Jia Yi

Jia Yi

Jia Yi (200 B.C. - 168 B.C.), Han nationality, was born in Luoyang (now Luoyang City, Henan Province). He was a famous political commentator and writer in the early Western Han Dynasty. Jia Yi has a rare talent. When he was 18 years old, he was called Shanwen by the county people. Emperor Wen was a doctor at that time and moved to Taizhong. He was excluded by Zhou Bo and Guan Ying and was relegated to Changsha Wang Taifu, so later generations also called Jia Changsha and Jia Taifu. Three years later, he was recalled to Chang'an and became the king of Liang Huai. Liang huaiwang fell off his horse and died. Jia Yi felt guilty and died of depression. He was only 33 years old. Sima Qian sympathized with Qu Yuan and Jia Yi and wrote a joint biography for them. Later generations often called Jia Yi and Qu Yuan "Qu Jia".

Jia Yi's works are mainly composed of prose and Ci Fu. The main literary achievements of prose are political essays, comments on current affairs, simple style and vigorous discussion. Lu Xun called it "Hongwen of Western Han Dynasty". His representative works include "Guo Qin Lun", "Lun Ji Ji Shu", "Chen Zheng Shi Shu", etc. His poems and Fu are all Sao style, and their forms tend to be scattered. They are the forerunners of the development of Han Fu, especially Diao Qu Yuan Fu and Yu Niao Fu.

Life of the characters

Young people's ambition

In the seventh year of emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (200 BC), Jia Yi was born in Luoyang. He was a rare talent and learned from Zhang Cang, a student of Xun Kuang. Five years after the Han Dynasty (183 BC), he was famous for his ability to recite poems, books and articles. Duke Wu, the prefect of Henan Province, called him to his family and attached great importance to him. With the help of Jia Yi, Duke Wu managed the county of Henan Province with outstanding achievements, social stability and world-class reviews.

When Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, he heard that He'nan county was well governed and promoted to the rank of Tingwei. Duke Wu recommended Jia Yi according to the situation. At that time, Jia Yi was 21 years old, and he was the youngest doctor. When he was a doctor, when the emperor asked questions for discussion, Jia Yi always had brilliant ideas, answered questions like flow, and won the unanimous praise of his peers. Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty appreciated it very much and promoted it unconventionally. Within one year, he was promoted to Taizhong doctor.

Criticizing the current situation

At the beginning of his term as Taizhong doctor, Jia Yi began to make policies for Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. In the first year of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Jia Yi proposed the reform of etiquette system. In his book on the establishment of system and the promotion of rites and music, he designed a complete set of etiquette system of the Han Dynasty based on Confucianism and the theory of five elements. He advocated "changing zhengshuo, changing colors, making laws, and promoting rites and music" to further replace the Qin system. As Emperor Wen had just ascended the throne, he thought the conditions were not mature, so he did not adopt Jia Yi's suggestion.

In the second year of Emperor Wen (178 BC), in view of the phenomenon of "going back to the end" (abandoning agriculture and doing business) "and" the wind of extravagance, the days grow by the day ", Jia Yi put forward the economic policy of emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, advocated the development of agricultural production, strengthening grain reserves, and preventing famine. Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty adopted his suggestion and ordered to encourage agricultural production. Politically, Jia Yi put forward the measure of sending the Marquis to leave the capital to his fiefdom.

In view of Jia Yi's outstanding talent and outstanding performance, Emperor Wen wanted to promote Jia Yi to the position of minister of state. Jiang Marquis Zhou Bo, Guan Ying, Dongyang Marquis, Feng Jing and others all envied Jia Yi and slandered Jia Yi for "being a young scholar, wanting to be good at power and making trouble". Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty gradually alienated Jia Yi and no longer adopted his opinions.

Relegated to Changsha

In the fourth year of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty (176 BC), Jia Yi was released to Changsha as Wang Taifu. Changsha is located in the south, thousands of miles away from the capital Chang'an. When Jia Yi was demoted from Beijing and traveled a long way through Xiangjiang River, he wrote "Ode to Qu Yuan" and expressed his resentment. At that time, Zhou Bo was arrested and jailed, and Jia Yi wrote a book on class, suggesting Emperor Wen treat his ministers with courtesy.

During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, he gave Deng Tong Yan Dao Tong mountain of Shu county and allowed Liu Bi, king of Wu, to open Tongshan mountain of Yuzhang to cast money. Therefore, "Deng's money" and Wu's money spread all over the world. In the fifth year of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty (175bc), Jia Yi wrote to Emperor Wen in Changsha "admonishment on casting money", pointing out that private casting money led to currency chaos, which was unfavorable to both the country and the people, and suggested that Emperor Wen order a ban.

In Jia Yi's third year as Changsha Wang Taifu, an owl flew into the room and stopped beside the seat. Owls, like cuckoos, used to be regarded as unlucky birds. Jia Yi was demoted to live in Changsha. Changsha was low-lying and humid. He often felt sad and thought that his life was not long. Now the bird came into the house, which made him very sad. So he wrote the bird Fu to express his feelings of sadness, anger and injustice, and extricated himself with Lao Zhuang's thoughts of life and death and other blessings.

Entering the palace again

After living in Changsha for three years, Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty missed Jia Yi and called him to Beijing to meet him in the Xuanshi room of Weiyang palace. Emperor Wen had some feelings about ghosts and gods, so he asked Jia Yi about the origin of ghosts and gods. Jia Yi explained the reason in detail. He talked late into the night, but Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty could not help but sit at the front of the table. After talking about it, Emperor Jia Wendi said, "I don't think he's better than he was born today."

When Jia Yi returned to Chang'an this time, the personnel of the imperial court had changed a lot. Guanying was dead. After Zhou Bo was wrongly imprisoned and pardoned, he returned to Jiangxian fiefdom and did not interfere in the affairs of the imperial court. However, Emperor Wen still did not entrust Jia Yi with an important task. He only appointed him as Taifu, King Huai of Liang Dynasty. The place where he worked was closer to the imperial court. Moreover, Liu Yi, King Huai of Liang Dynasty, was the youngest son of Emperor Wen. He was very beloved, which was also a kind of attention to him.

The world of politics

Jia Yi was appointed as Taifu, King Huai of Liang Dynasty. Although he was in the state of Liang, he was still aware of political affairs and thought of danger in times of peace. During this period, the Xiongnu was powerful and often invaded the frontier of the Han Dynasty; the Han Dynasty was just established, but the laws and regulations were not strict; the princes exceeded their own power, occupied more land than the provisions of the ancient system, and the kings of Huainan and Jibei were all killed for their rebellion. As a result, Jia Yi stated his political affairs many times, mainly focusing on the three issues of Xiongnu's invasion of the border, the lax system, and Wang Wuning.

In 173bc, Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, Liu Chang, king of Huainan, conspired to rebel. Emperor Wen exiled him to Shu county (now central Sichuan). Liu Chang committed suicide on the way. In the second year (172 BC), Emperor Wen made Liu Chang's four sons marquis. Jia Yi was worried that Emperor Wen would then make Liu Chang's sons king from the Marquis, and then he spared Emperor Wen for advice. But Emperor Wen did not take Jia Yi's advice.

die young

In the 11th year of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty (169bc), Jia Yi was 32 years old. He joined the court with King Huai of Liang Dynasty. Liu Yi, King Huai of Liang Dynasty, fell from his horse and died. Jia Yi felt that as a Taifu, he did not fulfill his duty. He was deeply remorseful and often cried. He was in a very melancholy mood.

King Huai of Liang had no son. According to the law, his vassal state would be revoked. Jia Yi thinks that this is not good for the whole situation; he suggests establishing a successor for King Liang, or allowing Liu can, the king of the dynasty, to move to the state of Liang; and expanding the fiefdoms of the state of Liang and the state of Huaiyang, so that the former's fiefdoms reach the Yellow River in the north and the latter the Yangtze River in the south, thus forming a continuum. After listening to Jia Yi's suggestion, Emperor Wen moved Liu Wu, king of Huaiyang, to be king of Liang, and Liu Xi, king of Chengyang, to be king of Huainan. Judging from the role of Liu Wujian, the king of Liang, in resisting the chaos of Wu and Chu, the deployment made according to Jia Yi's proposal is indeed far sighted.

In the 12th year of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty (168 BC), Jia Yi died in melancholy at the age of 33.

(source of the statue of Jia Taifu)

Main achievements

Character thought

confucian

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Lu Jia, Shu Suntong and others, on the basis of summing up the lessons of the Qin Dynasty, put forward the idea of governing the country with Confucianism, but failed to put it into political practice. At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, Jia Yi broke through the shackles of Taoism and Huang Lao's learning, pushed Confucianism to the political front stage, formulated the political blueprint of combining benevolence and propriety, and got the attention of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, leaving a profound influence in history.

Jia Yi believes that the death of Qin Dynasty lies in "benevolence and righteousness not being applied". In order to ensure the long-term stability of Han Dynasty, benevolence and righteousness and benevolent administration must be applied. At the same time, Jia Yi's concept of benevolence and justice has a strong color of people-oriented. Jia Yi saw the vital role of the people in the rise and fall of the country from the strength and fall of Qin Dynasty. Based on this kind of people-oriented thought, Jia Yi believes that the main content of benevolence and benevolent government is to love the people. "If you love the people, you will be attached to them." only with happiness and wealth, can you win the support of the people. The main content of Jia Yi's political thought is to love the people and to practice benevolent government.

While studying history, Jia Yi also made a careful study of the social reality of the Han Dynasty. Jia Yi believes that the situation at that time was that after the appearance of calm, there were all kinds of contradictions and the coming social crisis: peasant riots appeared occasionally; princes' tyranny and rebellion constituted a serious threat to the central government; the whole society competed with each other with extravagance and arrogance, and the social atmosphere went from bad to worse. Therefore, in Jia Yi's view, in the face of such a social reality that there is no system, abandoning propriety and righteousness, donating honesty and ugliness, we can't abide by Huang Lao's skills, we must change zhengshuo, change colors, establish official names, and promote rites and music. Therefore, Shu Suntong's advocacy of making etiquette, showing honor and inferiority, and ruling the country by propriety has also become an important part of Jia Yi's political thought. Through benevolence and propriety, Jia Yi put forward a Confucian political ruling mode of benevolence to love the people and propriety to respect the monarch.

Legalists

Like Lu Jia, Shu Suntong and others, Jia Yi is not a scholar, especially in order to solve the contradiction between the central government and the princes of the Han Dynasty, the legalist thought of power and legal system has been absorbed into his ideological system. Jia Yi thinks: Shi Renyi is mainly for the people. For the princes and kings who had powerful forces at that time and could rebel against the central government at any time, it was not enough to rely only on benevolence and righteousness, but also on the power and legal system. "Benevolence and righteousness are the spear and blade of the master; power and legal system are the jinax of the master. The situation has been established and the power has been sufficient. Therefore, benevolence, righteousness, kindness and kindness are the reasons for this

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