In the study of Western historiography, if Qin Shihuang occupies the first place in ancient Chinese emperors, then Sui Wendi already occupies the second place in ancient Chinese emperors. He is regarded as one of the most indispensable emperors in ancient Chinese history. Since the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty in , China has been divided for centuries, while Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian reunified China in 589 AD. The thinking angle of Westerners is indeed very different from the thinking method of Easterners, but what we need to think about is why Emperor Wen of Sui is unknown in China, but in the eyes of Western scholars, he has become an emperor who surpasses Emperor Taizong of Tang and is comparable to Qin Shihuang?
The most important reason why Emperor Wen of Sui was summarized among the great monarchs of Chinese history is his creative achievements. Western scholars believe that Emperor Wen of Sui ended the chaos of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. He reunified the chaos of China that was divided after the Western Jin Dynasty, established a system of three provinces and six ministries, and pioneered the use of the lower-level talents and personnel, and used the imperial examination system to make the poor children in the world have books to read and officials to do. It was through these creative achievements that Emperor Wen of Sui became a great monarch who was comparable to Qin Shihuang in the eyes of Westerners.
This view has a wide influence. When Chinese scholars studying History of the Sui Dynasty , when summarizing the above creative achievements, they will still summarize these creative achievements on the head of Emperor Wen of Sui according to Western principles. However, there are also different people who believe that Three Lives and Six Divisions System and Imperial Examination System are the personal creations of Emperor Yang of Sui. In fact, the four achievements of the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, unification of China, the three provinces and six ministries, and the imperial examination system were enough to make him a world-class great figure. What's more, all the above achievements were put on Emperor Wen of Sui alone?
The new historical acting view in China believes that the contribution of ending the Northern and Southern Dynasties cannot be counted as Emperor Wen of Sui. China's research view believes that the ending of the chaos of the Northern and Southern Dynasties should start with Northern Zhou Emperor Yuwen Yong . This view believes that the participation of Emperor Wen of Sui was the participation of the chaos of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but the historical situation that was used to rely on is actually the foundation left by Yuwen Tai .
Anyone who is familiar with Chinese history knows the comparison between the Sui Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty . Why can't it be said that unifying the Southern and Northern Dynasties was the credit of an emperor during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui? It's like the end of the Three Kingdoms era that cannot be the credit of Emperor Wu of Jin Sima Yan alone, right? Of course, Emperor Wu of Jin established the Jin Dynasty alone to unify the world, but those who studied and were familiar with the Three Kingdoms actually think that Sima Yi is the gravedigger of Cao Wei ?
The development history of the four systems
The system of three provinces and six ministries is known as a model of the central political system of ancient Chinese dynasties after the Sui Dynasty. Everyone should actually be very clear about what a model is, that is, when you write an essay, this is an imitation essay. When you do the test paper, this is the standard answer. The central political systems of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations were all repaired according to this system. But was the system of three provinces and six ministries created in the Sui Dynasty?
Western scholars may think so, but the research of Chinese scholars is not the case. Chinese scholars believe that this is the result of a long-term historical evolution and development, because the circle of the three provinces and six ministries system actually existed as early as Hings Hings . Yang Jian’s contribution to this model system is even worse than that of Hings Wendi Cao Pi. Furthermore, although the reason behind the strong military forces in the era of the times is the equal-field system, Overall people also think that the equal-field system was a creation of the Sui Dynasty, but in fact, this system had already begun in the Northern Wei Dynasty. These are all development results of complex products.
Since neither of the above two systems were the creative achievements of the Sui Dynasty and Emperor Wen of Sui, the imperial examination system should have been created by Emperor Wen of Sui! Indeed, Emperor Wen of Sui was the creative achievement of the imperial examination system, but the civilian examination did not start from the Sui Dynasty. During the Western Han Dynasty, there were , , Kuang Heng , , , Xiao Wangzhi , and other people passed the examination and became , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , java, jin, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan, nan
Yang Jian’s contribution to the imperial examination system should be to establish the name of this system and use this system to select children from poor families. However, the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty still did not change the cruel history of "no poor families at the top and no nobles at the bottom" since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. After the Tang Dynasty , it was not until the Wu Zetian era that the situation of aristocratic families controlling the state affairs was truly broken. People who have not experienced that era do not understand the cruelty of that era. When aristocratic families control the world, even if you are as wise as Emperor Wen of Sui and Emperor Taizong of Tang, you still cannot "govern the government at will". If you are a little more conceited, you will be led to destruction by these people. For example, after Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang After the death of Emperor Yang of Sui, the country and the newly-rise Li family were seized by the newly-rise Li family.
Reasons for Emperor Wen of Sui over-rated evaluation
One of the reasons for Emperor Wen of Sui over-rated evaluation is that European scholars do not have enough understanding of the details of Chinese history. Someone is going to ask at this time, who are the people who truly understand Chinese history? In fact, if you don’t ask this question, everyone knows that those who truly understand Chinese history are of course the Chinese themselves. Although today’s study of Chinese history and China is slightly behind Western Japan, as long as Chinese scholars become serious and do not focus on political and economic issues, Western Japanese scholars are definitely not opponents of Chinese scholars.
When Western scholars study Chinese history, they usually carry their own traditional historical concepts, and often have an overly elevated effect on some historical details. For example, when the history of the Western historical community also studies Roman Empire , the Roman Empire in different stages are usually given different titles for the Roman Empire at different stages and the Holy Roman Empire that were established again after the demise of Roman . Therefore, the concepts of "first Roman Empire", "second Roman Empire" and "third Roman Empire" have been founded in the Roman history of Westerners.
is used habitually in the history of Europeans. Is there any error in the Chinese? It is hard for us Chinese to say, because after all, this is a method for Europeans to study European history. Just like Chinese people use chopsticks when eating, while Westerners use knife and fork. We can't say that because of the differences in the eating tools of Europeans, we just say that their eating tools are wrong. ? If someone thinks this way, then the comparison of historical research between the East and the West and the personal evaluation of Emperor Wen of Sui has actually fallen to another extreme. So what is wrong with Western scholars?
Western scholars are wrong. This set of unique research theories belonging to Western history are applied to Chinese historical research. These large number of Western terms have been used in Chinese history. The following scenes have appeared. like China's Qin dynasty and Han dynasties are called "the first empire of China" by Western scholars and Japanese scholars who uphold the methodology of Western historiography; the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty are collectively called "the second empire of China"; the subsequent Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty are collectively called "the third empire of China". Under the influence of this concept, Emperor Wen of Sui, as the founder of the Second Empire of China, was of course extremely great and could be comparable to Qin Shihuang.
Conclusion
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Sacred things, how many hero passers-by have deceived. History is not just about kings, princes, generals and ministers. Only by paying attention to the material development of the times can we see the real tricks from history.The underlying logic of characters is actually developed from the material foundation of the entire society.
Today we look at unification as if it were the result of the general trend of Chinese history, but if you put this history to the people at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the Han Dynasty was too far away, and the Jin Dynasty was founded too short. The era in which Emperor Wen of Sui was basically divided was mostly in division, and the concept of and unified is not as natural as we think today. Therefore, it is understandable for those who infinitely elevate and worship Emperor Wen of Sui.
