Zhong Changtong

Zhong Changtong

Zhong Changtong (180-220), a native of Gaoping, Shanyang County, was born in the southwest of Zoucheng City, Shandong Province. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was a philosopher and political commentator. Zhong Changtong was intelligent, studious, well read and good at diction. When he was young, he was keen to learn and read widely. When I was in my 20s, I went to study in Qingdao, Xuzhou, Bingzhou and Jizhou.

Zhong Changtong was talented, but he was extraordinary, forthright, free and easy. He dared to speak frankly, was not reserved, and his silent words were changeable. He was called kuangsheng at that time. Every state and county called him an official. When Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty arrived, the minister ordered Xun Jian to learn about his reputation and recommended him as the Minister of Shang Shu lang. later, he once participated in the military affairs of Cao Cao, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, but he did not get the important position of Cao Cao, and soon returned to the position of the Minister of Shang Shu Lang. The thought and talent of Zhong Changtong are concentrated in Changyan.

(photo source: Song Dynasty < / I > < I > Su Xianzu < / I > < I > (Biography) music records of Zhong Changtong)

Profile

Zhong Changtong studied at an early age. And long, go out to study, read books, good at diction. Ren shangshulang participated in Cao Cao's military affairs. He advocated that "education should be based on etiquette and etiquette should be based on classics". Zhong Changtong lived in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the period of social turmoil, his relatives, eunuchs and big landlords, who started with commerce and usury, formed a huge group of powerful landlords. They wantonly annexed land and plundered people's property, which caused serious opposition between the landlord class and the working people. So the yellow scarf uprising led by Zhang Jiao broke out in 184. Under the heavy blow of the peasant uprising army, the decadent Eastern Han Dynasty has survived in name and perished overnight. Chang Yan, written by Zhong Chang Tong, contains 344 articles and more than 100000 words to vent his righteous indignation. Zhong Changtong thinks that "heaven" is nature, it has no will and purpose. The operation of "heaven" has an objective law that does not depend on people's will. As long as people follow the "heaven", such as timely sowing, hard management and timely harvest, they will have a good harvest. The amount of income does not lie in "destiny", but in giving full play to people's subjective initiative. On the gain and loss of political power, Zhong Changtong criticized "the will of God". He thinks that the entrepreneur takes over the world and establishes the hegemony is caused by "personnel". Similarly, the rise and fall of the Dynasty and the destruction of the industry and the country were also caused by the "personnel". It fundamentally denies the preaching that the "destiny" of religion determines the rise and fall of society, and thus denies the dominant position of religious theology. In the history of the Han Dynasty, this is "the first brilliant view".

Life story

In 180ad, the third year of Guanghe, Emperor Lingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhong Changtong was born in Gaoping County, Shanyang County, that is, Zoucheng City, Shandong Province. Zhong Changtong grew up in a middle and lower class landlord family, because he was "studious, learned about secretaries, and supported literary and artistic works" when he was young. Just imagine that he was a child from a poor family in troubled times, so he should have no conditions to study and read. From the preserved works of Changyan, we can see that when I was young, I read and chanted sutras and studied Classics, especially Li and Yi. As for the year of weak crown, Tong began his travel career. The time is about the fourth year of Jian'an of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, which is 199 ad.

In history, 180-199 A.D. was a turbulent period in the late Han Dynasty. During this period, the emperor's throne changed from Liu Hong (168-189) to Liu Xie (190-220), the last emperor of the Han Dynasty. The title changed several times, from Guanghe (178-184, 7 years), Zhongping (184-189, 6 years), to Chuping (190-193, 4 years), Xingping (194-195, 2 years) and Jian'an (196-220, 25 years). Most of these titles are ironic, because at that time, the so-called "peace", "peace" and "peace" had become illusions.

Zhong Changtong, who grew up in the background of the great turmoil, began to study abroad at the age of 20. Its geographical distribution is mainly in Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei and Liaoning, which was the most frequent war area at that time. Imagine how young Tong would feel when he was walking in the middle of it, witnessing the scene of the people's destitute life, the flames of war, "white bones in the wild, no crowing chickens in a thousand miles."! Tongshi visited Shangdang (in the south of Licheng County, Shanxi Province) and made friends with Changlin. Changlin, with the name of Bo Huai, was famous when it was young. Wang Kuang, the crown prince, set up an army to punish Dong Zhuo (about 190 years later). Because his uncle was convicted, Lin "evaded the land and went up to the party and cultivated the mountains.". Gao Gan called him to be an official, but he refused. Later, Liang Xi, the governor of Bingzhou, recommended him to be "the magistrate of Nanhe county". He was successful in governing and moved to the prefect and the governor of Bingzhou, mostly planning for Cao Pi. Wei Jianguo, worshiping the book, granted Marquis, official to the big Si Nong, moved Guanglu doctor. He died in 1983. The theory of time is based on integrity. According to the above, in 199, Yu Shangdang took over Changlin, and Lin evaded it for nearly ten years. Lin was much older than Tong, and had a great influence on Tong.

According to Miao Zai's Shangtong Changyan table, "the grand Secretary of agriculture, Changlin and the Communist Party of China are officials of Shangdang. They are all noble and straightforward, dare to speak frankly and not be reserved. Every county is called, often called sick. Silence and impermanence are sometimes called madness. " Here, Tong repeatedly refused to be an official at the call of the state. "It's often thought that the king of Youdi wants to be famous, but his name doesn't always exist. His life is easy to die out, and he can enjoy himself if he wants to live in a clear and broad place and enjoy his ambition." so he wrote "yuezhiwen" and "yuezhishi". In the years from the restoration of shangshulang to his death, Tong may have lived a life of "wandering in the garden, playing Pinglin" and "carefree in the world, dominating between heaven and earth" as expected in Le Zhiwen. However, he died at an early age. On the contrary, he left earlier than most people. His main work is Changyan. Besides, there are poems and other articles handed down to the world. However, in the ups and downs of history, they are far from what they came from.

Character influence

In Changyan, Zhong Changtong attaches great importance to the study of social and historical experience and real social life, pays attention to the role of "personnel", and denies the dominant role of "destiny" and "God" in social history. He put forward the argument that "human is the foundation and the way of heaven is the end", opposed to associating natural phenomena with human good and bad luck, and emphasized that "only human beings can do their best, and there is no way to learn the way of heaven". It is believed that "those who believe in the way of heaven and disobey human affairs are the masters of confusion and confusion, and the ministers who cover the country and the family" (Qun Shu Zhi Yao).

For the root of social crisis, Zhong Changtong also put forward his own views. In his opinion, the formation and division of the dominant position and the ruled position in society are not immutable. The main reason for this change lies in the hedonistic corruption of the rulers and their exploitation and oppression of the people. He said: "the foolish master of his successor, seeing that the world would not dare to disobey him, said that if heaven and earth could not perish, he would run to his private interests, express his evil desires, and the king and his ministers would declare adultery, with the same evil from top to bottom Abandoning the common people, abandoning the dead people It's boring, it's full of troubles, it's China's bustling, it's foreign invasion, it's falling apart, it's gone in one day. ". Zhong Changtong summed up the development of social history as "troubled times" -- "governing the world" -- "troubled times". He used the nearly 500 years of historical development from the spring and Autumn period to the end of the Han Dynasty to prove his point of view. At the same time, he also used social reasons to analyze the causes of "Governing" and "chaos", rather than using the super social and supernatural "destiny" to explain.

In terms of social and historical views, Zhong Changtong believes that there is no need to ask "heaven" to ask "God" for political measures. He only needs to investigate the practical experience of the real society and find the answer of "profit and loss". He advocated that all measures and laws governing the society, which are beneficial to the times and effective to the real life, show that they have the value of adoption and existence, and must be insisted on; on the contrary, they should be abandoned and opposed; those that were effective in the past but have lost their function now must be changed, and if they have been changed but are not as good as before, they should still be restored . This view that the policy is decided by the actual effect of reality has a positive impact on breaking the domination of theological superstition.

Character contribution

Zhong Changtong criticized the uproar of religious theology in the Han Dynasty with the materialist weapon of "human centered and heaven ended". His thought has a special historical position in the history of Chinese philosophy. He is a great philosopher and progressive thinker.

Zhong Changtong's political thought

In contrast to the theocratic political theory prevailing at that time, he put forward that the rise and fall of a country and social disorder were decided by "personnel" rather than "heaven". He advocated abolishing the joint ruling system of three officials (Taiwei, situ and Sikong) and restoring the ruling system of prime minister in the Western Han Dynasty. Political specialization leads to harmony, while mutual dependence leads to violation. He especially condemned his relatives for being good at power, and proposed that a man should not be married to a minister in power, and those who have already been married should not let him be in power.

On the issue of legal system, Zhong Changtong has the following main viewpoints

1、 The law is decided by the current situation. Although he holds the Confucian view of "morality is the main part of morality and punishment is the auxiliary part", emphasizing that morality is "the permanent part of the monarch" and "punishment is the auxiliary part", he does not oppose the use of severe punishment. He advocated "simple and complicated, lenient and forceful", when "in groups", not severe punishment is not enough to "break the party", we must use severe punishment. The complexity and severity of the law should change according to the needs of the situation.

2、 "Zhi" and "Luan" lie in the users. He believes that the "rule of law" and "disorder" of a country do not lie in the difference of "legal system", but in the quality of the rulers' implementation of "legal system". "Gentlemen use the rule of law to melt, villains use the rule of law to mess. They are all one legal system, either transformed by it or transformed by it

Chinese PinYin : Zhong Zhang Tong