Confucianism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties is the third period of its development in China. However, for a long time, academic circles paid little attention to the existence and development of Confucianism in this period. It is generally believed that Confucianism, as the official ideology and ruling ideology, has been replaced by metaphysics or Buddhism in this period. Even if it exists, it is only a trace of history or a little embellishment. Therefore, it is considered that this period is the decline of Confucianism. Contrary to this general idea, Qian Mu came to a different conclusion in his book China's Academic General Meaning, and thought that Confucianism in this period was not only a declining period, but also an expanding period. People in this period are no longer limited to Confucian classics, but can expand from Confucian classics to historiography. Historiography is a part of Confucian classics, such as Shangshu, Chunqiu and Zuozhuan, which all belong to the category of historiography. Therefore, Zhang Xuecheng, a Confucian scholar in the Qing Dynasty, said that the Six Classics are all history, or even this. As far as the content of history is concerned, "Confucianism mainly focuses on the personnel practice of self-cultivation and self-cultivation; What history says is that there are two main ways to cure evil, that is, the characters betray the virtuous. The former is the way to govern peace, and the latter is the study of nourishing qi. ..... So, history is Confucianism ".
As far as the number of historical records is concerned, a large number of historical works appeared in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which is unique in all dynasties. For example, The History of the Later Han Dynasty and The History of the Three Kingdoms, like Historical Records and Hanshu, are all works of this period, and the official histories such as Song Shu, Nan and Shu Wei were also written by people of this period. In addition, there are a lot of unofficial history's essays. According to the Records of the Classics and Records of Sui Shu, there are 8 17 volumes of existing history books, 13246 volumes, of which 874 volumes, 16558 volumes. In this voluminous book, people from Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties accounted for more than 80%. Most historians, such as Shen Yue, Ye Fan, Justin, Sun Sheng, Wang Yin and Yu Yu, should belong to Confucianism.
Judging from the academic thought and official ideology of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there is also a strong Confucian tradition and Confucian brand. Although three schools of metaphysics, Buddhism and Taoism came into being one after another during this period, which formed a cultural environment of "pedantic to Confucianism" and "disdaining the words of Confucianism and Mohism", it was only the change of philosophical theory and lifestyle caused by some intellectuals or celebrities' dissatisfaction with politics at that time, which affected several generations of intellectuals after Wei and Jin Dynasties to a certain extent, and was only at the lower level of society. There are many reasons for this situation, but the birth of Buddhism and the passivity of Taoism cannot fundamentally meet the needs of the long-term rule of the landlord class. They can only fill the spiritual emptiness caused by natural and man-made disasters and social oppression in a short time, and play a role in regulating and supplementing social balance, but they have no idea about how to rule society and maintain political power. Therefore, it can be said that neither metaphysics nor Buddhism has changed the basic direction of governing the country by name in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Wang Su (195—256), born in Tancheng, Shandong Province, was a Confucian in the Three Kingdoms period. He is the author of Interpretation of the Analects of Confucius, Interpretation of Shangshu, Interpretation of Sanli and Biography of Confucius.
At the upper level of the rulers, from Cao Cao to Sima Shi and then to the emperors of the Southern Dynasties, although the way of governing the country is slightly different, such as Cao Cao's respect for Buddhism and Liang Wudi's respect for Buddhism, the systems of official positions, examinations, education and criminal law are also different, but basically they all govern the country according to the plan designed by Confucianism, and no one leaves the Confucian Zoroastrianism. Cao Cao unified the north by name and law and established political power, but he did not forget that "the rule is fixed and the ceremony is the head"; Liang Wudi laid down his life for the Buddha many times, but he repeatedly emphasized in his letters that "propriety and music are the norm" and "loyalty and filial piety are both satisfactory". In the Northern Dynasties, the study of Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty was always in an orthodox position. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, it was founded by Zhou Guan, and in the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was even founded by Confucianism.
As far as education is concerned, Confucianism has always been the main educational content of schools at all levels in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and neither metaphysics nor Buddhism can reach this elegant hall. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in view of the lessons of the national subjugation in the Western Jin Dynasty, from the emperor to Zaifu, they all emphasized the establishment of a state of emergency and the opening of schools in an attempt to reorganize half of the country with the Confucian Six Classics, loyalty, filial piety and benevolence. For example, Biography of Wang Dao in the Book of Jin said: "There is no end to learning, and the guide book said:' The foundation of husband's virtue lies in the integrity of human relations, and the existence of human relations lies in the setting of obstacles. The order has been set, the bishop is clear, the etiquette and righteousness are clear, the righteousness and ethics are intimate, and there is shame and dignity. The order of father and son, brother and wife is smooth, and the righteousness of monarch and minister is solid.' ..... the emperor was very satisfied. "After Wang Dao, Yu Liang, a courtier of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, also urged the restoration of Confucianism. Although on the surface, he is as "proficient in Zhuangzi" as Wang Dao, but in fact he is "interested in Confucianism". In Historical Records of Confucius and Wuchang Xuekai Official School, he emphasized the importance of propriety and righteousness, and thought that "the solidity of propriety and righteousness" could be compared with "Jincheng Tang Chi", so he strongly advocated "broad propriety and clear religion". From the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Song, Qi, Liang and Chen Dynasties, almost every generation of emperors had letters such as "encouraging learning", "promoting learning" and "establishing learning" to encourage and write letters to the children of governors to learn from the Confucian "Charter Canon Ink". This reflects the need of the rulers for Confucianism in this period from one side.
As far as the academic thoughts and metaphysical thoughts of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties are concerned, it reflects the development and supplement of Confucianism by a group of intellectuals who deliberately reformed. They are not satisfied with the solidification and dogmatism of Confucianism, so they put forward philosophical concepts such as existence and origin to demonstrate the rationality of Confucianism. Under the guise of metaphysics, in fact, they constantly infiltrated the Confucian spirit in their metaphysical talks, praising Confucius for being superior to Laozi and Zhuangzi, and the famous teachings were natural. From Wang Bi and Yan He to Pei Wei and Guo Xiang, these metaphysical masters put Confucian classics and famous teachings at the center of their own ideological system, that is, Ji Kang, "not Tang Wu but thin Confucius" and "many famous teachings let nature take its course", and his family instructions are also full of Confucian spirit. Therefore, "although the thought of Laozi and Zhuangzi was dominant in this period, Confucianism was still deeply rooted, especially in social ethics" (Ren's History of China Philosophy, page 495, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 198 1 June).
The characteristics of Confucianism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties are mainly manifested in the following two aspects: first, it is metaphysics in form, but it is Confucianism in metaphysics in essence, and the Confucian spirit of metaphysics can be called "changing Confucianism"; Second, orthodox Confucianism or Confucian Classics (North) coexisted with Reformed Confucianism, which formed an identity with patriarchal ethics during this period, and gradually formed a confluence trend of three religions with Confucianism as the core. In this "confluence", the relationship between Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism is exterior-interior, and Buddhism and Taoism are exterior-interior, while Confucianism is exterior-interior, or "Yang Buddhism and Yin Confucianism" and "Confucianism"