region, politics and economy. There are various forms of Greek city-state government, which can be roughly divided into democracy, aristocracy and monarchy, oligarchy and tyranny. Among them, Athens and Sparta are the most famous city-states. Sparta practiced aristocracy, and Athens was famous for its democracy. The citizen politics carried out by the Greek city-state made the citizens of the city-state enjoy more full political rights. special

It was the democracy in Athens that provided valuable experience for future generations.

2. The democratic politics of Athens.

(1) The establishment of democracy: monarchy-aristocracy-Solon reform-Christini reform, and finally democracy was established.

(2) Basic characteristics: people's sovereignty and rule by turns.

(3) Evaluation: On the one hand, it is pointed out that the democratic politics in Athens is the product of a sparsely populated Greek city-state, which has its limitations of the times. The results caused by citizens' direct participation in politics and taking turns to sit in villages are not always fair, and the democratic rule in Athens still serves the slave-owning class; On the other hand, it should be pointed out that the value and significance of Athenian democracy lies in that it provides the most valuable form of government for future generations and points out the way to improve the form of political organization in human civilization. Democracy in Athens was very progressive at that time. Therefore, the democracy in Athens is worthy of being a model of slavery democracy in Greece.

3. The Greek polis has its own characteristics: ① independence. Not attached to any political forces, it has its own legal system, officials, courts and so on. Even if they are allied, these city-states have no supreme authority and are not subordinate to each other. ② Direct democracy. The supreme power belongs to the citizens' assembly, which is related to the military democracy in primitive society, which is not available in the East. It can elect officials, make judgments and so on, and the authority of the citizens' assembly is higher than that of any individual. Three citizens. Citizens have the right to vote and stand for election, while border residents, foreigners, serfs and women have no civil rights. Citizens account for only a few percent of all people. (4) Mandatory official system. There is no formal salary, and it depends entirely on voluntary service. According to the general assembly, the elected posts are usually temporary and end after serving, with only a few fixed posts. Later, the official compensation system was adopted, which improved the enthusiasm of citizens to participate in politics to a certain extent. ⑤ Legal system. The country should be governed by law and have a strict judicial system. Usually the founder is the most important legislator. Contradictions and struggles between citizens often have the tradition of solving them by law first, and armed confrontation is only used when absolutely necessary.

Athens is the main city-state of ancient Greece and the birthplace of democratic political thought. Democracy in Athens is the narrowest and most substantial democracy in history. The narrowest means that too few people enjoy democratic rights; The most substantial means that all citizens have direct and equal rights in legislation and public affairs governance.

Due to the different geographical environment and economic characteristics, two different political systems, Greek and Roman, appeared in ancient China.

China's ancient political system was centered on autocratic centralization. The autocratic centralization of authority lasted for more than two thousand years in China, which had a far-reaching impact on the formation and development of China's unified multi-ethnic country, state system and political power, bureaucracy and administration, and even culture and education.

China's early national political system began to appear with the establishment of the Xia hereditary system. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it experienced the transformation from the League of Nations to the master of the world. The centralization established by the Qin Dynasty had a far-reaching impact on the social development of China for more than two thousand years. At the same time, the struggle between centralization and decentralization lasted for a long time, but the general trend was that the autocratic imperial power was strengthened day by day. Pay attention to several key points: first, the internal and external service system of Shang Dynasty and the enfeoffment system and patriarchal clan system of Western Zhou Dynasty; Second, the unification of Qin and the system of "emperor", "three public officials and nine ministers" and the county system; Third, the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms in Han Dynasty and the centralization measures of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, the situation of the separatist regime of the buffer region in Tang Dynasty and the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries, and the measures to strengthen centralization in the early Song Dynasty; Fourth, the establishment of the six-part system in Sui and Tang Provinces and the evolution of Song and Yuan Dynasties, the autocratic monarchy system in Ming and Qing Dynasties was strengthened day by day, and the Qing Dynasty reached its peak.

The origin of western political civilization lies in ancient Greece and Rome. Whether it is the democratic system in ancient Greece, the system of * * * and the system of heads of state in ancient Rome, the legal system they created and the political wisdom of philosophers have provided valuable reference experience for future generations. Among them, the Aegean civilization and the ancient Greek city-state system, the democratic politics of the Athenian city-state and the laws of ancient Rome can enlighten future generations most.

All ethnic groups in the world entered civilized society from primitive society. The earliest countries were all small city-states with a city as the center, including some surrounding villages, one city and one state, so they were called "city-states" (hereinafter referred to as "city-states"). The difference is that most other nationalities have evolved from small countries to big countries or even empires with the development of history, and the characteristic of Greek civilization is that it has kept small city-states in a state of dispute for longer than other civilizations, and it has reached the peak of its civilization and prosperity under the city-state system.

The Greek city-state is characterized by a small country and few people. Each state is independent and autonomous, and the city-state is an independent sovereign state with the city as the center. Citizens of each state enjoy different degrees of political power (except women). Slaves and foreign immigrants are in a position of oppression and exploitation. Therefore, the ancient Greek polis was actually a national organization in which citizens collectively United to safeguard their own interests and oppressed slaves and foreigners.

Five, the difference between the ancient Greek system and China system law.

In ancient times, the two legal systems also influenced each other in the cultural exchange between the East and the West. But the impact is very limited. The ancient oriental method never followed the path of ancient Greek law, and the ancient Greek law did not follow the pattern of ancient oriental method.

As early as more than two thousand years ago, Aristotle had deeply realized that the eastern political system was essentially different from the Greek system in his Politics. He pointed out that the Greek city-state is not a blood group, but a social union linked by the same interests, and it is a "political union". He pointed out, as if aiming at the views of some contemporary historians: "Some people say that [Greek] city-state politicians are just like [Oriental] emperors, or parents, or slave owners, which is wrong." We know that human society generally originated from the clan organization of early culture (strictly speaking, it should be called surname clan according to historian Yang). In Latin, Greek and Sanskrit, the root of this word is "gigno, rlrouol, ganamai", which means to inherit a blood group from the same ancestor. It can be found that this kind of clan organization is the basic unit of social organization, whether it is the urban society in China during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties or the ancient society in Greece and Rome. A fundamental feature of China's traditional social system is that since the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, blood relationship has been the deep structure of China's social interpersonal relationship. In the long history of more than 3,000 years, the patriarchal clan organization in the pre-Qin period was transformed into a clan organization after the Qin and Han Dynasties, a clan organization based on surnames after the Tang and Song Dynasties, and a rural family organization from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to modern times. Although the form has evolved, its basic structure remains unchanged, and it is accumulated in the depths of social interpersonal relations and value system. In fact, the great cohesion, regeneration, continuity and lag of China culture are often lamented by historians as historical mysteries, all of which are rooted in this. Take China's traditional political system as an example. The relationship between the emperor and his subjects is originally a political relationship of subordination and rule. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the political relationship between the monarch and the minister was even contractual (see Study on the Feudal Economic Form in Western Europe, p. 107). In China, this political relationship is not only a political relationship, but also an ethical relationship of consanguinity. In fact, China's bureaucratic political structure is also a virtual seniority structure of political relatives. The emperor is called "your father", and all officials become the elders of the people by rank. They not only enjoy political power, but also enjoy patriarchy. Therefore, to govern the country by governing the family, the family ethics structure becomes the prototype of the political and legal structure. This concept is difficult for western politicians to understand. But this is natural for China people. Therefore, the most important values in China traditional society are loyalty (political concept) and filial piety (ethical concept), respect (political concept) and affinity (ethical concept). As far as function is concerned, in China society, it is very accustomed to combine blood organizations, economic organizations, religious organizations and military organizations into one. Integrate politics into family ties, agriculture into family ties, soldiers into family ties, and culture and education into family ties. Peasants who work collectively in consanguineous organizations (namely "cooperatives") are given * * *. This organization, which integrates family, politics, education, agriculture, economy and military affairs, was even rebuilt in the form of "commune" in modern times, and its prototype was the organizational structure with blood as the core in the ancient village community of China (1958, it was no accident that a large number of biographies of Lu were printed and distributed as learning documents for the founders of people's communes).

In addition, we know that the emperor calls himself the "son of heaven" and thinks that he lives in the sky and is the god of nature, that is to say, he is the son of God. China's traditional culture's view of nature and cosmology is embodied in Dong Zhongshu's concept of "the unity of man and nature"-in fact, it is a natural concept based on the relationship between relatives and friends and the relationship between people. Almost all the gods in China culture (whether natural gods or cultural gods) are considered to have direct or indirect kinship with China people, such as "Heaven", "Mother of the Earth", "Father of the East" and "Mother of the West". China's traditional interpersonal relationship can be summarized by two "five ethics" formulas: one is heaven, earth, monarch, relatives and teachers; Second, the monarch, father and son, husband and wife, brothers and friends. The former is the standard of five virtues, while the latter is the promotion of five virtues in interpersonal relationships. Their deep structure is related to China people's concept of kinship.

But it's different in Greece. From a very early period, this bond of consanguinity and kinship was broken in Greek society and no longer became the basic relationship to maintain the social structure. In the 6th century BC, one of the important contents of the political and social reform promoted by Cleisthenes, a democratic politician, was to break and transform the remaining blood organizations in the social structure of Athens. Greek polis is not a closed agricultural society, but an open commercial society. The development of commodity economy, the frequent and expanded maritime trade exchanges, and the immigration and settlement of a large number of foreigners fundamentally corroded and disintegrated the kinship organizations in ancient Greek society. What followed was a series of profound social changes, which led to the fundamental differences in political system, social structure and values between ancient Greece and ancient China, and determined the completely different development paths of the two cultural systems in the future. Thus, in contemporary historiography, it is often said that two different ancient social systems are essentially the same in the name of "slavery". How ridiculous this practice is! Now, it is time to liberate history from this dogmatic historical formula.

The traditional love of wisdom in ancient Greece gave birth to formal logic, plane geometry and scientific experiments. Oriental culture is re-civilized, so there are Taoist "Tao" and Buddhist "emptiness" Westerners have feelings for God and believe that "God loves the world"; Orientals attach great importance to secular ethics and abide by "the benevolent loves others". These cultural characteristics are also clearly reflected in the law.

The Greek polis itself is a national organization of citizens' collective union, so although the political system is different, they all practice civil politics to varying degrees. According to the democratic system, every citizen is an ex officio member of the citizens' assembly, the highest organ of power, and all levels of public office are open to all citizens. Its democracy is second to none in ancient history, that is, its civil politics reached its peak in ancient world history. Aristocracy and democracy are the most popular regimes in Greek city-states. Under the aristocratic system, although the highest power of the country is in the hands of some citizens-nobles, on the other hand, the citizens' assembly composed of all free citizens is still the highest authority in form, and in some city-States, it even has considerable power.

The establishment of democracy in Athens was not achieved overnight, let alone a gift from powerful people, but the result of long-term struggle. It not only contains the resistance of ordinary people at the lower level, but also embodies the wisdom of outstanding people. In this process, firstly, the nobles overthrew the decadent monarchy and established the aristocratic system, thus preparing the conditions for the evolution to democracy.

2. What are the forms of ancient Greek city-state government? What are its main features?

Form: nobility, democracy, monarch, oligarchy, tyranny;

Features: small country with few people, long-term independent autonomy of each state.

The basic characteristics of Athenian democracy are people's sovereignty and rule by turns.

② The citizens' assembly, the 500-member parliament, the people's courts and many small administrative and military organs fully embody their democratic system: the citizens' assembly is the highest authority, deliberating and deciding all state affairs; The 500-member Council is a subsidiary body of the citizens' assembly, responsible for preparing proposals for the assembly and presiding over the assembly; The people's court is the daily judicial organ;

All official positions are open to citizens and are elected.

The ancient political system in China experienced the process of initial establishment, establishment, reform, development and perfection, which played an important role in the consolidation and development of a unified multi-ethnic centralized feudal country. Among them, the local administrative system, autocratic centralization and official selection system have far-reaching influence on the history of China.

1. Local administrative system: it mainly includes the enfeoffment system in Zhou Dynasty, the county system in Qin Dynasty, the fierce security system in Jin Dynasty, the partition system of Fan and Han in Liao Dynasty, the provincial system in Yuan Dynasty, the monk official system in Ming Dynasty, the Eight Banners system in late Jin Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, the chieftain system in Ming and Qing Dynasties and "returning to hometown".

Understand: China's local administrative system gradually developed and improved from the implementation of the county system in Qin Dynasty. This system has a huge organizational system and a tight structure, which has played a good role in collecting corvee and military service, collecting land tax and land rent, managing local public security and consolidating the frontier. The reform and improvement of local administrative system not only strengthened centralization and consolidated feudal rule, but also benefited social stability and economic development. The local administrative system, monk official system and chieftain system implemented by China minority regime, such as Meng 'an hegemony system and Han-Fan partition system, not only further enriched and developed China's local administrative system and strengthened centralization, but also played an important historical role in the consolidation and development of China's multi-ethnic country.

2. Establishment and evolution of autocratic monarchy in centralization: autocratic centralization was established in the Qin Dynasty, consolidated in the Western Han Dynasty, perfected in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, strengthened in the Northern Song Dynasty, developed in the Yuan Dynasty, and imperial power was further strengthened in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Understand:

Development trend: First, constantly adjust and reform the central administrative structure, weaken relative power and strengthen imperial power. Ming Taizu abolished the prime minister and divided the central administrative power into six divisions, which basically solved the contradiction between imperial power and relative power and further strengthened the absolute monarchy. Second, constantly adjust and reform the local administrative structure and strengthen the central government's strict jurisdiction over the localities, especially the border areas. The strengthening of centralization in Song Taizu has basically eliminated the conditions of local separatist forces, and the contradiction between the central and local governments has eased. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was no great division in the country. Third, the control of people's thoughts is increasingly strengthened, such as the stereotyped writing system in the Ming Dynasty and the literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty.

Positive effects: ① It is conducive to the establishment, consolidation and development of a multi-ethnic feudal country and to safeguarding national unity and territorial integrity. ② It can effectively organize manpower, material resources and financial resources to carry out large-scale economic construction and production activities, which is beneficial to social and economic development. (3) In a unified social environment, it is conducive to the integration of all ethnic groups, economic and cultural exchanges, and the development and improvement of various regions, so that ancient China people can create an ancient civilization that is ahead of the world.

Negative effects: ① autocratic monarchy is easy to form tyranny, lead to corruption and become a factor hindering historical development. (2) In terms of ideology, it stifled people's thoughts and a sad situation appeared. ③ During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it seriously hindered the emergence and development of budding capitalism.

Generally speaking, in the early days of feudal society, its positive role was major. In the late feudal society, its negative effects gradually increased, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the centralization of feudal absolutism was further strengthened, which hindered the further development of social productive forces, and its harm was particularly serious.

When evaluating this historical phenomenon, we should analyze it under specific historical conditions and cannot generalize it. For example, even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, this system still played an active role in maintaining the consolidation of a unified multi-ethnic country and resisting foreign aggression.

3. Official selection system: It mainly includes the imperial examination system in Han Dynasty, the Jiupin Zhong Zheng system in Wei and Jin Dynasties and the imperial examination system from Sui and Tang Dynasties to the end of Qing Dynasty.

Understand:

The selection of officials in the Han Dynasty took "villagers choosing officials" as the standard, which reflected the respect for the authority of rural public opinion in judging scholars' moral integrity. However, once public opinion evaluation is linked with the ups and downs of official career, it is easy to be controlled and used by some powerful and influential people or social groups. Cao Cao sized up the situation and put forward the principle of "meritocracy is promotion", which is not only the need of seeking talents in troubled times, but also the deliberate correction of "inaccurate selection" in Han Dynasty. Under the impact of the warlord melee at the end of Han Dynasty, the village community organizations were destroyed, and the traditional practice of "village election" was unsustainable. In this case, Wei in the Three Kingdoms period formulated and implemented the "Nine Grades" system. At first, this system was dedicated to unifying the election of officials in the imperial court and the discussion in the countryside. This is the continuation of the tradition of selecting officials in Han Dynasty and the inheritance of Cao Cao's employment policy. However, at the turn of Wei and Jin Dynasties, officials of all sizes were monopolized by "gentry" in all counties. They are partial to the gentry when evaluating grades, and the division of nine grades has deviated from the principle of "regardless of family status" Since then, in the whole Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the system of Zheng Zhi with Nine Grades has always been a bureaucratic selection system to protect the hereditary political privileges of the gentry.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the gentry system only distributed power according to the level of family background, which could not meet the requirements of a large number of landlords with humble origins. However, the gentry's corruption from a noble family aggravated the tendency of political corruption and local separatism at that time, indicating that the gentry system was decadent. At the same time, the feudal economy developed, especially after the implementation of the equal land system, the power of small and medium-sized landlords increased and they were very eager to enter the ruling class. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the whole country was unified. In order to innovate politics, consolidate rule and strengthen centralization, the imperial examination system was implemented in the selection of officials. Because the children of ordinary farmers live in poverty, there are very few candidates who can study, and most of them can take the imperial examination in cloth. Therefore, the imperial examination system is actually an official selection system representing the interests of the landlord class.

The positive significance of the imperial examination system: depriving landlords and gentry of their political privileges, weakening the power of local gentry, and bringing back the right of selecting and appointing feudal officials to the central government will help eliminate the corruption of selecting officials between local and central governments and change the system of selecting officials based on recommendation since Qin and Han Dynasties, which is a great progress in history. Opening the official career to the whole landlord class through the imperial examination is conducive to attracting talents, easing contradictions and expanding the foundation of the ruling class. The imperial examination system closely links reading, examination and being an official, thus improving the cultural quality of officials, greatly strengthening centralization, being conducive to political stability and promoting the development of education and science and technology.

The negative influence of the imperial examination system: In Ming and Qing Dynasties, the emphasis on the four books and five classics and the selection of scholars by eight-part essay imprisoned the thoughts of scholars, greatly inhibited the creativity of intellectuals, and hindered the development of science and technology and social progress to some extent, which was the cultural factor that China lagged behind the West in modern times. Its disadvantages are the product of the extreme strengthening of autocratic centralization.

4. The development clues and stage characteristics of the ancient political system.

The Western Zhou Dynasty attached great importance to the national system construction and established the "Zhou Li" system, including patriarchal clan system, enfeoffment system, well field system and official system. This is an era of declining theocracy, strengthening kingship and rising humanistic spirit.

The reform movement in the Warring States period destroyed the aristocratic hierarchical society and created a series of new systems. Monarchical centralization, bureaucratic system, county system and so on appeared one after another, which had a far-reaching impact on later history.

The Qin dynasty established a centralized political system with the emperor as the center, and the county system was popularized throughout the country. The Western Han Dynasty inherited the political system and legal system of the Qin Dynasty, implemented the "county-state parallel" system in local areas, and strengthened the supervision of local officials. The establishment of the state secretariat in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty marked a stricter supervision system.

The Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties are the transitional stages between the two heydays in the early feudal society of our country. Many systems in this period show the transitional connection between the past and the future. For example, in the system of selecting officials and employing people, the self-inspection system transited to the imperial examination system through the system of "nine grades being right"; The central organization changed from "three public officials and nine ministers" system to "three provinces and six ministries" system; The military system that emerged in the Northern Dynasties developed into the foundation of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Cao Wei's taxation system and rent adjustment system are the sources of rent adjustment system in Sui and Tang Dynasties. The land system directly inherited by the land equalization system in Sui and Tang Dynasties developed from "cultivating land" in Cao Wei and "occupying land" in the Western Jin Dynasty to "land equalization system" in the Northern Wei Dynasty. These important systems in development not only supported the operation of the state machinery in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, but also provided institutional guarantee for the emergence of the prosperous times in Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Sui and Tang Dynasties is another great development period of China's feudal social and political system after Qin and Han Dynasties, and its basic framework has been influencing the later period of China's feudal society. The rulers of Sui Dynasty took measures to strengthen the centralization of feudal absolutism, such as setting up three provinces and six departments to improve the administrative efficiency of government departments; Reform local institutions and strengthen central control over local governments; Establish the imperial examination system and expand the foundation of the landlord class regime. On this basis, the Tang Dynasty further improved the autocratic centralized politics and became the unprecedented heyday of China feudal society.

The Five Dynasties, Liao, Song, Xia, Jin and Yuan, were the period when China split from a unified feudal dynasty and then reunified. During this period, the frontier areas were further developed and the ethnic integration was unprecedentedly strengthened; Centralization was further strengthened. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty set up a book province in the local area, and later developed it into the name of administrative region, which initially laid the scale of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and even contemporary provinces and regions. The Yuan government set up a patrol inspection department in Penghu Island to administer Penghu and Taiwan Province Province. Zheng Xuan, the central government of the Yuan Dynasty, directly governed Tibet, and Tibet officially became the administrative region of the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty strengthened the ties between the central and local governments, the Central Plains and the border areas, and consolidated and developed a multi-ethnic unified country.

The Ming and Qing Dynasties (before the Opium War) was a period when the unified multi-ethnic feudal country developed further and the feudal system declined. In the early Ming Dynasty, the autocratic regime was strengthened in an all-round way, and the imperial power had absolute authority, which became the characteristics of the political system of the Ming Dynasty. The military department was the central organization in the Qing Dynasty. The establishment of the military department not only reduced the links of the emperor in handling state affairs, but also improved the efficiency and confidentiality of the emperor in handling government affairs, which was the embodiment of further strengthening the centralization of feudal absolutism. The establishment of Fan Liyuan has strengthened the central government's jurisdiction over all ethnic groups in the border areas as never before. The territory of our country has finally been determined. The system of titles of Tibetan religious leaders, the system of drawing lots from golden jars and the system of ministers stationed in Tibet have strengthened the jurisdiction over Tibet, which has been imitated by later generations.