Analysis:

What is the "Children of the Eight Banners"? Many old people know it, but young people may not know much. Before the Qing soldiers entered the customs, at the beginning of17th century, Nurhachi (Qing Taizu) divided the Manchu army into four flags, each with an initial population of 7,500. Later, due to the increasing number of people (mainly Manchu, including Mongolia, Han nationality, North Korea, Russia and other ethnic minorities), it was expanded from four banners to eight banners. The colors of the Eight Banners are yellow, red, white and blue, plus yellow, red, white and blue. The establishment of these flags is a combination of military, political and civil affairs. The nobility and lowliness, the army and the people of Manchuria were all compiled and bound by the flag system. Later, with the development of the army, the "Mongolian flag" and "Han army flag" were added. Each of the three military flags has eight flags, in fact, there are 24 flags in total. Originally, due to different needs, it was called "full flag".

When the Qing soldiers entered the customs, these "people" or "Eight Banners" generally rode well and shot bravely. After entering the customs, they are generally favored by generations. Those who are close to the royal family and have high status become princes and ministers, such as princes, Baylor, Beizi, Zhen Guogong and Fu Guogong. Small positions should be invited and assisted; The youngest is also a flag soldier. Because of their contribution to the founding of the People's Republic of China and their special status, they have been supported or cared for from generation to generation. In particular, the "subordinate" of Manchuria Banner enjoys a special status. Most of them are Manchu, but there are also * * * their ancestors who followed the Qing imperial clan around in their early years, that is, the "old people" who have been attached for a long time. According to the system of Qing dynasty, they are not allowed to leave this flag casually, and those in Beijing are not allowed to leave Beijing casually. Thanks to the blessings of their ancestors, many of them have held official titles for generations and received money every month to live. If the standard-bearer wants to do something, he has to be a soldier and get a share of the money and food. But families multiply and there are more and more people. Some people are nominally lieutenant, but in fact they don't lead troops. Some people are still in the name of Primary Seven School, but they can't ride horses. What's more, due to the large number of descendants, the "monthly money" of each household cannot be advanced, and "less porridge and more monks" will dilute income. The number of flag soldiers is limited, so it is impossible to enter the camp casually. Coupled with the corruption of the elite and job vacancies, the number of flag soldiers who can enter the camp is relatively limited. In this way, generations change, and many "people" become poor. Some people of insight among them also feel that it is not the way to sit idle for many years, not doing production, and waiting for death with empty pockets. Some people also learn technology. But such people, on the contrary, are treated coldly by the standard-bearers, thinking that they have no ambition. Therefore, as far as most of them are concerned, "people" are generally idle.

The "glory" of the previous generation, the "protection" of the ancestors, the special status and the leisurely life (living on a monthly income) make many "subordinates" enjoy it very much and are afraid of labor. Men play with tea, raise thrush, and play with tickets [tickets] refers to non-professional actors engaged in traditional Chinese opera performances. Gambling, cricket fighting, flying kites, playing musical instruments, sitting in a teahouse, eating, drinking and having fun all day are many things. Women also have their own ways of fooling around. When the family fortune is getting worse and worse, and it is more and more difficult to make ends meet, relying on my special status and eloquence, I have done extortion and deception. Generally speaking, they like to buy things on credit. Obviously, they have money in their pockets, but they insist on credit. They have spent money on food, but they still want to do so. At that time, many people stayed away from them. Guangzhou used to be one of the cities where "people" lived together. So far, the city has left such a name as "Eight Banners and Two Roads". There is a story circulating here: in the early years, a "subordinate" went to a teahouse for tea. The waiter used a covered cup to make tea. A bird was put in the cup and the lid was added. When the waiter lifted the lid, the bird whimpered and flew away. So the flag bearer tore his face open and pestered the waiter for compensation. After a hard knock, he left. To this day, in a teahouse in Guangzhou, waiters make tea for tea drinkers. If the tea drinker doesn't open the lid after drinking, the waiter won't take the initiative to flush. Legend has it that this habit is related to this story. Whether this is true or not, there are still such stories circulating until now, which shows the impression given by the "children of the Eight Banners" in those days.

"Children of the Eight Banners" mentioned by Comrade Zhou Enlai should be a specific name. It doesn't refer to the flag-registered youth who rode a bow before and after the Qing soldiers entered the customs. Nor are they young people who raised flags after the Revolution of 1911 and gradually became working people; Nor does it mean everyone with a national flag. Among the "standard bearers", there are also outstanding and extraordinary figures. Cao Xueqin, a great writer in Qing Dynasty, was a native of Zhengbaiqi. Lao She, a modern writer, is a red flag man. Their "subordinate" status does not affect their outstanding achievements in literature at all. It refers to those people in the late Qing dynasty who, with the blessing of their ancestors, led the "monthly money", idled, indulged in bad habits and corrupted.

Mr. Lao She is a Manchu flag bearer (unlike Cao Xueqin, who was originally a Han nationality, but his ancestors joined the Manchu flag), so he knows the life style and actions of Manchu flag bearers and those "children of the Eight Banners" like the back of his hand. In his autobiographical article Under the Red Flag, he vividly and incisively exposed the early life of the flag bearer. Here, I would like to quote two paragraphs from him to get a glimpse of the reasons why many flag-bearers fell and their lifestyles at that time:

..... According to our collar-aiding system, the flag bearer has no freedom and is not allowed to leave this flag and Beijing at will; Although you can learn skills, you will inevitably be despised by others. He should be a soldier, ride horses and shoot arrows to defend the Qing Dynasty. However, the population of flag clan is increasing, and the number of cavalry is fixed. In this way, the eldest brother and the second brother may make up for the lack of food, while the third brother and the fourth brother will have to be idle. In this way, if a family has several Ding Bai, life will become more and more difficult. This system once swept the south, swept the north and laid the foundation for the world; This system can also make standard-bearers gradually lose their freedom and self-confidence, and how many people are unemployed for life.

The historical dust accumulated in the past 200 years has made ordinary flag-bearers forget both self-blame and self-encouragement. We have created a unique way of life: rich people are really particular about it, and those who have no money are also particular about it. Life is floating in the backcountry with rich rewards. Yes, take my elder sister's father-in-law for example. How to be an official and whether he will take the lead seem to be secondary. He and his relatives and friends seem to agree that he should eat Wang Lu, sing fast books and raise four indigo children. Similarly, the elder sister-in-law is not only satisfied with her "flying treasure", but also willing to sacrifice herself at any time for a pigeon. However, no matter how important his business or personal affairs are, his eyes are always on the sky. He never thought that he might knock down an old lady or bump into a big bag on his head. ..... Both of them are smart, capable and careful, but they are used to enjoying and * * * from trivial matters. They improved their culture in cricket pots, pigeon whistles and dry-fried meatballs, but they knew nothing about world events. Their life is like a delicate, clear and a little confused dream.

Such people have become "assistants", "assistants" or even nominally bigger officials, and naturally there is no way not to screw things up. At that time, imperialist warships sailed to the coast of China to throw their weight around. When I first met these people, they also wrote about Meng Chong, an ancient warship. This refers to warships. At that time, the people who threatened that "this black magic would be broken with black-bone chicken and white dog blood" were not people with a much higher level than General Eight Banners, but ignorant and confused, which was equal to this generation!

There are many reasons for the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, such as the confusion and carelessness of the Eight Banners. Corruption is also one of the reasons. Later, the "Eight Banners" have become extremely decadent, and they often collapse on the battlefield, which is completely different from the scene when the Qing army first entered the customs. This forced the Qing court to put this old team aside and train a new army alone. However, young people with progressive ideas could not be prevented from coming to participate in the training of the new army, and the uprising of the new army eventually constituted one of the torrents of the massive revolutionary army.

Looking back at this period of history, we can see that a person who lies in the shadow of his ancestors, enjoys privileges and lives a leisurely life, relies on blood relations instead of real talents and hard work, and is doomed to decay and corruption after all. Such a thing should be unexpected for Shunzhi and Kangxi! The life of the early Eight Banners generals was quite hard. If you visit the Forbidden City in Shenyang today, you can see that there are eight small buildings similar to the main hall on both sides of His Royal Highness Jin's square, which is where the Eight Banners coach stayed when he welcomed Nurhachi into the DPRK for deliberation. Those houses are not big, about the size of a room in a modern hotel for ten yuan a day. That was the living standard of the early "coach", which was far from that of the later princes and ministers.

Living a luxurious and leisurely life by blood relationship and the protection of ancestors can make people rot day by day and eventually rot into pieces. In fact, this kind of thing is not unique to the children of the Eight Banners. It can be said that there are countless such examples throughout the ages. This is really "the tortoise climbs the dirt road in front and the tortoise climbs behind". "Although the front cars overlap, the rear car is not a mirror". Before the Qing Dynasty, there was a similar live drama in the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed governors as local kings, and the sons of these kings, the oldest, succeeded to the throne. Other princes and daughters also have their own gifts. As more and more people are handed down from generation to generation, the ranks of titles and awards will decrease. For example, what is a "general assisting the country" under "general assisting the country", what is a "general serving the country" under "general assisting the country" and what is a "general serving the country" under "general serving the country". According to statistics, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the number of dozens of children of the emperor had reached tens of thousands when the People's Republic of China was founded. These people lie on the books of their ancestors' honor and blood relationship, live a parasitic life, and generally become mediocre people. The downfall of the Ming Dynasty was also related to such a large group of people directly and indirectly putting forward various demands to farmers, which made the people's burden heavier and heavier. After the Revolution of 1911, the hereditary princes and ministers of the Ming and Qing Dynasties disappeared. However, in many landlord families, their children still live a "hereditary" life like their grandfathers and grandmothers, and get something for nothing on the blood relationship books. And in this way of life, who knows how many prodigals, * * *, gamblers and opium addicts have been bred?

In this regard, the western bourgeoisie does not simply entrust a large amount of property to children quickly, and after giving them a considerable education, encourage them to engage in some kind of work to get paid. For example, children are rewarded for repairing fences and planting trees, and adults get paid monthly after taking part in certain jobs without special care. This has their far-reaching intentions. At least in these respects, the bourgeoisie is a little more insightful than the exploiting classes in history.

In a society where the proletariat is the master of the country, it is reasonable to say that the children of cadres will not and should not become "children of the Eight Banners". But the social system and Marxist education are one thing, and the specific environment and education of every household are the same thing. In our society, although a large number of cadres' children grow up well, they do not pretend to be special, do not lie on their parents' credit books, and do not rely on the "chromosomes" handed down by their ancestors to live a luxurious life. Therefore, they can really grow into successors of the revolution. However, some parents educate their children to be superior, obedient to their children, and let them have fun everywhere, wishing to pick the stars in the sky for their children to play with; When they did bad things, they tried to cover up and connive, trying to make a big event smaller and smaller, and let their children become "Gao Yanei" characters in the new dramas Gao Yanei, Lu Zhailang and Guan Hanqing's Zaju. (Press: These are the famous sons with white noses in historical stories). As the son of the commander, "Hangzhou Two Bears", one was shot and the other was sentenced to life imprisonment, which is a famous example. Such a thing is by no means "unique", but it is so rare that I have heard about it from time to time. The son of a vice mayor of a city and the son of a county party secretary were sentenced to death for murder and wounding, which is no longer news. Wait a minute, those who have not been executed, but are jailed, or passers-by look askance, the number is even more. Comrade Zhou Enlai's warning "Don't learn from the children of the Eight Banners" seems to have great historical and practical significance in our country where feudal habits still exist seriously.

Those privileged people and privileged elements misjudged our situation and reality, and they will be reported immediately without waiting for the beheading of the "V".

In fact, we should not only educate children not to be "children of the Eight Banners", but also be wary of being "children of the Eight Banners" for some adults (please pay attention to the accuracy of the word "some"), because people will change. A man has changed from a revolutionary to a master and a moth. In history and reality, examples are common. Pretending to be particularly superior, thinking that you are above the law, eating, drinking and having fun, so that you are greedy, wanton, breaking the law and discipline, and everyone shakes his head and is ruined. Is it rare? Don't! This is also heard from time to time.

In this way, the warning object of "don't learn from the children of the Eight Banners" is wider than that of "children of cadres".

At this point, the essay "Silence for the Children of the Eight Banners" can be ended. Finally, I want to sum up by borrowing two long sentences from the poet Du Mu more than 1000 years ago: "Later generations mourn for it but don't learn, and let future generations mourn for it again."