My aunt is Queen Ma

Chapter 133 Untitled
After Zhu Biao had thought it over for a while, Ma Yu continued:

"Let's review the lessons we've covered before."

"The Western Zhou Dynasty established a set of universal values ​​with patriarchal clan relations at its core, which united the people of the world into one."

"At the same time, the ritual and legal systems left by our predecessors were improved and integrated into the patriarchal system, thus forming a system for governing the world."

"Therefore, the administrative system in the pre-Qin period was based on blood relations."

"The Zhou emperor enfeoffed meritorious officials and blood relatives to various regions as feudal lords."

"And the feudal lords then enfeoffed their blood relatives to various cities to help them manage their countries."

"This is called the second feudalism."

"So at that time, patriarchal clan relations were the bond that united people together."

"Zichan's reforms in the State of Zheng broke the tradition of 'nepotism' and instead appointed people based on their merits."

"When the patriarchal clan system was broken for the first time, the feudal lords needed a new bond to unite the people together."

"As a result, the priority of culture has been elevated to an unprecedented level."

"Whether or not one follows the Zhou rites became the standard for distinguishing between the Chinese and the barbarians, and this standard was inherited by later aristocratic families."

"As we mentioned earlier, ordinary people did not have the opportunity to read and write, and therefore had no concept of ethnicity."

"They do not know the distinction between Chinese and barbarians, and they don't even know who the emperor is."

"But it doesn't matter, they must know who the most prestigious family is in the place where they live."

"They knew they had to listen to that family and stick around them in order to have food to eat."

"This family is a distinguished family."

“Ethnic groups maintain their identity through cultural ties.”

"The common people follow the footsteps of the powerful families and passively uphold the banner of China."

"But after the aristocratic politics were eliminated, how could ordinary people without a sense of ethnic identity maintain their ethnic identity?"

"Rely on the emperor who is thousands of miles away?"

"I'll say something you won't like to hear: to the common people, the emperor is just a bandit and tyrant who steals the fruits of their labor."

"The emperor appears when taxes are collected, but disappears after the taxes are paid. If you encounter difficulties, you have to find a solution yourself."

"Rely on the emperor thousands of miles away? Everyone there is long dead."

Those were indeed harsh words, and even Zhu Biao was starting to lose his temper. His cousin really had a sharp tongue.

However, he felt mostly heavy-hearted, because he knew that Ma Yu was referring to the current situation.

So he wasn't angry, but said:

"So after the aristocratic families disappeared, the common people at the bottom of society, who had no sense of clan, re-established patriarchal relationships and banded together again with the clan as the bond, right?"

Ma Yu nodded and said, "The patriarchal clan system has never truly disappeared; it was merely suppressed by aristocratic politics in the past."

"When the aristocratic families disappeared, society failed to find new bonds to re-establish relationships between people."

"And people need to band together to protect their own interests."

"As a result, the suppressed patriarchal system re-emerged and quickly spread at the grassroots level, forming clan power."

"This is why people always say that the system of rites and laws in China was established during the Three Dynasties period."

"Even now, they have not been able to break out of the framework they have established."

Zhu Biao listened with awe and a touch of shame.

After attending so many classes, he believed he had mastered Ma Yu's learning methods.

I've been learning this method privately, and I've really gained a lot from it.

In particular, he completed the research on wealthy families and clans independently, and even Ma Yu could not offer better advice.

This made him somewhat smug.

But Ma Yu's words brought him to his senses.

These few sentences seem simple, but they are a summary of many previous lessons.

However, reiterating old ideas has led to new insights.

This dealt a heavy blow to his confidence and brought him to his senses.

It turns out that I hadn't even fully grasped the lessons Ma Yu had taught before, let alone truly mastered them.

He suddenly remembered what Ma Yu had just said: "Humility makes one progress, while pride makes one fall behind."

Unbeknownst to me, I had developed arrogance.

However, he wasn't one to dwell on minor mistakes, and he quickly composed himself and reviewed what Ma Yu had said earlier.

The reason why clans flourished was because of the power vacuum caused by the absence of aristocratic families.

This is the essence.

If you don't understand the essence of the problem, any method will only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

As mentioned in previous lessons, the consolidation of wealth is an inevitable and unstoppable trend.

Even the best methods can only delay the inevitable.

The Western Han Dynasty has already proven this to the world.

The Western Han Dynasty did not have much politics involving powerful clans and aristocratic families. It must be said that although Liu Bang did not come from a high social class, he dared to use people and delegate power.

A group of intelligent people helped him design a complete set of national systems.

The politicians of the early days of the People's Republic of China had long anticipated the dangers posed by powerful clans and devised a set of policies to weaken them.

During the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing, this system was further improved upon.

Even Emperor Wu of Han, in his relentless military campaigns, engaged in several waves of exploitative fishing, regardless of wealth.

Even so, by the mid-to-late Western Han Dynasty, many powerful and wealthy families still emerged in the regions.

Then Emperor Cheng of Han was brainwashed by Confucianism and, at this critical juncture, decided to implement 'benevolent governance' and voluntarily abandoned the policy of weakening powerful clans.

In just a few decades, the imperial court could no longer compete with the local authorities.

The policies implemented by the Western Han Dynasty for over a century ultimately failed, foreshadowing the rise of powerful clan politics in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The method of migration and mixed settlement of various surnames, which I summarized based on history, was only slightly better than the policies of the Western Han Dynasty.

It's hard to say how many years it can be enforced.

Ma Yu's analysis points out the essence of the rise of clans.

If a better solution can be found for this, the clan problem may be solved at its root.

Thinking of this, he looked at Ma Yu again and asked:
"Based on what you just said, what should the imperial court do to resolve the clan problem?"

Ma Yu said, "The prosperity of a clan is an outward manifestation of a series of problems."

"In fact, the clan had already died when the Qin Dynasty was established, but they have not been buried to this day."

"On the contrary, it came back to life because of the end of aristocratic politics."

"What the Ming Dynasty needs to do now is to dig a hole and bury it."

This was quite a novel idea, and Zhu Biao's heavy mood eased considerably, with a smile returning to his face:
"Please elaborate on the specific problems."

Ma Yu sighed, "This issue is complicated. Let me explain a new concept to you first."

New concept? Zhu Biao immediately became excited. This trip was definitely worthwhile.

Ma Yu continued, "This concept is called personal dependence."

"To put it specifically, an individual is vulnerable and must rely on a powerful person or organization to survive better."

Zhu Biao continued, "You said this before: humans are social animals and need to stick together to survive, so the nation came into being."

Ma Yu said, "Yes, but it is only an ideal state for an individual to be directly dependent on the state."

Zhu Biao asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Ma Yu explained, "In a small country with a small population, the imperial court has the ability to directly manage every citizen and control their fate."

“In this situation, people are dependent on the state.”

"But what about a large country with a territory of thousands of miles and a population of tens of millions?"

"The imperial court cannot directly manage the people. Those who truly decide the life and death of the people are the officials or powerful families below."

"Officials are appointed by the imperial court after all. If they can replace the court and manage the people well, that would be fine."

"But in fact, from ancient times to the present, government offices have only had two tasks: to restrain the people from running around and to collect taxes."

"How many things happen every day in a county with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people?"

"Can those few officials in the yamen handle it all?" "When ordinary people encounter problems in their lives, who do they turn to for help?"

"Whoever they seek out, that's the person they depend on."

"Therefore, the common people are only nominally dependent on the imperial court."

After all, all people under heaven are subjects of the king; this is the greater good, but there is only one such greater good.

"In fact, what people truly rely on are those who can solve their problems."

"During the Han and Tang dynasties, they were affiliated with powerful families."

"After the aristocratic families disappeared, they became dependent on the clans."

Zhu Biao suddenly realized: "So you've been emphasizing that expanding the functions of the government is about competing with clans for the people's dependence."

Ma Yu nodded and said, "Not entirely, but it is one of the important factors."

"The more the imperial court intervenes, the smaller the living space for clans becomes."

"But the formation of an ethnic group cannot be achieved by dependence alone."

"The common people can rely on the Ming Dynasty, but they can also rely on other barbarian regimes."

“To truly build a community, a bond is needed.”

"Without this bond, we will ultimately be nothing more than a pile of loose sand."

Zhu Biao perked up and finally got to the question he cared about most:

"What do you think should be the bond that connects the Ming Dynasty?"

Ma Yu affirmed, "Culture."

culture?

This answer disappointed Zhu Biao, who had expected Ma Yu to come up with some groundbreaking new ideas.

Unexpectedly, it's the same old story.

However, he immediately realized that his expectations were a bit too high.

Even if Ma Yu came up with a new concept out of thin air as a link, could it really be applied to the Ming Dynasty?
On the contrary, using culture as a bond has been proven by history to be feasible.

But there are also challenges in doing so.

“Using culture as a bond is not impossible, but as you said before, only those who have read books can develop a sense of cultural identity.”

"Most ordinary people don't have the opportunity to go to school, so how can we make them feel a sense of belonging?"

Instead of answering directly, Ma Yu asked, "Where does culture originate?"

Before Zhu Biao could answer, he said to himself, "It comes from history."

"First, let the people have a general understanding of history, so that they understand why we are called Han people and why we are called Huaxia."

"As for your question about how to make ordinary people understand these things."

"It's actually very simple: sing praises to heroes."

“Following the dynastic order, select two or three heroic figures from each period, or a major historical event.”

“We will compile them into stories and then tell them to the people in a storytelling style.”

"People find it hard to remember dry history, but they will definitely like to hear vivid historical stories."

"Heroes are the most important spiritual carriers of a group and are the easiest to resonate with people."

“When the heroes of our community are widely celebrated, a sense of identity will naturally form.”

"This is a long-term project that may take decades to show results."

“But once it is completed, it can build a sense of community from the very grassroots level.”

"Even if our people fall into decline again, as long as someone raises their voice, they will be met with overwhelming support."

"It would be almost impossible for a Mongol group that refused to be Sinicized to rule the world again."

Zhu Biao fell into deep thought, weighing whether this method was feasible.

Ma Yu breathed a sigh of relief, finally finishing explaining the concept.

In fact, he could simply copy the concept of ethnicity from his previous life.

However, the concept of nationhood was created by European colonizers in an attempt to divide the colonized.

However, once a concept is invented, it will slip out of the inventor's control.

What the colonizers could not have imagined was that the concept of nationhood was the most suitable narrative for the weak.

Because it is difficult for the weak to unite the people to resist the colonizers.

And ethnicity is precisely the most effective bond.

It is a story of colonizers teaching the colonized how to unite and how to resist.

The whole world has been drawn into national narratives, and the colonized have used nationality as a bond to concentrate their efforts and successfully overthrow colonial hegemony.

but……

However, for the strong, especially for a culturally strong nation like China, national narratives have both advantages and disadvantages.

It may even do more harm than good.

The reason is simple: it is not conducive to the great integration of ethnic groups.

China has a rich cultural heritage that allows it to integrate one ethnic group after another.

The emergence of every Han Chinese dynasty inevitably brought about a major ethnic integration.

The Huaxia people originated from a tribe in the Yellow River basin, and then unified the Yellow River basin.

Later, they migrated south and absorbed the tribal civilizations of the Yangtze River basin.

It has formed a unique set of diverse attributes.

From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang Dynasties, countless ethnic groups were integrated during this period.

Even the Song Dynasty, which is often criticized, has integrated many ethnic groups through its culture.

However, since the world has fallen into the logical trap of national narratives, national integration has almost come to a standstill.

Not only did things stagnate, but the number of ethnic groups actually increased.

Many people who are clearly of the same ethnic group by blood are divided into two ethnic groups simply because one lives in the mountains and the other lives at the foot of the mountains.

If two ethnic groups are formed, they will have to separate from each other, which will lead to trouble.

Why do the countries surrounding China always have cultural conflicts with China?
This is the aftereffect of national narratives.

Those countries have been deeply influenced by Chinese culture since ancient times; in fact, it could be said that without Chinese culture, they wouldn't even understand their own history.

However, under the logic of national narrative, they must create an independent historical and cultural system.

Therefore, severing ties with Chinese culture and stealing its cultural heritage became an inevitable path.

The United States did something similar back then in order to sever ties with Britain.

There is a difference between American English and English with British influences.

This distinction is not the result of natural evolution, but rather something artificially created by the United States to separate itself from the UK.

This is the aftereffect of the logic of national narrative, which has caused many troubles for no reason.

Of course, as I said before, national narratives are advantageous to the weak.

But now the Ming Dynasty is the stronger one.

At present, China still leads the world in all aspects, and the Ming Dynasty has once again completed the unification of the world.

The Han people, the main body of Chinese civilization, have once again taken the lead, and a new opportunity for great ethnic integration has ripened.

It is no exaggeration to say that currently, only Chinese civilization in the world is capable of creating a cultural narrative.

Other civilizations are too simplistic to support the logic of their cultural narratives.

In its past, Tsarist Russia attempted to assimilate conquered ethnic groups through cultural integration and establish a Great Rus' nation.

Unfortunately, his limited education could not support this ambition, and he ultimately failed.

The Chinese people, on the other hand, do not have this concern, as our ancestors left us with a wealth of cultural heritage.

Engaging in ethnic narratives is tantamount to voluntarily relinquishing cultural advantages.

Ma Yu would never do such a thing.

However, many of the advantages of national narratives can be absorbed and used to promote Chinese culture and expand cultural advantages.

(End of this chapter)