burn books and bury the literati in pits(fén shū kēng rú)

burn books and bury the literati in pits

Burning books and burying Confucians is also known as "burning poems and books, burying warlocks" (i.e. Confucian scholars), and "burning books and burying Confucians" after the Western Han Dynasty. In 213 BC and 212 BC, Qin Shihuang burned books and killed more than 460 "outlaws".

The word "burning books and pitching scholars" is originated from the biography of scholars in Shiji · vol.121, which says that "until the Qin Dynasty, burning poems and books and pitching warlocks, the six arts are missing.". It is Fusu, the eldest son of the first emperor of Qin, who is often cited as evidence by the viewpoint of "pitching Confucianism" in the historical records of the first emperor of Qin: "the world has been decided at the beginning, the head of Guizhou has not been collected in the distance, all the students recite Confucius, and now they all attach importance to the law, and the officials are afraid that the world will be disturbed, so they only observe it." ）At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the preface to Shangshu written by Kong Anguo (the 10th grandson of Confucius) also said: "the first emperor of Qin destroyed the ancient books, burned books and trapped scholars, and the scholars of the world fled and dissolved." Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty wrote in the preface to the Warring States policy: "to be punished is to govern, to believe in small skills is to govern. So he burned poems and books and killed Confucians.

At the same time, Qin Shihuang did not burn practical books on medicine, agriculture and animal husbandry.

Historical records

Burning books

Historical records · the first emperor of Qin Dynasty: it's not the records of Qin Dynasty that all the officials are invited by the officials. He who is not a doctor's official and dares to have poems, books, and a hundred languages in the world knows how to keep them and how to burn them. Those who dare to write poems and books abandon the market. The ancient is not the present. Officials see that those who do not know are guilty of the same crime. The next 30 days do not burn, Tsing for the city Dan. Those who do not want to go are books of medical divination and tree planting. If you want to learn laws and regulations, take officials as teachers. In the 34th year of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty (213 BC), Chunyu Yue, a doctor of Qi, opposed the "Prefecture and county system" implemented at that time and demanded the enfeoffment of children according to the ancient system. Li Si, the prime minister, refuted it and advocated that the people should be forbidden to defame the government by private learning. The first emperor of Qin adopted Lisi's suggestion and ordered the burning of historical records of other countries except Qin Ji, and the private collection of poems and books that did not belong to the doctor's office was also required to be handed over and burned within a time limit. Those who dare to talk about the execution of poems and books will destroy their families in the past rather than in the present. Private learning is prohibited, and those who want to learn laws should learn from officials. This is called "burning books".

bury Confucian scholars alive

The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty in historical records: when he heard that Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng had died, he was very angry and said, "I have received all the books in the world, and those who are not good at using them will go.". There are many scholars who want to promote peace, and they want to practice for miraculous medicine. Today, I heard that the Han people didn't report it, and that Xu Shi and other people spent tens of thousands of money, but eventually they couldn't take any medicine. They told the Japanese that they were traitors and profiteers. Lu Sheng and others have given me a lot. Now they slander me to show that I am immoral. "For those who were born in Xianyang, I asked people to be honest, or I said that they would make Qianshou chaotic." So he made the censor know about the case and asked all the students. The biographies of all the students told him that they had been punished after they got rid of the four hundred and sixty people who broke the ban. He was banished to the border. Fu Su, the eldest son of the first emperor, remonstrated: "the world has been decided at first, but the head of Guizhou has not been collected in the distance. All the students recite Confucius, and now they attach great importance to the law. I am afraid that the world will be disturbed. It's just a matter of observation. " In his anger, the first emperor sent Meng Tian, the northern governor of Fusu, to Shangjun. Biographies of the scholars in historical records: when the Qin Dynasty came to the end of the century, the six arts were lacking because of the burning of poems and books and the pit of warlocks. in the 35th year of the first emperor of Qin (212 BC), after the failure of seeking immortality for the first emperor of Qin, Lu Sheng, Hou Sheng and others privately talked about the first emperor of Qin's conduct, governance and seeking immortality, and then fled with huge sums of money. The first emperor of Qin was very angry when he knew about it, so he was angry with the alchemists. He ordered a search and interrogation in the capital, arrested 460 people and buried them alive.

cause

1. It is the need of Qin Dynasty to establish autocratic political system. 2. Some Confucianists and tourists quoted Confucian classics and criticized current politics with the words of ancient sages. It's just that historians still have a debate about pitching Confucianists. Generally speaking, there are three views: (1) firstly, there is no such thing as burning books to entrap scholars in history, which is purely made up by later generations. (2) the second is that some people, but only some alchemists, or warlocks, have been trapped. Qin Shihuang's burning of poems and books, medical books and divination books are not included in the burning. In historical records written by Sima Qian, the word "Keng ru" has never been mentioned. Moreover, Sima Qian is the same age as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. According to the latest calculation (Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty died in 87 BC), Sima Qian was no more than 120 years away from the time of burning books and burying scholars. What is the concept of 120 year time span? It is equivalent to the span from 2012 to 1896. Sima Qian began to travel all over China when he was more than ten years old. When he was 23 years old, his father Sima Tan died, and Sima Qian had already taken over his father's post as the imperial historian of the Han Dynasty. If we start from the age of Sima Qian's 20 years (- 147 years), the time span from burning books to burying scholars (- 212 years) is only 65 years. That is to say, it is equivalent to pushing forward 65 years in 2011 (equivalent to 1946 in the period of the Republic of China). In such a narrow time span, with Sima Qian's knowledge and high-level position, it is impossible not to be clear about such a big event as burning books and burying scholars. 3. In the debate about the system of prefectures and counties, Li Si, the prime minister, reproached the Confucianists for the untimely idea of enfeoffment according to the ancient system. What books did you burn? Why burn? The most important book is the book of history, because the book of history records the idea of governing the world of the ancient sage king, and the first emperor of Qin thought that "the three emperors are highly accomplished, and the five emperors are Demi", so he wanted to replace the idea of governing the world of the ancient sage king with his own idea of governing the world, and to cherish the present is to burn the ancient. the second is the book of songs, because the book of songs praises the kings of the past dynasties, and the first emperor does not want to have the Party of the six countries to praise the former kings of the six countries. However, the most important book is the Taoist Scripture. This Scripture is not Laozi's moral Scripture. There are only 16 words left in this sutra. "The mind of the people is only in danger, the mind of the Tao is only tiny; the spirit is the only one, and the promise is the only way." (dayumo, ancient book of History) there is a similar quotation in Xunzi jiewupian, which says: "the Taoist Scripture says:" the danger of human heart, the micro of Taoist heart. " The only way to know the danger is to be a gentleman. " (it can be inferred that there was once a Taoist Scripture, not only the existing 16 characters.) Who is it? Why the pit? The pit is not a Confucian, but a alchemist. According to the alchemist, longevity can not be achieved by the first emperor, nor can it be achieved by a small pill. Why do you practice when your mind is not pure? How to live forever? Everyone has eternal grass, his heart is not pure, the countryside is desolate, how to plant eternal life. Overseas Sanxian mountain, Penglai, abbot and Yingzhou are just three elixirs of human body. Where to seek from outside...) When the alchemist approached the first emperor, he had to refine the medicine and find the elixir, but he wanted to spread the Dao Jing to the world. the first emperor became angry and thought that the alchemists were playing tricks on him. Therefore, the Taoist Scriptures were burned first, and then the alchemists were burned.

process

The political and economic reforms carried out by Qin Shihuang were not plain sailing. At the beginning of the unification, there was a debate on whether to enfeoffment the sons as kings. A group of officials headed by the Prime Minister Wang Wan asked the first emperor of Qin to enfeoffment their sons as kings in the former places of Yan, Qi and Chu, which had not been occupied for a long time. It is believed that this is conducive to the consolidation of Qin's rule. But Tingwei Lizi insisted against it. It is believed that the disputes between the princes in the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period were caused by the enfeoffment of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Only by abolishing the system of enfeoffment can we get rid of trouble. The first emperor of Qin adopted Li Si's opinion and thought that to establish a state was to build up enemy troops. So the county system was established throughout the country. Eight years later, in the 34th year of the first emperor (213 BC), at the grand banquet held by the first emperor of Qin in Xianyang palace, there was another debate about whether to learn from the ancient or the modern. The burning of books is exactly caused by this. At the banquet, his servant shot Zhou Qingchen and flattered Qin Shihuang that he was inferior to his Majesty's Weide since ancient times. He said: I heard that the king of yin and Zhou was more than a thousand years old, and he was a meritorious official of his children. Today, your majesty has a family in the sea, and his son is a man, and his death is a minister of Tian Chang and Liu Qing. How can he help each other without assistance? It's not what I've heard that things can last for a long time. Today, Qingchen has a plump face. He is not loyal to his majesty for his faults. After hearing this, Qin Shihuang gave Chunyu Yue's suggestion to the ministers for discussion. Prime Minister Lisi made it clear that he did not agree with Chunyu Yue. He retorted that: how can the dispute among the three generations be ruled out? If the Confucians do not learn from the present, they will learn from the ancient. If they do not ban the ancient, the dominant power will fall to the top, and the party and the Cheng will fall to the bottom, and the unity may be destroyed. In order to distinguish between black and white and set up the absolute authority of the monarchy, he put forward three suggestions to the first emperor of Qin Dynasty to burn the ancient books: (1) except for Qin Ji, medicine, divination, farm classics, Zhuzi and other ancient historical books, all of them should be handed over to the government for destruction within a time limit. (2) those who talk about "poetry" and "book" are put to death, those who use the past instead of the present are exterminated, and those who don't know are guilty of the same crime; and (3) those who are willing to learn laws and regulations are taught by officials. The first emperor of Qin approved Lisi's proposal. The day after the banquet, the fire of burning books was lit all over the country. in less than 30 days, all the classical documents before Qin Dynasty in China were reduced to ashes. All that remained was a collection of books from the Royal Library. in the second year of the book burning, there was another case of Confucianist entrapment. It was not the direct continuation of burning books, but the slander of Qin Shihuang by some scholars. Qin Shihuang was very afraid of death after seizing the great power and enjoying the wealth. After the unification of China, he had a wild idea to seek the elixir of immortality. Hou Sheng, Lu Sheng and others catered to their needs and promised to find this medicine for the first emperor of Qin. According to the law of Qin Dynasty, lies cannot be avoided

Chinese PinYin : fén shū kēng rú