Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional customs - The harm of literary inquisition in Qing dynasty; Its influence and evaluation.

The harm of literary inquisition in Qing dynasty; Its influence and evaluation.

harm

There are special historical reasons for the proliferation of literary prisons in Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, ethnic minorities occupied the Central Plains. From the traditional concept of the Han nationality, it is called "Gankun resurrects, the Central Plains is old" and "the sky is dark, the sun and the moon are dull", and there is quite strong national hatred among Han intellectuals with Confucianism as their authentic culture.

It has a bad influence on the ideological culture and the ethos of scholars. Gong Zizhen's famous saying "I'm afraid of hearing the literary inquisition, and writing books only for Fan Fan" means "When I heard the literary inquisition between my lines, I immediately hid in fear. Scholars make a living by writing books and dare not express their opinions. " This is a true portrayal of the consequences of the literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty. Writing is often disastrous, so scholars have no choice but to lose their ideology and morality, or cling to stereotyped writing and recite the teachings of Confucius, Mencius and Zhu Cheng in order to enter the imperial examination. Or stay away from sensitive academic fields and reality, and put all your energy into the pile of old papers on exegetics, which is called "Gan Xuejia" in history.

Literary inquisition has corrupted the atmosphere of officialdom. Most officials in the Qing Dynasty were appointed through imperial examinations. As literati, they may become victims of literary prisons; As bureaucrats, they are also the makers or accomplices of literary prisons. On the one hand, they don't want to touch the internet. They are already dead. On the other hand, I don't want to be convicted for not carrying out the emperor's orders, and I can't strictly investigate my words. Therefore, they have to be careful and have no moral integrity.

Causing social terror and destroying talents. Many intellectuals are afraid to ask about politics, which imprisons their thoughts and seriously hinders the development and progress of China society.

Some local officials blame themselves for the discovery of taboo words.

evaluate

Literary inquisition in Qing Dynasty is famous for its high frequency, large scale and cruel punishment. The literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty was unprecedented and deepened with the stability of the rule. The more stable the rule, the more the literary inquisition reached its peak. During the Qianlong period, the traditional culture of China was strengthened and distorted without additional measures. According to Lu Xun, "there is really no place in the garden of literature that is not ravaged."

Zutao Li of the Qing Dynasty wrote in A Brief Introduction to the Pulse Hall: "When it comes to writing, people are afraid that it will hinder all countries in the world. People are eager to see the scenery, but they are afraid to avoid it. Eels are snakes and mice are tigers. Give up integrity and grow up gently. This is the heart of the world and it is really important. "

Hu's "History of Cultural Famine in China" said: "The duration of the Qing Dynasty, the density of the network, the number of cases, the wide range of attacks, the cruelty of crimes and the cruelty of literary inquisition are all beyond the previous generation."

Lu Xun: "Literati dare not treat history, especially modern things, for the sake of literary inquisition."

He Xilai's preface to The Documentary of Zhou Zongqi's Literary Prison says: "The literary prison in Qing Dynasty was mainly concentrated in the early stage, which lasted for more than 130 years after four generations of emperors: Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. No matter the length of time, the number of cases, the scale, the wide involvement, the renovation of patterns and the cruelty of means, there is no precedent in the feudal era of China. " In fact, the two scholars did not pretend to be alarmist, but accurately and highly summarized the real situation of the literary inquisition in Qing Dynasty. There were many cases of literary inquisition in Qing dynasty, which almost coincided with the history of Ai Xinjue Roche dynasty. The number, scale, coverage and bloodiness of cases are unprecedented.

Fang Zhiyuan: The more the Ming literati were punished by the imperial court, the more they were praised by public opinion, so they became more energetic. In addition to literary inquisition and graft, the Qing literati were punished less, but it was not the mercy of the supreme ruler, but the "death" of the literati. The backbone of China intellectuals was actually broken in the Qing Dynasty. From the perspective of maintaining social stability, we can learn from the Qing dynasty; However, from advocating freedom and openness

Lei Haizong: "It is hard for modern people to imagine that China conducted a large-scale and systematic search for banned books. But in the worst fifteen years, the whole country was in a panic, and even illiterate farmers sometimes caused great disasters by handing down an irrelevant book. This is not easy to see in ordinary historical materials. Only private diaries and notes can help us recall the tense situation at that time. The author put forward this point in particular, which won the original intention of historians to resume their tracks. "

Luther Carrington goodrich: "Generally speaking, Gan Long is a tyrant who should be condemned by history", because he "interfered with scholars' independent research, deliberately tampered with history, brutally persecuted scholars, banned books and destroyed editions one after another." "The compilation of Sikuquanshu, although named as preserving the quintessence of Chinese culture, has ulterior motives in order to achieve the purpose of suppressing thoughts."

Zhou Zongqi: The literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty showed the blood and tears of the literati behind the prosperous times of Kang and Gan.

affect

The literary inquisition made scholars feel at a loss, so many people escaped from reality and immersed themselves in the study of ancient papers, thus forming a famous school in the academic history of China, namely the Ganjia School. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jiangxi School originated from Gu. At first, he advocated argumentation based on classics and history books to save the world. When we arrived in Qianlong and Jiaqing, we were very popular. Scholars highly admire the exegetical methods, textual research methods and interpretation methods of ancient Confucian classics, and apply them to all aspects of ancient book collation and academic exploration. Its research scope is centered on Confucian classics and extends to literature, phonology, history, natural calculation, land and water, classics, epigraphy, collation, compilation and so on. The materials cited were multipolar in the Han Dynasty. Because it rose in Qianlong and Jiaqing years, it was called Ganjia School. Oppose glitz and advocate simplicity, so it is also called "sinology" and "simple learning". This school has made great contributions to the collation and research of historical materials of ancient books in China, and its research methods have been passed down from generation to generation, which has had a far-reaching impact on later academic circles. Sinology corrects the emptiness of Neo-Confucianism, but it also has the cumbersome drawbacks of textual research. Destroying talents and imprisoning thoughts is not conducive to the development and progress of our society and the progress of talents, which is a major drawback in the history of China.

Under the pressure of the literary inquisition, some local operas have suffered unprecedented destruction and devastation. Under the terror of cultural absolutism, Cao Xueqin had to declare that the theme and emotion of the book were "Jia's words and village's words" and "the truth was hidden" in his writing from 0755 to 79000. His good intention is to avoid the cruel and strict literary network.

At that time, scholars had only two ways out. One is to get into the pile of ancient books and engage in exegesis, archaeology, collation, epigraphy and tedious textual research. This is the so-called general education during the Qianlong period. Although it has made considerable achievements, as some scholars have pointed out, these achievements are like exquisite handicrafts made by prisoners in prison. In this study, philosophy and theory disappeared, and so did the tradition of attaching importance to reality, life, politics and ethics in China culture.

anecdote

In jeopardy.-in jeopardy

There are some idioms and words that can't be used indiscriminately at that time. For example, a close call. There is no such word as a close call or a close call in the whole history of the Ming Dynasty. According to the laws of the Qing dynasty, everyone must shave their heads. If a hair is at stake, it means that you are not satisfied with shaving.

Learn Chinese and go to jail.

Hong Ren Hui, an Englishman of the East India Company, trembled with anger because he was dissatisfied with the extortion of local officials. As a result, Hong was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for learning Chinese characters without authorization.

Avoid fear of literary inquisition.

In the winter of Daoguang five years, Gong Zizhen wrote a poem "A Dream of Red Mansions", in which there is a line "I am afraid of being imprisoned; All books are written for rice and rice. " Friends and friends can speak freely at the party, but now