in medieval Europe. There are a large number of "China fans" who admire and yearn for China very much. This is due to the fact that a large number of foreign missionaries traveled to China in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and compiled what they saw and heard into books and spread them in Europe.
Under the leadership of missionaries, Europeans believed that China was the most beautiful, oldest, largest, most populous and best-governed country in the world. The great German mathematician Leibniz was a fanatical admirer of China. He believed that China has "the highest culture and the most developed technological civilization of mankind."
In 1793, the famous British diplomat Macartney had planned to retire. When he learned that the British King was going to send him to visit China, he excitedly agreed. So he led a large diplomatic mission to China with the purpose of establishing equal diplomatic relations with China.
At this time, China was still in the Qing Dynasty The fifty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign. When the British arrived at the port, they found that the reality was completely opposite to their imagination. The British mission found that the Qing government's rule was full of "tyranny, oppression and injustice" and that the people's attitude towards the Qing government was "fear, deception and disobedience".
The British mission noticed that under the violent rule, the Chinese people's national character has been greatly distorted, including a lack of self-esteem, indifference, selfishness, and numbness. The impression left by those Chinese on the British mission was that they were "lying, treacherous, quick to steal, quick to regret, and without blushing."
Such a situation shattered the "Chinese Dream" of the British, which also paved the way for countries around the world to take turns bullying the Qing government. Does the China described in Europe before
exist? It must exist. There have been rumors about the celebrities of the past dynasties. This is the soul and spirit of the Chinese nation. This spirit was mostly weakened after the Battle of Yashan, and was completely castrated by the Qing Dynasty.
In terms of expanding territory, there have been many emperors in Chinese history who have gone down in history, but there are only a few who can surpass Qianlong in terms of governance. In terms of spiritual castration, Qianlong was definitely unique.
Literary jade (jail) existed in all dynasties in China, and the degree of literal jade was also determined according to the emperor's ambition. Some emperors just laughed when faced with the abuses of ordinary people, which was harmless. When facing criticism and abuse from scholar-bureaucrats, he would sit upright and reflect on whether he had done anything wrong. Some emperors were very taboo about writing, and if they were not careful, they would get very angry and implicate everyone.
In terms of text jade, Zhu Yuanzhang , Kangxi and Yongzheng already consider themselves to be the masters among masters, and no one can surpass them. But they were still careless, and they could only be regarded as childish in front of Qianlong.
The text jade before Qianlong only convicts you based on the surface of the text or the hidden meaning behind it. What is denied is only the meaning carried by the text. People only need to avoid this minefield. Qianlong directly rejected writing, even if your writing is for the purpose of praising virtue.
During the Qianlong period, there was an old scholar named Wu Ying. He stopped the local official's sedan chair in the street and presented his own handwritten "advice on governing the country." The local official picked up the proposal submitted by Wu Ying without even opening it. He directly ordered the officers and soldiers to arrest him and report the matter to Qianlong. Qianlong was furious after hearing this. Without reading the proposal, he directly sentenced Wu Yinglingchi to torture, beheaded all the men in his clan, and sold the women into slavery.
The reason why Qianlong was angry was that he was afraid that scholars would use words to express their thoughts. Being able to express thoughts in words means that you have thought about it, and when you have the ability to think, you will think about other aspects. Today I dare to write suggestions for governing the country, but tomorrow I dare to criticize the emperor's shortcomings if the guarantee is not in place. If scholars could use words to express their thoughts, the rule of the Qing Dynasty would cease to exist, and the future generations of descendants would be out of the question.
Therefore, Qianlong’s text jade does not deny the meaning of words, but directly denies words. In addition, Qianlong also invented the "cage rule", so that all scholars could only read one kind of book, and the only way out was to take the imperial examination and enter an official career. Scholars who entered the official career had to strictly follow Qianlong's rules, while those who did not enter the official career kept silent.
On the basis of denying writing, Qianlong also shattered the noble status of scholars. From then on, officials of all sizes called themselves slaves in front of the Manchu and Qing Dynasty dignitaries, and they were all castrated from the braid down.
After several generations of adaptation, people have become accustomed to this state and began to self-castrate. Scholars are proud to call themselves slaves in front of the children of the Eight Banners, and the spirit of the nation is also exhausted.
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