Yuan Dynasty: How splendid!

# Genghis Khan # # Mongol Empire # # Yuan Dynasty # # Kublai Khan #

For many modern people who lack knowledge and have no intention to read history, the Yuan Dynasty is looking at flowers in the fog and looking at the moon in the water. After numerous blackening in the Ming Dynasty, it is difficult for future generations to see clearly. In the impression of many people, the Yuan Dynasty was divided into four classes: dark, autocratic, brutal emperor, brutal minister and corrupt people ..... It seems that this dynasty has not died, but is it really? Let's understand the real Great Yuan Dynasty through the six historical truths of the Yuan Dynasty.

First, lenient punishment and cautious law are beyond the reach of past dynasties.

The biggest feature of criminal law in Yuan Dynasty is lenient punishment and cautious law. At the beginning of Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan's accession to the throne, he publicly announced to his men: "Human life is the most important thing. I am really sorry." And emphatically put forward lenient punishment and cautious law as the guiding ideology of criminal law in Yuan Dynasty: "I rule the world and cherish human life. Anyone who is guilty will be made to do it again, and the consequences will follow. " Compared with the Tang and Song Dynasties, the criminal law in Yuan Dynasty was much looser, which was a great progress in the legal history of China. There are only five means of punishment for crimes, namely, slap, stick, apprentice, exile and death penalty, and the judicial organs are particularly cautious in implementing these five means of punishment.

The History of the Yuan Dynasty commented that "the ancients used ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink, ink. American scholar Jack weiser Ford also commented: "Kublai Khan has established a more stable criminal law system in an all-round way than the Song Dynasty, and it is also more moderate and humane than the Song Dynasty." Out of humanitarianism, the central government of the Yuan Dynasty strongly prohibited torture. In the second section of the Criminal Law of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a special item "Prohibition of torture in tragic sculptures", which stipulated: "The tools used in prison have been customized. Since 2000, it has been cruel to go abroad to abuse people. Others don't accept it, kneeling on the broken tiles of porcelain awns, which is too painful. Sin or not, why not! The rest of the extra-legal pain, and more than that. It seems that this problem will be miserable in the future, and traffic is prohibited from the inside out. If you violate the official and commit crimes repeatedly, it seems to reflect the meaning of the emperor's kindness and punishment, and the cruel officials are rampant. The world is very lucky. " From this article, it is worth pondering that in the Yuan Dynasty, some methods of excessive torture of lower-level state officials were strongly prohibited by the Yuan government, and in the spirit of humanitarianism, the question of "I am inferior to you" was raised, which is different from the Ming government's public advocacy of severe punishment to intimidate people all over the world.

Second, advanced technology is unparalleled in the world.

The Yuan Dynasty was not only the last golden age of mathematics in China, but also the peak of the development of ancient astronomy in China. Mathematician Zhu Shijie's Meet with Siyuan fully represents the highest level of mathematics in Song and Yuan Dynasties! In his famous Introduction to the History of Science, George G. Sutton, an American historian of science, thinks that Meeting in Philip Burkart is "the most important mathematical work in China and one of the most outstanding mathematical works in the Middle Ages". Luo Shilin, a mathematician in the Qing Dynasty, commented on Zhu Shijie's mathematical achievements: "In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it was as famous as Qin's and Heye. The pros and cons of Gu Dao and Ren Qingtianyuan. It is all through the ages, and Han Qing is all-inclusive, as refreshing as possible, especially surpassing Qin Li! " It shows that Zhu Shijie's achievements in mathematics are rare, especially surpassing the mathematicians of the Song Dynasty, Qin and the late Jin and early Yuan Dynasties.

Astronomer Guo Shoujing has been ahead of the West for hundreds of years in making chronicles, making simple instruments, and leaking light from the Daming Temple in Yuan Shizu. Amin Xu Guangqi praised Guo Shoujing's great achievements in the astronomical calendar of the Yuan Dynasty, saying, "This is the law of observing respect. For three hundred years, the world has been pushed back, thinking that it has surpassed the previous generation. " At the same time, Xu Guangqi also realized the sad reality of the decline of mathematics in the Ming Dynasty, so he criticized this situation: "The study of arithmetic has been abandoned for hundreds of years in modern times." Li Zhizao, a good friend of Xu Guangqi, commented on the astronomical officials in the Ming Dynasty: "The official in charge of Taiwan Province, the person who forgot the dust, and the person who broke the stars, the temple map is still unknown." What a pity!

There is also a living fact that reflects the evaluation of Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao. When Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary, came to China and saw the astronomical instruments made in Guo Shoujing, which were transported to Nanjing from the Yuan Dynasty in the early Ming Dynasty, he could not help admiring: "Its scale and exquisite design far exceed any such instruments that Europe has ever seen and known. Although these instruments have withstood the test of rain, snow and weather changes for 250 years, they have not lost their original glory. " However, due to the different geographical latitudes between Nanjing and Beijing, the instruments of Yuan Dadu are not suitable for use in Nanjing without adjustment. Matteo Ricci therefore ridiculed the Ming people very sharply, saying, "As for the sundial, they knew it was named after the equator, but they didn't learn how to adjust it according to the change of latitude."

Third, live a well-off life, support the economy and have a hospital.

In many history books today, it is said that the dark people in the Yuan Dynasty were miserable, so the people got up. Indeed, the biggest natural disaster in the history of the late Yuan Dynasty led to refugees from all over the country, and the White Lotus Sect took the opportunity to incite them to revolt. However, we should see that during most of the Yuan Dynasty, people basically lived a happy and well-off life. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Ren Ye recorded in "Cao Mu Zi": "After the Yuan Dynasty mixed with its ancestors, people who ruled the world for 60 or 70 years were given light punishment and thin taxes, and rarely used soldiers. The living are resurrected, the dead are buried, and they travel to Wan Li to stay at home. Is the so-called prosperity! " "Yuan Huimin has a bureau, a hospital for raising the economy, and a prisoner with food. It is all benevolent!"

Li Kaixian, an Amin, revealed in his Preface to a Spring Tour in the Western Regions the real reason why the people in the Yuan Dynasty lived well: "Yuan didn't guard the border, only paid light taxes, had plenty of food and clothing, and sang." Even Zhu Chongba, who opposed the Yuan Dynasty and seized power, had to admit after putting on the dragon robe: "If the giver's parents were born at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty when the world was founded, the laws at that time were strict, which made the fool afraid of Wei Huaide, strong but not bullying the weak, and the people were not violent." For the people, father, son, husband and wife live in peace and benefit a lot. " "China, the owner of the yuan dynasty, is almost one hundred years old. At the beginning of his reign, his ministers were simple, his politics were simple, he shared the same interest with the people, and he was well off. "

Some people think that Huang Po, a great Moroccan traveler, sells melons. After he came to China, what he saw and heard was the same as what Yuan people remembered. He was walking along the coast of China, and all he left in his travel notes was a strange article, such as "Nothing in the world is richer than China!" "China people are the most skilled craftsmen of all ethnic groups, which is well known!" "For business travel, China is the safest and most beautiful area! Single passengers, although carrying a lot of property, can travel for nine months with confidence. "

Even after the Yuan Dynasty chaos, there are still many places in the south of the Yangtze River, and the living standard is still very high. For example, Gu Ying of Kunshan, with her financial resources, generous personality and beautiful talents, managed the SAO altar, revived her elegance and presided over Yushan Jiya for 20 years. Among them, more than 200 literati traveled to Yushan Pavilion and sang with them. Today, there are more than 3,000 poems, which can be regarded as the last glory in the cultural history of Yuan Dynasty. Unfortunately, after the replacement of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Gu Ying was sent to Fengyang by the property, and the affair in Yushan vanished. Who did this? Don't say you know.

Fourth, all countries come to Korea, a country of etiquette.

There is no doubt that among all the dynasties in China, only the Yuan Dynasty has the highest international status. "A Record of Ming Taizu" once recorded Zhu Chongba's envious remarks about countries coming to Korea in the heyday of the Yuan Dynasty: "Yuan Taizu was born in Mobei, and all the governors who went to Dada and returned to other places wanted to buy it. Mao's grandson is famous for his kindness. He is the sai-jo emperor, who is alive and unified overseas. For a hundred years, whoever does not admire his kindness is not afraid of his orders. At the right time, the quartet is innocent and the people are prosperous. "

In Zhu Yuanzhang's words, "Who cares about kindness, who is not afraid of giving orders" embodies the clarity of the legal system of the Yuan government and a good social order, while "nothing happens in all directions, enriching the people and prospering" embodies the characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty's high international status, good people's life and rich social and material wealth.

Until now, the quality of China people is still the focus of discussion. Is the quality of China people always so poor? Actually, not at all, at least not in the Yuan Dynasty. Many people unilaterally think that the social atmosphere in China's history was better in the prosperous Kaiyuan period, which was the rule of the Wen Jing in the Han Dynasty and the Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty. In fact, the social atmosphere in the Han and Tang Dynasties was not as good as that in the Yuan Dynasty. Dai Liang, a great poet at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, recorded in the preface to Ya Yu Yuan: "The ancestors cultivated the world for 50 or 60 years with their profound kindness, and Dai Bai valued his children in his later years, just like cheering and inspiring in hutongs, as inspiring as Han, Tang and Song Dynasties."

Kyle Polo once mentioned his impression of urban residents in Yuan Dynasty in his travel notes: "They run their own business fairly and honestly. They live in harmony with each other, and men and women living in the same street are like a family because of their neighborhood. "

The memory of French priest Rubucci on the social atmosphere of the Yuan Dynasty is more detailed and true: "An unexpected situation is intimacy in courtesy, elegance and respect, which is their social characteristic. Common quarrels, fights and bloodshed in Europe will not happen here, even if you are as drunk as a fiddler. Loyalty is a quality that can be seen everywhere. Their cars and other belongings are neither locked nor taken care of, and no one will steal them. If their livestock is lost, everyone will help find it and return it to its original owner soon. "

After Adolik, the messenger of the Pope, came to China, he gave the most appreciative sigh to the society of the Yuan Dynasty in Journey to the East: "In my opinion, it is a great miracle in the world that so many people of different races can coexist peacefully under the management of the only power."

5. Cultural and educational prosperity is the envy of neighboring countries.

The Yuan Dynasty established 24,400 official schools at all levels, making one record for every 2,600 people in the country. The Yuan Dynasty also attached great importance to the cultural and educational organizations of China scholars and supported them in many aspects. In addition, Mongolians, Semu people, Han people and southerners all joined the ranks of academy builders, creating a historical record that "academy building is more prosperous than Yuan Dynasty". Moreover, the academy teaching in Yuan Dynasty was further expanded, and it was no longer limited to spreading Cheng Zhu's Neo-Confucianism, but sought the imperial examination and its traditional content. As the first and only college in ancient China that offered medical teaching and outpatient service, Liyuan Lishan College has special research value. Another example is the West Lake Academy in Yuan Dynasty, which is not only the national publishing center in Yuan Dynasty, but also occupies an important position in the whole publishing history of China.

The grand occasion of education in the Yuan Dynasty surprised Koreans on the Korean peninsula. For example, Jin Dongyang once praised: "Today, my emperor is magnificent and began to rule the world with martial arts. Today, I am integrated with the sea of arts and sciences, and I am a gentleman. Those who talk about morality without grass don't know its geometry! "

6. It has a vast territory and a strong military force.

/kloc-the great empire in the 0/3rd century is like the British empire in the 0/9th century, and it is also the only superpower today-the United States. In the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Shizu drafted a national map, and the secretary supervisor said, "Now the place where the sun rises and the place where the sun is not are ours!" Later, China's "Zuo Zhuan Youren Xu" proudly declared in the preface of "The General Annals of Greater Yuan Yi": "I have never heard of it outside the Quadrupole. Those that don't belong to ancient times are confused. " Not only the court officials are full of lofty sentiments, but also the poets of ordinary folk Yuanqu. For example, Wu Hongdao sang in Song Yuan's Quail in Diao Dou: "Take Dali first, then Korea. They have incorporated small countries that favor the country and unified the country. "

Sadly, few people in modern China know such a historical truth: when the Burman Bagan Dynasty invaded the border of Yunnan in the Yuan Dynasty, the people of Yunnan closely United around the Dayuan Central Government headed by Kublai Khan and the Yunnan local government headed by Sai Dianchi, which effectively dealt a blow to the invading Burmese invaders. 7 million broke 40 thousand, only one person died, creating a miracle in the history of Asian wars! What would have happened without this self-defense counterattack against Myanmar? It is hard for us to imagine! Perhaps, in the era of Zhu Ming, the Burmese army of the Xu Dong Dynasty in Myanmar "invaded and destroyed several counties, leaving behind a piece of" white bones and green phosphorus ",so that a few years later, people were still gnashing their teeth, and the Ming Dynasty Yunnan tragedy of" Dali, Heqing, Yao 'an and Chuxiong counties were all sent away, but their ears were moved before they died "was about to be staged in advance.

After reading these six historical truths, I can't help but ask that the glory of the past should be further promoted in the next "greater" dynasty. Unfortunately, the historical trend has stopped, and those short-sighted rulers and slave literati in the Ming Dynasty despise these. In fact, from the short-sighted rulers and slave literati of the subsequent Ming Dynasty, all the remarks about the darkness, corruption and cruelty of the Yuan Dynasty are objective and correct; Any description of its glory is debatable and needs to be discussed again; All records related to the retrogression of civilization in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties need to be strictly prohibited or deleted; All the folk remarks that influenced the rule of the Ming Dynasty needed to be supervised and controlled vigorously.