What are the details of Qin Shihuang digging a hole to burn Confucianism?

First, the historical process of the dispute between Zhou and Chun and the incident of burning books and burying Confucianism

In 2 13 BC, Qin Shihuang gave a big banquet in Xianyang Palace, and the servant (doctor) Zhou took the opportunity to pay tribute to Qin Shihuang: "He is only a thousand miles away from Qin, relying on the wisdom of your gods to pacify the sea, exile barbarians, and shine in the sun and the moon. He took the vassal as the county, and everyone was happy, avoiding war. He has never been as good as your majesty wade. " Qin Shihuang's face lit up after listening. Dr. Yu Chunyue, a Qi man, immediately retorted, "I heard that the King of Yin and Zhou was over 1,000 years old. He made contributions to his descendants and helped himself. Today, your majesty has a family, but his son is Shu Ren, and he died in Tian Chang, a six-minister, without an auxiliary stroke. How did he save you? No one listens to those who can not learn from the past for a long time. Today, my young minister is guilty of paying tribute to your majesty, and he is not a loyal minister. "

Historically, this court battle was called the battle between Zhou and Chun. Qin Shihuang gave Chun Yuyue's suggestion to ministers for discussion. Li Si, then prime minister, deliberately expanded the situation and pointed the finger at all the "students" and private schools. In response to Chun's remarks, Li Si said that "the five emperors do not change their phases, and the three generations do not attack each other". Since ancient times, governance has also changed. Now that the world has been decided and laws and regulations are unified, Confucian scholars "learn from the past but not the present", accusing the contemporary world and confusing people. They vilify "legalists" with "private studies", accusing the government and laws and regulations of "duplicity when they enter, gossip when they leave" and even spreading rumors and slanders. If this phenomenon is not prohibited, it will definitely weaken the authority of the emperor and form opposing factions.

Therefore, Reese suggested: "I asked historians to burn all the records of the Qin Dynasty. They are not doctors. Those who dare to collect hundreds of languages of poetry and books in the world should carefully examine them and burn them with miscellaneous. Some people who dare to talk about "poetry" and "books" abandon the market and treat the past as the past. Those who don't mention it when they see it are also guilty. If it doesn't burn for the next 30 days, it will be a city. Those who don't go, the books of medical skills, divination and tree planting, those who want to learn the law, take the official as the teacher. "

Qin Shihuang accepted the suggestion of Prime Minister Lisi, ordered the prohibition of private school, burned "poems" and "books", and implemented a policy of cultural autocracy. So there was a book burning fire in Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Dynasty, and then this fire was ignited in counties all over the country before or after, and it never went out within a month. In this national fire, China's classical literature in the pre-Qin period, in addition to natural science (medicine, tree planting).

And theology (divination literature), almost all turned into black charcoal.

After the book burning incident, distrust and alienation of the government became more and more obvious. In 2 12 BC, there were two alchemists, Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng, looking for an immortal elixir for Qin Shihuang. Knowing that there is no elixir, they just use it to defraud wealth. After a long time, the scam will eventually be exposed. According to the stipulation that Qin Shihuang's prescription was invalid, the two alchemists would be put to death. They're afraid of born to die. So they used the excuse that they couldn't ask such people for fairy medicine to spread a series of autocratic faults of Qin Shihuang and ran away. Qin Shihuang was very angry after hearing the news, because he gave these alchemists great wealth in exchange for the elixir of life. Not only did no one find the elixir for him, but they also spoke ill of him. In addition, some Confucian scholars in Xianyang, the capital, spread rumors and misled people, so Qin Shihuang sent people to interrogate them severely. Confucian scholars snitched on each other and implicated more than 460 Confucian scholars, all of whom were arrested and buried alive. Historically, this incident, together with the book-burning incident, is called "book-burning burying Confucianism" incident.

The government of Qin once collected almost all classical literature from the courts and folk in six countries, and set up a huge royal library. At the same time, 70 old scholars were recruited and awarded doctoral positions. In addition, at least 2000 intellectuals gathered and died under the leadership of 70 doctors. The task entrusted by the Qin government to these 70 doctors and more than 2,000 students is to examine the classical literature of the Royal Library. The new government hopes that these doctors and students can make a screening and liquidation of classical cultural ideas, point out which documents are unfavorable to the new government and which documents are helpful to the new government, and then use the power of the government to ban the popularity of books that are unfavorable to the new government and reward those books that are beneficial to the new government to broadcast to the people. As Qin Shihuang himself said, "I used to collect all the books in the world, and I went all out to help those who were useless. I also called a large number of literary alchemists to preach peace." It can be seen that at this time, the past cultural thoughts were thoroughly liquidated, and as a result, most of the Confucian culture in the Six Kingdoms period was removed. The ban on ideology and culture in the Six Kingdoms period inevitably caused the aristocratic intellectuals in the Six Kingdoms to miss the old times and be dissatisfied with Qin politics.

Burning books and burying Confucianism has created a "unified" pattern in China.

"Burning books to bury Confucianism" has always been the evidence of Qin Shihuang's cruelty. It has been reviled by scholars all over the world for more than 2,000 years, so that some people are still worried about this historical event, wishing that they could not dig graves and whip corpses, penetrate more than 2,000 years of time and space, and absorb bone marrow from Qin Shihuang. This hatred is actually a collective fear in the subconscious of later literati, which has been passed down from generation to generation. Emotionally, the old monk also felt that Qin Shihuang's method of burning books and burying Confucianism was too intense, and it was really cruel to Confucian scholars at that time. He could have taken some milder measures. But if we want to evaluate a historical event, it is best to evaluate it from the effect of the event, rather than using moral or emotional standards. So what is the historical role of burning books and burying Confucianism? I believe that after this incident, the historical pattern of great unity of the Chinese nation has been formed.

Let's look at the essence of "burning books to bury Confucianism". The essence of "burning books to bury Confucianism" is actually a movement to unify thoughts. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he abolished the enfeoffment system in political structure and implemented the county system nationwide. Culturally, unified writing, official writing with Xiao Zhuan as the standard; In the economic field, unified currency and unified measurement. These measures are the basic elements of national unity and can be controlled by powerful national violence. However, some things are difficult to control by the powerful structure of the country, especially in the early Qin Dynasty, just after the Warring States Period, when a hundred schools of thought contend, and the ideological field is extremely chaotic. To what extent a country can be unified, the most important condition is to what extent it can form the same values, and ideological confusion is the enemy of forming the same values. Therefore, it is not enough to have unified measures in politics, economy and culture. The most crucial and long-term unification factor is the unification of ideas and the formation of unified core values, so that the unification measures in politics, economy and culture can be effective. The two biggest ideological trends at that time were Confucianism and Legalism. Confucianism respects the ancient times, but Qin Shihuang's unification of China is a new thing, and the measures taken are also new measures, which do not conform to the Confucian concept. At that time, the nobles of the six countries also tried to restore the enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty through the Confucian "self-denial", thus gaining lost power. Therefore, for the newly unified Qin Dynasty, unifying thoughts is the key measure to maintain great unity. Therefore, after Qin Shihuang found several Confucian scholars, he began a cultural movement to unify his thoughts. The means are a bit intense, but the objective effect is obvious. Although the unified Qin dynasty only lasted for more than ten years, the rulers after the Qin dynasty regarded the idea of unified rule as the key means to maintain their rule. By the time Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty ousted hundreds of schools of thought, China's thought of unification was formally formed. Since then, the rulers of past dynasties have basically regarded Confucianism as the core concept of the country. What needs special explanation here is that the essence of "burying Confucianism" in the Qin Dynasty and "respecting Confucianism" in the Han Dynasty is the same, and they both want to unify their thoughts. In fact, since the Han Dynasty, all feudal rulers have basically practiced "Yang Confucianism and Yin Buddhism" or "True Confucianism", that is, on the surface, they adopted the Confucian point of view, but in fact it was a means of legalism. The emperor ruled the world in a legalist way and educated the people in a Confucian way. Legalists emphasized power, skill and power. The ancients regarded these things as the skills of emperors and as a way to control the people and ministers. Confucianism mainly emphasizes benevolence, righteousness and propriety. The greatest advantage of benevolence, righteousness and propriety is to form a sense of behavior in morality, and it is a good tool to maintain the hierarchy without resorting to violence. Therefore, rulers of past dynasties have used Confucianism to educate the world. At that time, Qin Shihuang took drastic measures because he didn't realize that Confucianism could be used. But burning books and burying Confucianism actually set the tone of Yang Confucianism and Yin Buddhism. Therefore, I think that burning books and burying Confucianism has created the great unity of China.

Of course, I'm not here to say that Qin Shihuang was right to lie to Confucianism. I just want to say that his unified thinking direction is right, and. The specific method can be better, but in an era when human life is worse than dung, there is no cleaner method than direct physical elimination. In addition, I think that evaluating a historical event must be based on its historical effect, which may be more objective.

For thousands of years, Confucianism and Legalism have been arguing endlessly, and politicians and thinkers of all ages have inevitably talked about it.

In 1973, Mao Zedong talked about them in his poems.

This is the "seven laws, reading feudalism, showing Lao Guo"—

I advise you to scold Qin Shihuang less and discuss the reasons for burning the pit.

The ancestral dragon's soul is still dead in Qin, and Confucius' scientific name is high.

One hundred generations are good at Qin politics and law, but ten batches are not good articles.

Be familiar with the feudal theory of the Tang Dynasty, and don't return to King Wen from zihou.

This poem was written for Guo Moruo, because Lao Guo praised Confucius for "conforming to the trend of social change at that time" in his Criticism of Ten Books written in Chongqing in the 1940s. Mao Zedong disagrees with this view. Mao Zedong also defended Qin Shihuang's "burning books to bury Confucianism". These, he wrote in the poem.

Why didn't Mao Zedong like Confucius?

In his view, Confucius and Confucianism often talk about logic, but not necessarily in practice. In addition to some achievements in culture and education, they often talk about their achievements. Princes and princesses of past dynasties are all under the banner of "benevolence, righteousness and morality" of Confucianism and Confucius, but few people really seek welfare for the people and share joys and sorrows with them. In this way, they were praised as "saints" in feudal society. Those students who read some books about "saints" could shake their heads and put their tails up in the sky. Mao Zedong's indignation, in addition to the anti-Confucius trend of thought since the May 4th Movement, also has its origin in personality background.

Why did Mao Zedong like Qin Shihuang?

It is clearly stated in the poem: "All previous dynasties were good at Qin politics and law". The so-called "Qin politics and law" means that after Qin Shihuang unified China, he abolished the "feudal system" and changed it to the "county system", and the county orders were appointed by the central dynasty, thus consolidating centralization and becoming a basic pattern of China's political system for thousands of years. Liu Zongyuan of the Tang Dynasty wrote a feudal article praising Qin Shihuang's reform.

Fundamentally speaking, the image of Qin Shihuang was damaged by those Confucian scholars. The reason is that he initiated the events of "burning books" and "ruining Confucianism". This is a fatal blow to intellectuals represented by Confucianism. It was the remarks of Confucian scholars that made Qin Shihuang a typical "tyrant".

In this regard, Mao Zedong believes that this is something worthy of "discussion". How to discuss it? The poem doesn't say. Think about the reasons, but some Confucian scholars deserve it. Because alchemists prevailed at the end of the Warring States Period, many Confucian scholars took the work of alchemists and even cheated Qin Shihuang several times. In fact, after hundreds of Confucian scholars were cheated, a large number of Confucian scholars remained in Qin Shihuang's government agencies. The so-called "book burning" involves the "ideological destination" after the reunification of China, mainly the burning of official books of the six countries. After the Han Dynasty, academic unity was not interrupted. These have been discriminated by historians in modern times.

"Politicians of all ages have made achievements, and those who made achievements in the early feudal society were legalists. These people advocate the rule of law and beheading if they break the law. They advocate respecting the present and cherishing the past. Confucianism is full of benevolence and morality, full of thieves and prostitutes, and advocates being rich in the past and thin now, driving backwards. " -Mao Zedong said.

Mao Zedong is a revolutionary, a politician who emphasizes respecting the present, cherishing the past and creating new things. Deep in his mind, he tends to legalism. But he did not completely deny Confucianism. He often says something critical of Confucianism, which may be related to his realistic consideration of "getting rid of the old and replacing the new" After all, he is not a pure historian.

Mao Zedong was 80 years old when he wrote Seven Laws and read On Feudalism.

This is the last epic he wrote and the last poem he wrote in his life.

The last poem of a modern politician is actually an evaluation of two historical figures who have been old for thousands of years but have lived for hundreds of generations.

A thousand years ago, I wrote history and thought about every word.

A thousand years of sighing, thick today and thin ancient times, sound tireless.