Although the Sui Dynasty was too short, and the reforms in politics, economy, culture and education were not completed in less than 30 years, it objectively explored the road, laid the foundation and conceived the basic ideas and scale framework for the continuous reform of the Tang Dynasty. This cannot be ignored.
In terms of political system, the central official system in Sui Dynasty abolished the Six Departments of Northern Zhou Dynasty and established the Six Departments System of Three Provinces. Local officials implement a two-level system of state and county. This measure not only eliminates some redundant officials, improves work efficiency and saves expenses for * * *, but also helps to strengthen centralization and political unity. Military management combines the system of officers and men with the system of land equalization. All soldiers can learn about counties, farm land accounts, stay with the people and be under the command of the military government, which should still be the same ("Sui Shu? Gao Zuji), this measure not only strengthened * * *, but also concentrated military command in the central government, supporting the rise of central power.
In addition, the lenient and simplified penalty system eased social contradictions. The imperial examination system replaced the nine-grade system, broke the situation that the big family dominated the election and concentrated the right to vote in the central official department. This not only weakened the power of local gentry and strengthened the imperial power, but also benefited the economic and cultural development at that time.
Economically, the Sui and Tang Dynasties continued to implement the system of land equalization, which on the one hand restricted the annexation of land by local nobles and the development of local aristocratic forces; On the other hand, it is also conducive to giving full play to farmers' enthusiasm for production and enabling agriculture and industry and commerce to develop by leaps and bounds. In particular, the opening of the Grand Canal has eliminated the obstacles to economic exchanges between the North and the South, and gradually formed the two largest commercial cities in East, West and Beijing. There are two cities in Chang 'an, Xijing, which is famous in the east, and fame and fortune in the west, which are all vulgar, chaotic in characters and mixed in splendor. Go to agriculture to do business and strive for the benefits of the morning and evening; Wandering hands holding things, at the end of the game, a taper knife ("Sui Shu? Geography "). There are three cities in Luoyang, Tokyo, with Fengdu in the east and Tongmen 12 and 172 lines on Saturday, covering more than 3,000 square meters.
The city is complete. From a distance, the elms and willows are shaded and the canals are harmonious. There are more than 400 four-walled shops in the city, with heavy buildings and pavilions facing each other, attracting business travel and sparse mountains (Miscellanies of Great Cause); The north city is far away, surrounded by six miles, and there are countless boats and boats in the county (same as above). Both domestic frontier ethnic minorities and foreign businessmen traded in the market, which shows that commercial trade was quite prosperous at that time.
With the political and economic reform, the rulers of Sui Dynasty also adopted some new measures in cultural and educational policies. Due to the historical turning point, the choice of old and new ideologies, the transformation of old and new ideologies and the necessary adjustment to adapt to the new social functions, the cultural and educational policies of the Sui Dynasty were shaken and doubted on the premise of affirming the basic academic concepts of traditional Confucianism.
On the one hand, while affirming Confucianism, we will not give up Buddhism and Taoism. Emperor Wendi Sui Wendi was fostered in Ni Temple in a county when he was a child, and returned to China at the age of thirteen. Emperor Wu of Zhou destroyed the Buddha, and the wise fairy was hidden in the Yang family.
It is predicted that Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty will be the emperor in the future. Revive Buddhism. Convinced that he was blessed by the Buddha, Emperor Wendi of Sui declared to his ministers that I was promoting Buddhism and advocating it vigorously. Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty has realized that Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism can be used as tools of ideological rule. Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty ascended the throne in Kaiyuan (AD 58 1 year).
That is to say, popularity makes people resigned to becoming monks, but it still makes people pay for it and write scriptures, which are written by the government in temples and are popular all over the country. Therefore, there are hundreds of times more folk Buddhist scriptures than the Six Classics (Sui Shu, Volume 35, Classic Yearbook, Volume 4). The development of Buddhism in China, roughly from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, was a period of being absorbed by China culture. The contribution of Buddhists in this period was mainly to translate classics, followed by explaining principles. The Sui and Tang Dynasties were the melting period of Buddhism. During this period, the main contribution of Buddhists was to establish sects (schools) and form China-style Buddhist philosophy. This work began gradually when Emperor Wen advocated Buddhism.
Although Taoism opposed Buddhism in the status dispute, the Sui rulers basically adopted a conciliatory attitude towards it. Not only Confucianism and Taoism can be reconciled, but also religion and Confucianism can be reconciled. Emperor Yang Di lived or traveled in the East and the West, and there were always monks, nuns, Taoist priests and female officials (female crowns and Taoist priests), which were called the Four Dojo.
On the other hand, the attitude towards Confucianism is cold and hot, rising and falling. Emperor Wendi realized that although the three religions can be used together, they have different functions. In order to make people obediently abide by the ethics of loyalty to the monarch and filial piety, obey the hierarchy of seniority and cultivate politicians, we must rely on Confucianism. Therefore, Confucianism is highly respected to a considerable extent.
Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the policy of respecting Confucius alone, Confucianism has been regarded as a whole, which has promoted the vigorous development of Confucian education. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Confucianism once declined due to the rise of metaphysics, Buddhism and Taoism. After the Sui Dynasty unified China, Confucianism began to revive under the guidance of the idea of attaching equal importance to the three religions.
Emperor Wendi acceded to the throne, adopted Niu Hong's suggestion, and extensively collected Confucian classics. One volume per book, one silk horse. After proofreading, I returned the original book to the owner and found many different books. After Chen was destroyed, he got a batch of Jiangnan books. The scattered books were concentrated in the imperial court. By the time of Emperor Wu of Zhou Dynasty, the collection of books had reached 10,000 volumes, and 5,000 new books had been destroyed. There are now more than 37,000 volumes, including 80,000 copies. Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty also had people compile collections called ancient books. The person who chooses the manual will fill in the defects, write a copy and keep it in the palace with the original. During the reign of Yang Di, Confucian classics were classified into four categories: A, B, C and D, and they were divided into four categories: Classics, History, Zi and Ji, which became the orthodox method for the classification of historical records in later generations. Yang-ti hid all his books in the east and west rooms of Guandi Temple. A and B are hidden in the east wing, and B is hidden in the west wing. From the back of the temple, there are two platforms. In the east, there is a wonderful platform with calligraphers' handwriting since Wei Dynasty. In the west is a treasure platform with ancient paintings.
The Sui Dynasty also actively promoted the confluence of Confucianism in the north and south by the way of national unity, so that the different characteristics of Confucianism in the south were simple, rich in English, profound in knowledge in the north and poor in branches and leaves. This is a major reform and development of Confucian classic education.
Because Emperor Wendi actively promoted education, there was once a scene of academic and cultural prosperity: all over the world, Kyushu, there was an endless stream of people seeking knowledge and asking questions. The son of heaven was all ten thousand times, leading hundreds of people, obeying the instrument and keeping the drinking ceremony. The doctor exhausted the debate on the hanging topic, exhausted the mathematics of the heavy seat, died in the examination of righteousness, studied similarities and differences, accumulated doubts and doubts, and treated them indifferently.
Therefore, it is extraordinary and appreciates Confucianism. The capital is in all directions, all of which are Z cores. Qi, Lu, Zhao, Wei, especially literati, pursued the division, followed Wan Li Road, and talked about the sound of chanting. The road was long and its Xiu Yuan was Xi. The elegance of Zhongzhou has only been temporary since the Han and Wei Dynasties. ("Sui Shu? Preface to The Scholars (Volume 75)
At the same time, Emperor Wendi of Sui paid attention to the collection of Confucian talents and hired them with great courtesy, and promised that high officials would be generous and all famous Confucian scholars would be concentrated in Kyoto.
Emperor Wen worshiped Confucianism and promoted learning, and set up schools from Kyoto to prefectures and counties. Emperor Wen also attended the opening ceremony of the school, rewarded Guo Zisheng and elected Guo Zi as an official. In the third year of Emperor Chengzu of Ming Dynasty (AD 583), he ordered to persuade students to study, emphasizing that setting up schools and teaching students are the primary tasks of founding the country and governing the country, and carrying out etiquette education is the main content of school education. After the reunification of the country in 589, all schools were required to be diligent in discipline and strict in examinations.
However, by the end of the Sui Dynasty, the position of Confucian scholars in the minds of rulers had never really improved. "Sui shou? Preface to the Scholars says that the scholars in Han and Wei dynasties were honest and upright, while the scholars in modern times were vulgar. The reason is that ancient scholars, Lu in it; Scholars today are trapped in poverty. A savvy person, a knowledgeable person, is willing to lag behind those who are used to seeking poverty.
Therefore, Confucianism is an expert, and what it learns is vulgar. In the early days of the emperor's rule, Emperor Wendi ordered Guo Zi School to sponsor more than 400 students. After passing the exam, he is going to select some people to be officials. Because the students who took the exam were told that there were north and south, the doctor could not evaluate the level and it has not been solved. Since then, the exam will probably no longer be held, and the way out for Confucian scholars is almost cut off. The most famous Confucian scholars in Sui Dynasty were only Liu Zhuo and Liu Xuan. Liu Zhuo has a bad reputation because he cares about the tuition fees that students pay their teachers. Liu Xuan used the opportunity of buying books in Yang Di to make more than 100 copies of fake books to defraud the prize. The so-called giant Confucianism must be vulgar and ignored, which can be seen. In his later years, Emperor Wen worshiped Buddhism even more, and even rejected Confucianism, which was beyond the reach of monarchs who worshipped Buddhism, such as Shi Hu, Wang, etc., and made Buddhism a state religion in a short time. The farther the distance between Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism is. In 600 AD, Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty explicitly prohibited the destruction and theft of Buddhist statues, but the next year, on the pretext of too many students, he abolished all schools in Beijing and counties, leaving only one school in Beijing with 70 students. Liu Xuan wrote a letter to protest, but Wendi didn't listen. But it was awarded to the States on the same day, and more than 5 thousand temple towers were built before and after. This is openly helping Buddhism to exclude Confucianism. Yang Di resumed its schools, but it still didn't improve the status of Confucian scholars. At the end of Sui Dynasty, many students and apprentices under Liu Xuan joined the Wagang Army in Dou Jiande, which showed the attitude of the imperial court towards Confucian scholars. In his later years, Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty supported Buddhism against Confucianism, and the result was even worse than that of the monarch who supported one religion against another in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It made the Sui Dynasty lose the formation of orthodox consciousness and accelerated the collapse of the ruling foundation. Later, the Tang Dynasty realized that all three religions can serve the ruling order, coexist at the same time, and each has its own use, so it cannot be neglected.