My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 172 What is Chinese?

Nationality?
What is the composition of the Chinese nation?
Zhu Yuanzhang fell into confusion again. He knew all these words, but he didn't know what they meant after they were put together to form a sentence.

Isn’t the Chinese nation composed of the Han people?
What is nationality? Is it the character of the Han people?

Every time he communicated with Li Han and saw these novel concepts, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on in Li Han's brain and why these new things kept coming up.

And what he talked about were things that no one had ever thought about before.

"There is a question that you have never thought about, Mr. Zhu. That is, what exactly is a Chinese?"

What is a Chinese?
Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to have returned to his childhood again, as if the teacher in the private school was enlightening him.

More than 3,000 years ago, after King Wu of Zhou conquered the Shang capital Chaoge, he offered sacrifice to the heaven and said, "I will occupy this China and rule the people here." He was telling God that he had occupied China and ruled the people here.

It was not until the Han Dynasty that China gradually became a general term for the Central Plains dynasty, and the name of the Chinese began to spread from that time and became a general term for the Central Plains dynasty from the royal family to the common people.

“Although the word China first appeared during the reign of King Wu of Zhou, China was more of a geographical concept and had not yet formed a unified political or cultural concept.

The people at that time only knew that they were from Lu, Chu, Qin, etc. Above the vassal states, there was a common ruler of the world, the Zhou emperor. However, due to the feudal system, it was not uncommon for the people to only know the vassal states but not the emperor.

Why? Although Zhouli laid the foundation for the future rituals of China, the rule that officials should not be punished and common people should not be treated with courtesy directly severed the communication between the common people and the upper echelons of the country.

In this situation, it is normal for the country to be unaware of the people and for the people to be unaware of the country, not to mention the consensus that we are all Chinese. "

Zhu Yuanzhang began to understand Li Han's meaning, because the imperial decree of "no punishment for officials, no courtesy for common people" led to the people not having a strong sense of identification with the Zhou Dynasty.

Yes, it’s a sense of identity. These three words are very important!

Is it that as people's sense of identity has strengthened, this consensus among the Chinese has gradually formed?

He couldn't help but feel a little complacent. It seemed that under the influence of Lao Li, Lao Zhu's thinking had also improved.

“However, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, things took a turn for the better.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Zhou Dynasty fell and China experienced its first period of chaos. The various vassal states attacked each other, and wars continued for years, making the people suffer terribly.

In fact, the struggles among the states in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty were actually fights among the relatives of the Zhou royal family, and had nothing to do with the people. Instead, they increased the hatred among the people of each state. For example, Bai Qi killed hundreds of thousands of men in the Battle of Changping, which led to the hatred of the people of Zhao towards Qin. But why is the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period a turning point?

Objectively speaking, the wars among countries actually deepened the exchanges between the people of each country. At the same time, they also deepened mutual understanding. The retainers represented by Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Shang Yang and others brought this exchange to a peak.

While deepening understanding, hatred is diluted to some extent, and a sense of identity is further shaped.”

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. This wasn’t right. It was true that communication could deepen understanding, but could it dilute hatred?

How can this be true? There was a lot of communication between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, but the more communication, the deeper the hatred. How could it be diluted?
"Seeing this, Old Zhu, you must be wondering why communication can dilute hatred. You must be thinking of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, right?"

Hey, this Old Li, how come he knew what I would think in advance?
"You must understand that although the Eastern Zhou states were nominally states, they were vassal states. All people in the world, whether common people or officials, nominally had a common master - the Zhou emperor.

Therefore, they are essentially still a family. This is the meaning of a family-based dynasty. The "Book of Songs" says, "All under heaven is the king's land; all within the four seas are the king's subjects." This has vividly explained what a family-based dynasty is.

When family members fight, there is always a time for reconciliation. But when Mongolia was replaced by the Xiongnu, they became the same clan as the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Are they one family?
That's a real fight to the death!
But now that you have taken control of the desert, the Mongols there are also destabilizing factors. How to deal with them will not be discussed for now."

hiss~
Zhu Yuanzhang slapped his thigh helplessly. Here it comes again. This damn Old Li really feels uncomfortable if he doesn’t keep us in suspense!
"In addition to exchanges, what is more important is the emergence of various schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, including Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Mohism, and Miscellaneous Schools. Their thoughts competed with each other and merged with each other. Ultimately, they laid the cultural foundation and ideological basis for our nation!

This ideological foundation was strengthened by the First Emperor, who then added the most powerful medicine - great unification!
Having said that, Lao Zhu, I can explain to you what a Chinese is. Anyone who has lived on this land, accepted Chinese culture and is proud of it during thousands of years of national integration can be called a Chinese!
Therefore, the concept of Chinese people is not based on bloodline or nationality, but on civilization and thought. This is one of the reasons why our Chinese nation is the most outstanding nation in the world! "

This is well said!
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang became excited again!
That’s right, that’s right, the Chinese nation is not discussed as a single nation, but as a civilization and thought!
Old Zhu finally realized that he used to simply and roughly divide the people of the Ming Dynasty into Han, Miao, Yi, etc., but he never thought that they are also members of the Chinese nation!
This is the construction of the Chinese nation!
“After knowing the concept of being Chinese, we can then discuss what our national character is.

National character is closely related to our cultural ideas.

The greatest characteristic of our nation, as I just said, is unity!
The concept of great unification is ingrained in the bones and blood of almost every Chinese. Every time there is troubled times, all the powerful people, even those who have no ambition, will regard great unification as their ultimate goal.

Not to mention that the Three Kingdoms were unified by the Jin Dynasty, the Southern and Northern Dynasties were unified by the Sui Dynasty, and even less that the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were unified by the Song Dynasty. Just talking about you, Zhu, after establishing the Ming Dynasty, you had to conquer the Yuan capital and unify the north at all costs, instead of being content to stay in a corner and become a local rich man.

As for why you want unification, I'm afraid you just do it subconsciously and never consider the reasons behind it.

Because this is our culture, which subconsciously tells us that the world will eventually divide after a long period of unity, and will eventually unite after a long period of division. Great unification is the eternal theme of the Chinese nation! "

The more Zhu Yuanzhang read, the more excited he felt. This insight was truly brilliant and perfectly explained why every heroic ruler would want to unify the country!
But what Old Li said seems to underestimate Old Zhu. Is Old Zhu the kind of person who would be content to be a local rich man?
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(End of this chapter)