There is a very interesting sentence in "Journey to the West": The emperor will take turns to do it and come to my house next year. "This reflects a very interesting historical phenomenon in China: the imperial family cannot last for a long time. The emperor family that lasted for the longest time in Chinese history, but 400 years, that is the Han Dynasty; if you count Xia, Shang and Zhou, it is more than 800 years. That is Zhou Dynasty. But no matter how long it lasts, the emperor or emperor of China will eventually be replaced by someone with another surname.
and Japan is different. According to Japanese history, Japan began with the first emperor Jinmu, and it has been passed down to 125 generations for 2680 years. According to legend, Japan’s first emperor Jinmu reigned from 660 BC to 583 BC. At that time, China is still in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Zhou Dynasty! So why did the Japanese imperial family last for 2680 years, while the Chinese imperial dynasty "shuffled" every 300 years?
There are several reasons. Generally speaking, it can be divided. For the following reasons: the politics of the two countries are different; the cultures of the two countries are different; the standards recognized by the history of the two countries are different. These three reasons lead everyone to feel that the Japanese imperial family has lasted for many years, while the Chinese dynasty has The cards are always shuffled. First of all, let’s talk about the first reason, that is, the different political models of China and Japan.
China has been a political model of "strong kingship" since ancient times, emphasizing the central government Centralization. Even in the period of enfeoffment, Zhou Tianzi has very strong control over all parts of the world. The Book of Rites records that Zhou Tianzi will take a chariot to inspect the territories of the world princes every once in a while. _P3p
and Qin Shihuang founded Yijun County, and rewarded the princes who have done the work and punished those who have sinned. After the emperor system based on government, the centralization of power was further improved.Except for a few last emperors controlled by power officials, most emperors have considerable power to control the empire. This created a contradiction-the contradiction between the emperor and his courtiers. The emperor took the world as his home and his responsibility to make the world rich; while the ministers took his family as his home and the rich family as his responsibility. The two must be contradictory.
The final result is "a hundred battles from one day to the next." The contradiction between the emperor and the courtier accumulates and erupts, and the courtier eventually overthrows the emperor or the emperor. Japan does not have this problem because Japan is a "weak kingship" politics. Whether in ancient times or in modern times, the imperial family of Japan is often a "mascot". The Tokugawa shogunate period is actually similar to the modern constitutional monarchy, but the name is different.
This kind of royal family has no power and no threat, and of course no one will overthrow him. No one will fight to be a puppet, right? Another reason why the Japanese imperial family has been able to spread it for so long is because the culture of China and Japan are different. Although there have been various sacrifices in China since ancient times, they were sacrificed with a very unique mentality. The Chinese actually don't believe in that kind of ethereal god.
So Jiang Ziya directly smashed the tortoise shell for divination and said: The tortoise can't even predict its own good or bad, how can we help us predict it? Therefore, China does not need a "deified" emperor, because everyone does not believe in this thing, who can help oneself is the real "god", the bloodline is not reliable. But the Japanese are different. They believe in this, so they need an emperor who is "deified".
This is the psychological needs of the Japanese. It is often said that there will be products only when there is demand. The emperor of Japan is a product made to meet the needs of the Japanese. They need this kind of superstition to condense, so that this kind of imperial family that has not been replaced by 2680 is produced. But, must this be the case? In fact, it may not be necessary. Let's talk about the third reason: the standards recognized by history in China and Japan are different.
In fact, although the history of the Japanese Shinmu Emperor is sculpted by the Japanese, it is actually more like a myth.For example, who is the son of a god, what else is the god, is such a "history", China must be doubted by most experts for its authenticity, but the Japanese are convinced of this and believe that this is true. That's why the emperor of Japan has such a long "real" history.
So, let’s look back at the history of China again. If such legends can be regarded as history, then the history of China is more than a few thousand years old, but how many years it is. For example, those great gods in ancient times, which one did not live for hundreds of years alone? So an ancient dynasty passed on for thousands of years is easy. For example, Huangdi , in fact, according to our historical records, most of the thousands of years after the Huangdi were his descendants who were emperors.
For example, Zhuanxu, , , Yao, and Shun of the Five Emperors, except for the Yellow Emperor, are all descendants of the Yellow Emperor. They should be more than 2,000 years old. If you consider that the following Dayu and Xia dynasties are also descendants of the Yellow Emperor, Shangtang and Shang Dynasty, Zhou Wenwang, and Zhou Dynasty are all descendants of the Yellow Emperor. In this calculation, how many generations did the Yellow Emperor have to pass on? Qin State is a descendant of Fei Lian, and Fei Lian is also a descendant of the Yellow Emperor; and Liu Bang Liu comes from the descendant of Ji surnamed in the Zhou Dynasty or the descendant of Yao, so so.
If you look carefully, the following dynasties, except for a few, are the descendants of the Yellow Emperor. After all, the descendants of Yan Huang are not just talking about it. But this thing is now regarded by most people as a "legend" and not as a history, so the imperial family of China has not spread that far. If you really want to count it, which one of us is not the former "relative of the emperor"?
Therefore, as long as this historical standard is changed, China's "royal family" will have more years to pass. However, cultural and political factors cannot be changed. China’s world cannot be controlled by a single family in a narrow sense forever. The so-called "emperor takes turns to do it, come to my house next year" is not precisely China’s grassroots convection mechanism. Is it a perfect embodiment? And we don't need the royal family of the "one family of all ages" to be "gods", there is no need for this.
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