Although Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were in a state of long-term division and confrontation, they made many achievements in the political and economic system and played a connecting role in the history of China. Nine-grade system, gentry system and land equalization system were the initial political and economic systems in this period.
The gentry system is a unique historical phenomenon in the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Its characteristic is to distinguish the different positions of the gentry and civilians in politics, economy and culture according to their family status. Historically, the gentry system has a long process of germination, formation, full development (also known as prosperity), decline and extinction; Based on the scientific viewpoint of historical materialism, we should analyze and evaluate the gentry system under the specific historical conditions at that time.
Understand the process of the emergence, development, decline and extinction of the gentry system and the inevitability of the imperial examination system from the perspective of development.
Concept:
Gentry-a privileged class of the landlord class (a wealthy family with high political and economic privileges) based on family and family status. Clan, also known as Tuzu, is a privileged class in the landlord class.
Buyi-refers to ordinary small and medium-sized landlords other than gentry, also known as humble people.
Characteristics (special status)
(1) Politically:
Share privileges according to family background and hold important positions for generations; (Nine-grade system is the political guarantee of the gentry system; )
(2) Economically:
The gentry occupied a lot of land and labor, and established a self-sufficient and powerful manor economy; (the system of official occupation of land provided economic security for the gentry system; )
(3) Social life:
Don't marry a commoner, or even sit in different seats;
(4) Culturally:
Advocate empty talk and occupy senior civil servant positions.
develop
(1) Germination (Eastern Han Dynasty)
Politics: Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty advocated Confucianism, bureaucrats started with Confucian classics and gradually formed a state of being an official for life in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cao Wei carried out the system of "nine grades of justice", which enabled clan landlords to participate in political power by virtue of their family background.
Economy: In the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, land annexation was very serious, and gradually formed a powerful landlord force of bureaucrats, businessmen and landlords. The regime of the Eastern Han Dynasty was established with the support of the powerful landlords, so the powerful landlords enjoyed political and economic privileges in the Eastern Han Dynasty. They controlled the central and local governments politically, annexed land economically, managed manors, gradually became independent and became aristocratic families. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, gentry landlords began to form, which provided a class and economic foundation for the establishment of the gentry system in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
② Strata (Cao Wei, Western Jin Dynasty)
The formation of gentry system means that the ruling class promulgated various laws and regulations to safeguard the privileges of gentry landlords in political, economic, cultural and social life. The "Nine Grades" system implemented by Cao Wei regime is an important symbol of the formation of aristocratic system.
(2) Consolidate (Western Jin Dynasty)
After the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Sima family continued to practice the policy of indulgence and netting in order to gain the support of aristocratic children, forming a typical door-to-door politics.
(3) The heyday (Eastern Jin Dynasty)
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the gentry system fully developed and entered its heyday. The reason is that the Eastern Jin relied on the support of the gentry in the north and south. The Eastern Jin regime is a joint dictatorship of Sima's imperial power, the northern gentry represented by Wang, Yu, Huan and Xie, and the gentry of Wu in the south of the Yangtze River, which is in a non-mainstream position. This political pattern lasted for a century until the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. At that time, the influence of the gentry was enough to keep pace with the imperial power and even surpass it. The emperor relied on the support of the gentry, and the politics of the gentry reached its peak. During this period, the gentry occupied a high position in politics, monopolized political power, blocked mountains and rivers in economy, occupied a large area of land and labor, and advocated making it clear in culture. In order to maintain this system, during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, the gentry attached great importance to the compilation of genealogy and the origin of the gentry's lineage as a proof of their privileges, so genealogy prevailed, and genealogy monographs became a tool for official departments to select officials and maintain the privileged position of the gentry.
During this period, the Tu people had political privileges, and the important positions of honest officials were monopolized by gentry. Economically, it owns granges, occupies a large number of land population, and often competes with the government for the labor force population; Culturally, genealogy inherits and occupies a monopoly position, but also advocates genealogy, advocates metaphysics, and is good at dragon calligraphy, painting and other arts; Society does not marry civilians, and so on. The gentry hold the power, but they are unwilling to set foot in practice and decay in indulgence and luxury.
(4) Decline (Southern Dynasties)
From the late Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern Dynasty, the gentry system gradually declined. The root cause lies in the decay of the gentry themselves. Under the gentry system, the gentry, especially the senior gentry, can be an official by virtue of their family background and hold senior positions for generations. The special social environment made many gentry not enterprising, indulged in leisure and debauchery, and disdained government and military affairs. Coupled with the close relationship between gentry, poor physical quality. Therefore, after the war between the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the former Qin Dynasty, some generals from civilian backgrounds stood out, showing high political and military talents, and their prestige and power rose rapidly. In the Southern Dynasties, Song, Qi, Liang and Chen were all generals of civilian origin. Although the emperors of the Southern Dynasties could not change the situation that senior gentry monopolized senior officials, they quoted civilian officials and entrusted them with positions with low taste but real power, and shared the privileges of gentry in actual governance. The second reason for the decline of the gentry system in this period was that it was hit by the peasant uprising; The third reason is that the gentry have been hit and weakened by contradictions within the ruling class. The interaction of the above three reasons greatly weakened the class and economic foundation of the cremation system.
In the southern dynasties, due to the decline of the clan itself. Loss of political and military advantages; With the conflict and intensification of social class contradictions, peasant uprisings broke out one after another, and Han landlords took the opportunity to rise by military force. While suppressing the peasant uprising, we further took the initiative to control the localities, commanded the army, and proclaimed ourselves emperor by force, such as Emperor Wu of Song and Xiao Daocheng. , broke the situation that the landlord at the main entrance dominated the country. At this time, although the clan landlords were in high positions, they had no real power and were bound to perish. Later, due to the chaos of the waiting time and the demise of the Sui Dynasty, the hierarchy of the gate valve was dying, and the landlord of cloth clothes jumped to the main position in politics. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the system of "Nine Grades of Zheng Zhi" was abolished and the imperial examination system was implemented. "The draft doesn't ask about family background, and marriage doesn't ask about reading." Aristocratic system, which originated in Wei Dynasty and prevailed in Jin Dynasty, finally died out in the political and legal system.
(5) Extinction (Late Tang Dynasty)
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the gentry system gradually died out. One of the reasons is that the imperial examination system was implemented in Sui and Tang Dynasties, which made the landlords with low family status participate in the political power through the examination and destroyed the political foundation of the aristocratic system. The implementation of the land equalization system and the rent adjustment system has enabled some farmers who have no land and little land to get some land, and also ensured farmers' production time. Its prohibition of unlimited land occupation and land sale at will inhibited land merger to some extent, protected yeoman farmers, and weakened the economic foundation of the cremation system to some extent. The second is the struggle for power and interests within the ruling class in the Tang Dynasty. Third, the peasant war further destroyed the decadent cremation system. Since then, the gentry system, which lasted for six or seven hundred years, has finally disappeared on the historical stage.
cause
(1) Historical roots: the development of powerful landlords since the Eastern Han Dynasty. (2) Political reasons: the ruling foundation of Wei and Jin Dynasties was the gentry, and the emperor was supported by the gentry;
(3) Political guarantee: The Nine Grades System is the political guarantee of the cremation system. (Become a tool for aristocratic families to cultivate private forces and safeguard political privileges,)
5. Reasons for the decline
(1) Self-decay: decadent and luxurious life and innate privileges lead to the lack of ruling ability and even survival ability of the gentry class;
(2) The internal struggle of the ruling group in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties was fierce, and the common people gradually seized the opportunity to take the initiative;
(3) The influence of the Hou Jing Rebellion. The gentry of Du Nan in Jin Dynasty "slept for a while";
(4) The implementation of the imperial examination system in Sui and Tang Dynasties shook the political foundation of the gentry;
(5) The strike of peasant uprising in the late Tang Dynasty. (completely eliminate the cremation system)
Step 6 influence
The gentry system runs through the most prominent political characteristics of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it is also the manifestation of political corruption and darkness in the Western Jin Dynasty, which determines the bureaucratic characteristics of politics, economy and culture in this period and has a far-reaching impact on later generations.
Negative effects:
The political and economic characteristics of the gentry system determined that the class contradictions, ethnic contradictions and internal contradictions of the ruling class in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were often particularly acute, which led to the long-term political situation of separatist regime in the North and South. The gentry grange economy strengthened the closed natural economy and hindered the development of commodity economy. The gentry is a decadent group in the landlord class, which is becoming more and more decadent in the later period, and is a group of social parasites.
Objective positive effect: 1. Economically, the gentry's grange economy was feudal land ownership, and the gentry occupied a large number of labor, which strengthened the feudal dependence. Under the turbulent political situation in Wei and Jin Dynasties, farmers were attached to aristocratic families and had relatively guaranteed production conditions, which was obviously beneficial to the development of feudal economy. During the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, the south was relatively stable. As the core of northern immigrants, gentry landlords came to the south to start businesses. The objective situation makes them the organizers of developing the southern economy. The granges and villas they built in the south, after all, promoted the development of the barren hills in the south of the Yangtze River. 2. In ethnic relations, intellectuals played an important role in promoting the feudalization of northern minorities. The gentry are rich in thought, technology and culture, and are qualified to engage in cultural undertakings. Some gentry despise etiquette and advocate personal freedom, and their thoughts are full of imagination and romance. Therefore, during the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, they made many achievements in philosophy, literature, calligraphy, painting and science, and they were full of characteristics.
It is the common people who oppose cremation;
Compared with its political and economic status, the social status of the aristocratic families in the Southern Dynasties was superior. Clans and poor families have different status. "An official, who lives on goods, regards his son as light as a servant and easy as dirt, and never associates with him" (Wen Yuan Huaying, vol. 760, cited in On Lengsu). Therefore, there is no connection between the two classes. Although cold people have become famous all over the world and become nobles and close ministers, they don't measure themselves, don't welcome the family, and even get insulted and won't be greeted by people in the family. For example, Lu Fei's grandson Lu Qiongzhi, Song Xiaowu's mother-in-law and Wang Sengda are neighbors. Joan's "A monk who has a good taste for cars can hunt, but he has changed his clothes." When Joan sat down, the monk reached a disagreement and said, "Who was the king who abandoned Taoism in the past?" (Biography of Heather Wang Hong's Son and Monk Da). So he asked Zuo Zuo to burn the bed where Lu Qiong was sitting, so that Lu Qiong could not get off the stage. Zhang Fu, a native of Wujun in the Song Dynasty, was an official in Zhongshulang. Qiu Dang and Zhou Fang, the Chinese calligraphers, think that they are Zhang Fu's colleagues and discuss whether they should visit him. Zhou Fang said, "If he doesn't entertain us, we will be embarrassed. We might as well not go. Qiu Dang said: "We already have a considerable position. Since I am a colleague, I can always sit casually. " In this way, the two of them decided to see Zhang Fu. Zhang Fu "first set up two beds and move the wall three or four feet." The second guest took a seat and said to the left and right, "Move me far away" ("Biography of Heather Zhang Shao and Attached Biography of Fu Zi"), indicating that he didn't want to sit with a cold person. Qiu Dang and Zhou Fang felt embarrassed and had to quit. Qi Zhongshu asked Xiao Ze, the Emperor of Qi, "I was born as a military attache, honored as a high official, and married the daughter of Xun Zhaoguang's son. Now I have no other requirements, just ask your majesty to allow me to join the cremation! "Emperor Wu of Song said," There is nothing I can do, but I can do it myself. The monk really accepted the order, got on the couch and sat down, and then ordered the left and right sides to say, "Move me away and let the guests go." The monk was really depressed and chickened out. Tell Emperor Wudi that the scholar-officials were not ordered by the emperor (Biography of Southern History and Xuansun). The superiority of aristocratic families' social status, the strict difference of official status at that time and the cold current of aristocratic families' exclusion, that is, this end, can be seen.
In order to show that your family is particularly superior, and not to confuse the so-called "world is cold", you must not marry a woman in cloth. Therefore, aristocratic families pay special attention to their family status in the choice of marriage. Noble families must marry noble families, and Wu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang must also choose their own surnames, or marry Hui Jikong, Wei, Yu and Xie. On the one hand, they don't regard Lian's birth as an honor. On the other hand, they are also ashamed of "doing business and marrying officials" and are not allowed to follow suit. Because "married officials are outstanding", they will be rejected and criticized by people of this class, their golden signboard families will become disgraceful, and their future political future will be eclipsed.
However, there were many generals from poor backgrounds in the Southern Dynasties, ranging from three to three, who were in charge of general affairs. Because their political power is so great, a few aristocratic families have become close friends with this group of nouveau riche. For example, the evil king (seventh grandson) took away Shen Wenji, the son of his wife Shen Fei, and Chen Chaozong (Xie Xuan's great grandson) "married children for his son" (The Biography of Nan Shi Xie Lingyun and Sun Chaozong), and his wife Wang "respected". In the Southern Qi Empire, Yue was impeached, thinking that Roy's great-grandfather was a servant of Shang Youyou, and Roy himself, his father and his father were also outstanding figures. Although he is the assistant minister of the country, Zhang Zhizi's Man Luan is the main book of Wu Jun, but Man's "surname, scholar and Shu Ren can't be distinguished" and "Wang, Man Lian's marriage, I'm afraid to listen to things" humiliated the clan, and that's all, so please ask the court to change it. It can be seen that the boundary between the poor and the clan is still very strict.
The stricter the distinction between scholars and ordinary people in society, the more aristocratic families flaunt each other's doorways, and "competing for surnames and living in prosperity" ("Stone Pieces"), and county looks have always become their trademarks. From the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the aristocratic families in the Central Plains began to migrate across the river. An aristocratic family is called an aristocratic family in its origin, and it does not need to show its wealth itself. Not after moving to other places. The king of Langxie and the king of Taiyuan belong to this clan, but the kings of other places do not. Xie Jia in Chenjun and Jiang Jia in Jiyang are all aristocratic families, but Xie Jia or Jiang Jia in other places are not. In one place, a new family named Wang or Xie moved in. Who knows where Wang or Xie Jia is? In this way, I have to solemnly declare that I am Wang Langxie or Wang Taiyuan, not other Wangs, but Xie and Jiang in Chen County, not other Xie and Jiang. It can be seen that attaching importance to counties is the inevitable result of attaching importance to the gate valve system. ……
Due to the attention of the gate valve, the pedigree of white knowledge has become a special kind of knowledge. Pingyang Jia Yuan, Zu Bizhi, whose father was a bandit, was famous for his genealogy for three generations. Pen, Jin Taiyuan wrote "Eighteen States Genealogy". Liu Zhan in Song Dynasty, Wang Jian in Qi Dynasty, and Monks and Confucians in Liang Dynasty all compiled "Hundred Families" for the convenience of the official department. "If there is a secretary, you must check the genealogy and test its authenticity" (Liu Fangyu in Tang Dynasty), so those who are unfamiliar with genealogy under Song and Qi Dynasties are regarded as not employed in the official department.