Zheng Xuan devoted all his life to the interpretation of Confucian classics. So far, Zhou Li Zhu, Li Ji Zhu and Li Ji Zhu are collectively called San Li Zhu and Shi Mao Zhu. After it was lost, Notes on Zhouyi, Notes on Ancient Chinese Classics, Notes on Filial Piety and Notes on Analects of Confucius were partially preserved by later generations. In addition, he also wrote a biography of Zuo's family in the Spring and Autumn Period, which was not completed, and was sent to scholars for piety, so there was a note on Zuo's family in the Spring and Autumn Period.
In fact, Zheng Xuan's classics are far more than these, and only the main parts are listed here. According to the statistics of Confucian scholars in Qing Dynasty, there are about 60 kinds of writings by Zheng Xuan. In The Book of Ian in the Forbidden City, Zheng Xuan said that he devoted himself to the study of Confucian classics in order to "describe the mysterious meaning of sages and think about the unevenness of the whole hundred schools of thought". In other words, his purpose was to expound Confucianism and carry it forward. Historically, Zheng Xuan's achievements in exegetics are quite high, and he got his wish.
This Biography of the Later Han Dynasty summarizes Zheng Xuan's achievements in the study of Confucian classics, saying: "It is natural for scholars to know that Zheng Xuan collected great gifts, collected all kinds of opinions, simplified them, changed the publication and followed the good." This evaluation is in line with reality. Zheng Xuan's greatest achievement is the editing and annotation of Three Rites. The Book of Rites in the Han Dynasty was taught by the teacher without annotation, while Ma Rong only annotated the Book of Mourning. Although the name "Sanli" was put forward by Ma Rong and Lu Zhi, it was only after Zheng Xuan annotated Zhou Li, Yi Li and Li Ji respectively that it was decided. Forty-nine selected books of The Book of Rites became independent books, which also began in Zheng Xuan. Sanli is the origin of China's ancient laws and regulations system, and it is a very valuable historical document, but many of its records are difficult for us to understand directly from the original text, so Zhengzhu contributed a lot. Zheng Zhu's contribution to helping us understand the contents of the "Three Rites" and correcting the mistakes and fallacies of the Confucian classics is indelible. Moreover, when Zheng Xuan explained the Scriptures, he added many materials other than the Scriptures, which greatly enriched the contents of the literature. These materials must have been recorded at that time, or reported by teachers, but now most of them have been lost, and some of them have to be preserved by Zheng Zhu, which is also a great contribution of Zheng Zhu. Moreover, because Zheng Xuan is comprehensive and detailed, and adopts different theories, if we can analyze it in detail and find out its origin, it will be of great benefit to future generations to study the academic history of the Han Dynasty. Zheng Xuan's interpretation of etiquette also left a valuable legacy for us to study the history of political thought in Han Dynasty. In addition, studies such as ancient philology, phonology, exegetics and so on are inseparable from Zheng Zhu. Especially today, Zheng Xuan's Notes on Li San is an important document to study and explain the pre-Qin and even underground cultural relics excavated underground. On the whole, Zheng Xuan attached importance to classics, but he made the deepest efforts and achieved the highest results in the "Three Rites". His Notes on Three Rites was accepted by later scholars, and Confucius even said "Rites are the essence and backbone". From ancient times to the present, there are countless works on Li, which are divided into two schools: "Zhengzheng" and "Refuting Zhengzheng", which just shows Zheng Xuanli's irreplaceable historical position. Gu, a great scholar in the early Qing Dynasty, praised Zheng Xuan in "Narrating Ancient Poems", saying that "Zheng Kangcheng was too big to explore. Six arts should not only be mastered, but also be learned from everything. So far, there are still three rituals, and their learning is not small. " Gu never praised the ancients easily, but he admired Zheng Xuan, which shows Zheng's great achievements and far-reaching influence.
The existing Mao is also a masterpiece in Zheng's annotation. Unlike annotations, notes are an extension of the theory of a family. Jian Zheng's notes are mainly based on Shi Mao's Old Xun Zhuan, supplemented by Shi Mao's Bamboo Slips. If you have different opinions, you should add another note, that is, "If you have differences, you can do whatever you want" (Zheng) This is actually a combination of modern people and ancient classics, using three poems. The Book of Songs is an extremely important historical and literary classic, but due to its long history, many of its contents are difficult for us to understand today. If we really want to understand it, we must rely on the comments of our predecessors, and Jian Zheng is the first milestone in the study of the best ancient annotated books and the Book of Songs. Jian Zheng's achievements are manifold. To put it simply, first, his understanding of poetry is profound and in line with the original intention; The second is to point out the symbolic characteristics of poetry and highlight the literary significance of poetry; Thirdly, considerable achievements have been made in writing, phonology, exegesis and natural history. Han people preach poetry in an orderly way. There are four schools: Lu, Han and Mao, but the first three schools of poetry have been lost one after another. Mao poetry prevailed after Wei and Jin Dynasties, and Zheng Xuan played a decisive role in creation. After a long period of circulation, Zheng Xuan's Notes on Qunjing are still preserved in the Notes on Thirteen Classics, namely, Notes on Mao and Notes on Li San. Among the Notes on Thirteen Classics, these four notes are the most profound and detailed, which are obviously superior to other schools. Liu Kezhuang, a poet in the Song Dynasty, praised Mao's annotations in One Hundred Miscellaneous Poems by Zheng Sinong, saying: "The new annotations are passed on to later scholars, and ancient poems rank first among Confucianism. I don't want to be crazy and young, and I will scold the old slave before the lamp. " Not many people respected Zheng Xuan in the Song Dynasty, but no one can erase the achievements of Shi Mao's sword.
Zheng Xuan used Fei Gu Wen to annotate Yi. He combined Xiang, Xiang and Jing into one, and added the words "meet" and "Xunyue" in front of it to distinguish it from Jing. Zheng's Yi-ology is a theory of unity of righteousness, reason and image. In the aspect of image mathematics, in addition to using the methods of mutual prediction and news, it also advocates the theory of five elements generating grams and communicating with each other. In the aspect of justice, we adopt the viewpoint of "Three Rites" to prove that Yi Dao has a vast territory, and the notes involved in marriage, sacrificial handles and court engagement all conform to the theory of Rites, which is similar to the characteristics of easy learning in later generations. Zheng Xuan's annotation "Fei Yi Jing" was widely circulated, but it was abandoned by history, Mencius and others. Later generations, Wang Bi and Han used Zheng Xuan to annotate the Book of Changes, while Kong's The Justice of the Five Classics used Wang Bi and Han Han's annotations, which are still in use today.
Zheng Xuan annotated Shangshu in ancient Chinese, but unlike Ma Rong, he also adopted modern Chinese. Zheng's A Brief History of Ancient Literature became popular, but A Brief History of Ouyang and Xiahou was lost. As for the Spring and Autumn Annals, Zheng Xuanben's attempt to annotate the Spring and Autumn Annals failed because he shared many views with Fu Qian, but he wrote Fa, Zhen and Cong, indicating his attitude towards Zuo Yang's suppression of rams. Zheng Xue was highly valued in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. This is also a reason why Zuo Zhuan flourished in the future.
Zheng Xuan also annotated the laws and regulations of the Han Dynasty. According to the criminal law records in the Book of Jin, there are more than ten Confucian chapters and sentences in the old laws of Qin and Han Dynasties. Write a letter, but use Zheng's chapters and sentences, but he can't use more than one. Zheng Xuan also annotated The Book of Filial Piety and The Analects of Confucius, both of which had great influence. As for his annotation and explanation of Shu Wei, it is also a contribution to Shu Wei himself, as well as to Confucian classics, ancient literature and exegetics.
In a word, Zheng Xuan founded Zheng Xue with his rich works, which broke away from the past and unified the study of China's ancient classics, so that the study of China's ancient classics entered a unified era and made great contributions to the development of China's ancient classics. Zheng Xuan lived in seclusion all his life, taking sorting out ancient books as his occupation. He was able to learn from others and compiled almost all the important Confucian classics before, with more than 60 kinds. His work in collating ancient books, including collating words, exegeting words and compiling catalogues, is remarkable. He deserves to be an excellent collator of ancient books.
First look at Zheng Xuan's academic achievements. Zheng Xuan's "Jing Zhu" not only recorded all kinds of essays, but also tried to examine the origin of mirrors and analyze articles. Therefore, Duan Yucai, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty who is good at proofreading, once praised Zheng Xuan's great academic achievements through the ages in his Preface to Miscellanies of Confucian Classics and Righteousness. Zhang Shunhui, a modern man, wrote On Zheng Textual Research. He believes that Zheng Xuan's achievements in school science are as follows: first, the six arts of distinguishing chapters, that is, the body and function of distinguishing six classics; The second is to pay attention to the old classics and Richard's books; The third is to sort out the ritual books and make them orderly; Fourthly, the narrative content has outstanding originality in bibliography; Fifth, learn from different books, compare similarities and differences, and be cautious; Sixth, choose good and follow, not limited to imitating family law and modern ancient prose; Seventh, on the whole, we should make use of shortcomings and not pre-empt; Eighth, seek common ground while reserving differences and express their opinions; Nine is to review the heritage and verify the authenticity; Ten is to correct mistakes; Eleven is to make up the leave; The twelfth is to judge pronunciation and determine personality.
All these have generally involved all aspects of proofreading, and people who are interested in sorting out ancient books in later generations all take Zheng Xuan's actions as a model. China has a long history and numerous ancient books. Collating ancient books requires learning traditional culture and history, while proofreading is the professional knowledge in collating ancient books. Zheng Xuan's achievements in school-based learning have greatly enriched the content of school-based learning in China and are indispensable.
Secondly, look at Zheng Xuan's contribution to exegetics. The origin of China's exegetics is very early, but its mature development was in the Han Dynasty, and Zhengxuan is the most important achievement of Han's exegetics. The so-called exegetics, that is to say, explaining words by words, Zheng Xuan's annotations on many classics almost cover all the later exegetics, including the interpretation of words, the interpretation of sentence purport, the interpretation of etymology, the interpretation of falsehood, phonetic notation, rhetoric, the interpretation of system, the interpretation of names, the interpretation of dialects, the collation of words, the analysis of grammar and so on. Zheng Xuan's exegetical methods, such as direct training, meaning boundary and deduction, as well as traditional moral training, physical training and sound training, are also quite complete. The exegetical terms used in Zheng Xuan's Annotations to Classic Biography are also quite rich, such as: Jude, Zhe … also … so Yi is also, predicate, predicate, metaphor, ye, speech, … appearance, …… words, … yue ……, … as … called, sounded, if, and belonged to …. Generally speaking, Zheng's classics played a leading role in later exegetics, and made some examples, which was actually the origin of China's exegetics.
In addition, Zheng Xuan also made some contributions to the development of ancient phonology and ancient lexicology. Zheng Xuan made pioneering contributions to the exploration of ancient sounds: first, he clearly pointed out "sound category" and "sound category" for the first time, and paid attention to playing its explanatory role; The second is to analyze the difference between them: generally speaking, the same pronunciation part is called "sound category" and the same broadcast part is called "sound category". Any word with the same or similar sound category must have the same or similar meaning. This plays an important role in phonology. With regard to lexicology, Zheng Xuan summarized and developed the previous research results, and comprehensively explained the various meanings and usages of words in the process of annotation, thus consolidating the achievements of the development of word meaning since the pre-Qin period. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the culture was unprecedentedly prosperous, and the characters used in classic historical records reached great richness, but the number of characters used as written records did not increase much. The richness of vocabulary is mainly manifested in polysemy, that is to say, vocabulary has produced a lot of extended and borrowed meanings in this period. Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi mainly focuses on analyzing the original meaning of characters and has made great achievements, but rarely involves extension and borrowing. Zheng Xuan, on the other hand, focuses on the extended meaning and metonymic meaning of words, revealing some objective laws.
From this point of view, Zheng Xuan's achievements can be compared with Xu Shen's, and he has made outstanding contributions to the development of lexicology. Zheng Xuan followed the consistent thought in Confucian classics and insisted on respecting teachers and valuing morality. He pointed out: Respect teachers and teach people, but there is nothing wrong with governing politics (Book of Rites Justice, Volume 22). Nan Zhou Ge Tan: Tell your teacher what you said, and you will return what you said. Mao Chuan: Yes, me too. Zheng Xuan's Note: Those who emphasize me should respect the teacher's teaching (Shi Mao Justice, Volume I).
It is worth noting that Zheng Xuan always associates respecting teachers with valuing morality, which is the embodiment of his personal thoughts. For example, the ceremony of "The Book of Learning" for university students, although it is written that the son of heaven has no north, respects the teacher and emphasizes the road. Zheng Xuan's Note: Respect the teacher and don't make him a minister (Book of Rites Justice, Volume 36). Qu Li: You ask for a job, and you will get it. Zheng Xuan's Note: Respect teachers and emphasize morality (Book of Rites Justice, Volume II).
Quli: Learn with courtesy, but don't learn with teaching. This is a ceremony of respecting teachers, which Zheng Xuan also summarized as respecting Tao (Book of Rites Justice, Volume I). Thus, in Zheng Xuan's view, the essence of respecting teachers lies in attaching importance to morality. This is because teachers are moral and academic representatives. Ma Rong once said: A teacher should teach people to be virtuous by doing things (General Code, Volume 53), and Zheng Xuan inherited this teacher's theory. It is also pointed out that teachers are called Taoists (Note to Zhou Li, Volume 9), and this attitude of respecting teachers from the perspective of emphasizing Taoism is much more positive than the attitude of simply attaching teachers to heaven, earth, monarch and relatives.
Zheng Xuan believes that teachers play a leading role in the teaching process. He pointed out that if the teacher speaks clearly, the disciples will speak well, but if the teacher doesn't speak clearly, the scholars will answer irrelevant questions (Book of Rites Justice, Volume 36), which not only embodies the great authority of Confucian classics in Han Dynasty, but also conforms to the general law of teaching to a certain extent.
Since teachers have such an important position and role, Zheng Xuan said: A good teacher is a good teacher. He regards teachers' own morality, knowledge and teaching attitude as the key to the success or failure of education. Zheng Xuan is very demanding of teachers.
First, teachers must be honest, which is especially important in children's education. Zheng Xuan said, "I don't know that I am young, but I always show what is right. I teach with orthodoxy and I am not deceived" (Book of Rites Justice, Volume I). This idea of orthodox education is not only an educational principle, but also contains strict requirements for teachers themselves.
Secondly, teachers must be proficient in their research. Zheng Xuan criticized those teachers who did not know the meaning of the classics, but recited what they regarded as simple scriptures, which was hard to ask (Book of Rites Justice, Volume 36). This kind of person seems to have a poor teaching method because he doesn't really understand the classics. How can he teach others well? Therefore, the book of learning says: the study of back questions is not enough for teachers. Zheng Xuan's Note: This is not necessary for teachers to understand, or scholars have not asked (Book of Rites Justice, Volume 36). In a word, a teacher who only knows how to follow the book without his own research results can't be said to be competent.
Third, teachers must actively teach. Although teachers have the discipline of not teaching and not speaking, Zheng Xuan believes that this is not to relieve teachers of their educational responsibilities. First of all, on the object of education, Zheng Xuan thinks that people are self-sufficient and self-clean, and they should enter it (Note on the Analects of Zheng Yishu, Volume 4). Anyone who is open-minded and self-motivated should be promoted and should not be turned away because of minor problems. Secondly, in the process of teaching, although Zheng Xuan opposed cramming teaching, he also thought that scholars not only made it clear from the beginning, but also raised questions, which was extremely said (Book of Rites Justice Volume 36) and opposed the practice of teachers covering their shoulders (Book of Rites Justice Volume 36). It can be seen that Zheng Xuan did not deny teachers' active teaching.
It's just that this kind of teaching should be carried out in a way that stimulates students' positive thinking when students are motivated and curious.
Fourth, teachers should continue their studies. According to Zheng Xuan's words, it is to be able to see what you have not achieved through educational activities (Book of Rites Justice, Volume 36). Although teaching others, we should be able to achieve the goal of self-denial through educational activities; Although it is to promote the improvement of others, we should be self-reliant and dare not be tired of learning. In other words, teachers should be both educators and educatees. In a word, only when teachers have the above-mentioned character and demeanor can they be worthy of their lofty status and important responsibilities.
Zheng Xuan devoted his whole life to the study and teaching of Confucian classics. He broke the barrier between teacher and school, and collected the achievements of Confucian classics in Han Dynasty. His interpretation of Confucian classics is an important part of later Confucian classics textbooks. He made many incisive expositions on the educational settings and viewpoints recorded in Confucian classics, covering a wider range than the special expositions of ordinary thinkers. Zheng Xuan's educational thoughts, in particular, mostly appear in the form of annotations. Although attached to the classics and lost in fragmentation, in ancient times, the contents of Confucian classics were regarded as the way of saints, but they had influence beyond the discussion of ordinary scholars. "The Biography of Zheng Xuan in the Later Han Dynasty" said that "Zi Xuan has traveled to his hometown for more than ten years. The family is poor, and the guest cultivates Donglai. The apprentice has been accompanied by 100 people. " I still remember when he was 60 years old, "Hanoi disciple Zhao Shang and others came all the way." Therefore, Zheng Xuan gave lectures in private at that time, which was very popular at that time. His disciples are numerous, and they have appeared many times in historical biographies in Zheng Zhi, Ji Zheng and all over the country. The famous ones are Zhao Shang in Hanoi, Cui Yan in Qinghe, Jing Wong in Qinghe, Le 'an, Ren Wei in Le 'an, Zhang Yi in Beihai, Lu, Cheng Bing in Runan, Beihai, and Xu Ci in Nanyang, etc. Some of his students become great officials and some become famous scholars. According to the legend in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, his disciples are Yang Shan Jinshi Lv Chi, Donglai JI Wang and Qinghe Cui Yan. He is also happy to have a country. He was a child when he was young. He said that Yuan was a national instrument with virtue, and the rest were all learned, just as he said.
It seems that Zheng Xuan has the ability to know people, and it is really rewarding to invite literati to his door all the way.
I'm afraid it's not empty talk to say that Zheng Xuan has "read all over the house and learned tens of thousands" (History of Confucian Classics). The total number of his disciples should be no less than 10,000. According to the records of Zheng Zhi and Ji Zheng compiled by later generations, Zheng Xuan paid attention to asking questions and enlightening in teaching, and teachers and students persevered, delved into and pondered, and his attitude towards learning was very strict.
There is a story recorded in Zheng Annotation of The Analects of Confucius in Chilaotang Series: The Analects of Confucius commented that The Book of Songs is "happy without lewdness, sad without harm", and Zheng Xuan noted: "Happy with a wife is a good enemy of a gentleman, not for lewdness." Thinking about it is also a way to mourn the couple. Not this man, not to hurt his love. However, Zheng Xuan said in Mao Xu: "Guan Sui takes pleasure in his wife's matching with a gentleman, loves virtue, disregards his color, mourns his gentleness, thinks about his talents, and does not hurt his grace. It is a pity that "however" covers up the mistakes in the text, but it is a pity that the center will forgive her and will not hurt her kindness. This aroused disciple Ada's doubts: Why is it inconsistent to annotate The Analects of Confucius with "sadness" and Mao Xu with "longing"? Zheng Xuan appreciates Ada's careful thinking. He replied: "The Annotations to the Analects of Confucius have been circulated in the world for a long time, so they are no longer fixed, so they are left behind. "That is to say, we should adopt an attitude of seeking truth from facts. If we are not sure, we can't draw a conclusion, so as not to harm future generations. Knowledgeable, suspicious, others cautious. Zheng Xuan not only does this academically, but also educates students to do so.
There is a dialogue between Zheng Xuan and his disciple Zhao Shang in The Poem Tang Jiu Zhengzhi, which originated from the preface of Shangchang Songfa. The preface to Mao said: "Long hair" is also the emperor. Zheng Xuan wrote, "Emperor Zhou worshiped heaven in the suburbs. ..... "This involves a very complicated ritual problem, and Zhao Shang cited ancient books to disagree with Zheng Xuan's explanation.
After making some explanations, Zheng Xuan criticized his disciples and said, "This is excessive inquiry and innocent!" In another conversation with Zhao Shang, he also said: "Everything that happens in the world has been tested. If it is inconsistent, how can we know the situation?" Therefore, knowing the letter is not true or false. "As can be seen from these casual conversations between master and apprentice, Zheng Xuan attaches great importance to raising difficult questions, enlightening students and teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, which is the inheritance and further development of the tradition of Confucius, a great educator in China. His outstanding achievements in education promoted the spread of his theory and eventually became popular all over the world.
Generally speaking, Zheng Xuan is an unprecedented master of Confucian classics, who devoted his life to it. Since the Tang Dynasty, his annotations on the Poems and Li San have been regarded as the standard annotations of Confucian classics and included in the Nine Classics. In the Song Dynasty, it was included in Notes to Thirteen Classics, which was used as an official textbook for a long time. Until today, it is still the authoritative annotation of ancient classics.
Therefore, Zheng Xuan's position and role in the history of Confucian classics is very important. Zheng Xuan's philosophical thoughts.
Due to the limitation of historical era, Zheng Xuan has a theological superstition that there is a personalized God, who is the creator and supreme master of all things in the universe. For example, his "Notes on the Five Elements of Shangshu" says: Five talents are born and the people use them together. Its politics is to take it out on God, which will make it useless and not for the people. Other variations belong to Jane, and Jane is angry with God. Anyone who is angry with God will see that the sun, the moon and the five stars are suitable for the sky. If something is lost, it goes against people's hearts, and people will complain. Wood, gold, water, fire and rustic will all be hurt, and the damage will win and prevail, then God's anger and people's resentment will be a disaster. Therefore, the five-element prophet mutated and accused people. ...
This accusation of telepathy between heaven and man is nothing more than preaching the divine right of monarchy and deifying the monarch. He further believes that if the monarch's behavior conforms to the will of the gods, all kinds of Kerry and Fu Rui will fall from the sky to show his prosperity; On the other hand, if the monarch lives in heaven, heaven will send down various disasters as a warning. It is further inferred that life and death, dignity and wealth are all determined by fate, so we should obey fate and feudal rule. On the other hand, he deified the five elements of Yin and Yang, and explained the changes of things with the ups and downs of Yin and Yang Yang Qi. A gentleman belongs to Yang, while a villain belongs to Yin. The reason why society is chaotic is the result of excessive yin and yang, that is, the villain is in power. These are all systematic, not mentioned by accident. Of course, these thoughts did not surpass the idealism of "the unity of man and nature" in the Han Dynasty, and there were few personal inventions by Zheng Xuan. However, he noticed the scriptures all over the world, integrated these thoughts into the interpretation of the scriptures, and carried out some systematic work in them, further carrying forward the idealistic theological philosophy. Generally speaking, Zheng Xuan's philosophy is not progressive, but it is not without positive significance, because on the other hand, it also emphasizes people's subjective initiative and belief in their own destiny. As long as we act according to God's will, this is actually an objective law, which may lead to good results.
Zheng Xuan's political thoughts. Zheng Xuan's political conservatism is related to his theological idealism philosophy. He believes that the feudal system is reasonable, eternal and in line with God's will. Therefore, he actively maintained feudal centralization of authority and opposed local separatist forces. From this perspective, he strongly advocated the idea of loyalty to the monarch, emphasizing that local governments should take the central government as the center and serve the monarch "by the way". In his view, it is an act of loyalty and righteousness for a minister to die for the king, and it is an act of both benevolence and righteousness. A minister must have one of the three virtues of rigidity and softness. It should be said that Zheng Xuan was loyal to the Han Dynasty and felt sad for the warlord regime. He always deified the monarch when commenting on the group classics, demanding that local governors obey the monarch and contribute the wealth of the country to the emperor. In the annotations of Zhouyi and Zhou Li, he often entrusts his political ideal of being loyal to the monarch and a good minister, while in the annotations of Shi Mao, he entrusts his sentimental feelings about current events, which also shows his attitude of longing for the past and opposing the reality in troubled times. On the other hand, he also actively advocated filial piety, and regarded filial piety as the ideological eye of loyalty to the monarch. People are required to serve the monarch like parents and respect feudal rulers at all levels like big brothers. Generally speaking, Zheng Xuan is an orthodox scholar who deeply believes in Confucianism. His ideal political outlook should be Jun Jun, minister, father and son, and strictly abide by the hierarchical order, so as to achieve political stability, favorable weather, national prosperity and people's security. These, of course, don't have much personal things of Zheng Xuan, and they are all influenced by traditional Confucianism. Zheng Xuan's interpretation of Qunjing has described these political thoughts as classic original meanings and eternal principles, which is of course of great significance to the spread of Confucian traditional thoughts. Today, Zheng Xuan's political thought serves the feudal rulers and has no positive significance. Historically, however, Zheng Xuan's political thought was generally recognized by intellectuals at that time, which, in a sense, was also in line with the fundamental interests of the general public.