The Revolution of 1911: just to end the "family world"

In any case, the "Xinhai Revolution" was a watershed in Chinese history. According to the official statement, "The Revolution of 1911 overthrew the feudal and reactionary government of the Qing Dynasty, ended the autocratic monarchy that had ruled China for thousands of years, and established the Republic of China." No matter what different understandings exist, it cannot be denied that the "1911 Revolution" actually ended this political system.

In my opinion, the 1911 Revolution did not end the monarchy, it just ended the "family world". It did end the county system that lasted for more than 2,000 years and ended the mode of handover of power in which the emperor was passed down from one place to another, but it did not end the monarchy fundamentally. The value of the "Republic" and the corresponding system were not firmly established after the "1911 Revolution" and were rooted in the hearts of the people. Instead, China followed the inertia of history and resorted to external means to create a more authoritarian regime. Government slogan. In fact, after the "1911 Revolution" ended the "family world", China did not develop in the direction of weakening the autocratic power, but in the direction of strengthening the autocratic power. Thus, after more than 30 years of exploration and struggle, China has finally established a stable and more authoritarian political system that has surpassed the "county system".

Why is this so? Why is the development of Chinese history always contrary to people's good expectations? That's because the pioneers underestimated the great power hidden in Chinese society, the strong values that bind the Chinese together, and it is these values that bind the Chinese together to form and exert great power. And these values are contrary to the values of liberty. If the primary purpose and energy is not directed towards changing these values, any proposition for transforming society will eventually involuntarily be brought into orbits governed by these values.

In traditional Chinese society, Confucian "loyalty and filial piety" has always been the core value. Between the two, "loyalty" is higher than "filial piety", and "loyalty" is paramount. The society encourages giving up "filial piety" for "loyalty", and does not support giving up "loyalty" for "filial piety". But in traditional society, "loyalty" must be based on "filial piety". In a traditional society, the degree of social organization is low, and most people live in villages, and there is little contact between villages. The daily life of the villagers takes place almost entirely within the village, and the power of the imperial court can only be extended to the county seat. Therefore, the rural society must rely on the power of the patriarchal family to maintain autonomy, which inevitably requires respecting the value of "filial piety". The imperial power based on many isolated villages must be based on "filial piety". Therefore, in traditional society, Chinese people are mainly linked by "loyalty" and "filial piety".

However, in traditional society, in addition to the value of "loyalty and filial piety", there is also a value of "righteousness". This "righteousness" is not completely equivalent to the righteousness in the Confucian "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith". Rather, it refers to a kind of "righteousness" that connects people who have no kinship relationship by blood and clan relationship. To put it simply, this righteousness is the "righteousness" of the rivers and lakes, the "righteousness" of "knowing a righteousness", and the kind of "righteousness" that is used for "friends". This "righteousness" originated in Confucianism, but it is not limited to the scope of Confucianism.

In "The Analects", Zixia has the saying that "all within the four seas are brothers". In response to Sima Niu's concern that "everyone has brothers, I am the only one who perishes", he said, "I have heard of it; life and death have destiny, wealth and honor are in heaven. Also. Why should a gentleman worry about not having brothers?" This extends the value of "Ti" between Confucian brothers to those who are not related by blood. Confucius also said, "When you make friends, keep your word," which injects the connotation of trustworthiness and commitment to the exchanges between friends. Note that what Confucius emphasized here is "to make friends with one's word", which means that he does not attach so much importance to interacting with people other than friends, and should also be trustworthy.

However, other than "loyalty and filial piety" or the three cardinal guides, Confucianism does not spend much thought and energy on the communication and connection between people who are not related by blood. Because this kind of communication and connection is not a common phenomenon in traditional Chinese society. However, although not a common phenomenon in society, it still has some needs. Therefore, when "righteousness" connects and gathers people who are not related by blood, it must inject new content. In addition to faith, it also requires people who are "righteous" to share interests, help each other, and live and die together. , common exclusion. It gradually developed into the basic value concept of the "Jianghu" society outside the imperial power and the power of the patriarchal family.

In the traditional society of the county system, "righteousness" has always been a secondary auxiliary value. It cannot be the core value of the whole society. Because "righteousness" cannot be applied to a large number of scattered patriarchal family villages, but only to a small amount of "jianghu green forest" or "party association" organizations. That is to say, in a traditional society with a low degree of decentralization and social organization, "righteousness" cannot objectively support "loyalty" or imperial power, and only "filial piety" can support "loyalty" and imperial power. .

Therefore, we can see that even if the traditional society is changed to a dynasty, it is mostly based on "righteousness" to connect individuals who have been separated or excluded from the patriarchal family, thus forming the initial force to resist the old regime, but once this force develops and grows to the point where it may replace it. When it was in power, it gradually weakened "righteousness" and emphasized "filial piety", and after gaining power, it abandoned "righteousness" and only emphasized "filial piety".

We have seen that in non-mainstream, marginal or underground organizations in traditional societies that bring together people who are not related by blood, "righteousness" has become the basic value of these organizations, and it is the value basis for members of the organization to be loyal to the leader. For example, the Liangshan hero who "walks the path for heaven" places special emphasis on the value of "loyalty". Although this is a depiction of fiction, it is a true reflection of reality. The so-called "Loyalty and Righteousness", "Loyalty" mainly refers to the "loyalty" of Liangshan heroes to the leader Song Jiang, and this "loyalty" is based on the "righteousness" of Song Jiang and the heroes. Such shanzhai organizations still take "loyalty" as their highest principle, but unlike imperial power based on patriarchal families, it builds "loyalty" on "righteousness" rather than "filial piety" . The basic organizational principles of party organizations such as "Tiandihui" and "Hongbang" are similar, but their "loyalty" is not as strong as that of Shanzhai organizations.

Different from the imperial power that covers the whole country, the power transfer of Shanzhai organizations is not passed down to sons, but is chosen within the organization. Generally, the successor to the highest power is selected or designated according to various factors such as position, strength, prestige within the organization, as well as the opinion of the former leader. For example, the hero of Liangshan in the Water Margin was ranked first. According to their seat order, if Song Jiang died, Lu Junyi should succeed him. Why do Shanzhai organizations not engage in "family world"? The reason is that the size of the organization is small, and the ties between members of the organization are very close, and the ties between members are stronger than the ties between blood ties. Another factor is that the copycat organization faces enormous pressure from the outside, and the organization and each member are always in a state of danger. Therefore, it must require the top leader to have a strong ability and be able to take risks. Therefore, the descendants of the previous leaders who have no experience and ability cannot be selected as the heirs.

On the contrary, for imperial power, it can only be passed on to the sons. Because it has a large scope of control, its power system is also large, and it is based on "filial piety". Therefore, for the entire society, the connection between the power system and the rural society is weak. Then, only the prince can unquestionably become the heir to the throne. It is difficult for anyone else to have a huge influence on the whole society, no matter how strong his ability or how high his credit. It does not have the role of marking the whole society, so the selection of talents cannot become a rule for inheriting the imperial power in the system. In this way, "family world" will inevitably become the only rule of inheritance of imperial power in traditional society. If the courtier "adds the imperial robe to the body", it means usurping the throne and seizing power, which will break the rules.

However, when Chinese society was attacked by the Western world in modern times, the introduction of technology, the development of production, and the more convenient transportation and communication gradually broke the boundaries of the patriarchal family, and the degree of social organization continued to improve. There are more and more connections between them. Naturally, the value of "righteousness", which is a secondary role in traditional society, will become higher and higher, and its application will become more and more extensive, and it will become more and more important to connect Chinese people. value. At the same time, the importance of the value of "filial piety" is getting lower and lower, and its role is getting smaller and smaller.

No matter how loud the slogan of "Republic" of the revolutionaries during the "1911 Revolution" was shouted, the value of linking them up to engage in the resistance activities to overthrow the Qing Dynasty was not "equality" and "freedom", but the secondary position in traditional society. The "loyalty" values of status. It’s just that, unlike the previous regime changes, this time, the value of “loyalty and righteousness” was maintained not only during the initial period of resistance activities, but also throughout the period of resistance and after successfully dismantling the original regime. The reason lies in the degree of organization of Chinese society, the degree of closeness of connection between people, especially the connection between people who are not related by blood, has greatly increased, so that the value of "righteousness" can connect the Chinese people and support "" Loyalty" is the highest value. And for any social change, it's not the slogans and goals that matter, but the bonds that bind people together that determine what they end up with.

In this way, the "revolutionary party" organization model of the "revolutionary party" in the initial period gradually became the main organizational form to connect and unite the Chinese people. After experiencing the "May 4th New Culture" movement that only opposed "patriarchy" but not "monarchy", the Lenin-style party was easily grafted on the organizational model of the party, which emphasized "one doctrine, one political party" , a leader", further conferring ideological authority on "party organizations" and "political leaders". This new type of party organization still takes "righteousness" as the link between members and "loyalty" as the highest organizational principle, and at the same time monopolizes the right to speak out. The latter point is not available in the Shanzhai Party organizations in traditional society, but traces can also be found in the Party organizations with religion as the carrier. Although the regime's monopoly of discourse power is from outside, it is in line with the value of "monarchy first" in Chinese society and has such an internal driving force within Chinese society. It is completely in line with the philosophical principle of "external causes work through internal causes".

When "revolutionary comrades" and "class brothers" were based on "righteousness" and more appealing values connected the masses of the lower classes, Chinese society developed into a society that extended the control end to the grass-roots society. A higher-level autocratic society of "the unity of politics and religion" will come naturally.

Some people criticized Chiang Kai-shek for arranging Chiang Ching-kuo's succession as a "family world", but this is not the case. It is true that Chiang Kai-shek cultivated Chiang Ching-kuo so that Chiang Ching-kuo could succeed him. This was out of clan relations. However, we have to see that Chiang Ching-kuo's succession to the throne was not due to the existence of legal rules of inheritance and the general acquiescence of the whole society. On the contrary, after the "Revolution of 1911", Chuan Yuzi has been generally opposed by people. The direct reason for Chiang Ching-kuo's succession to the throne is not because he is Chiang Kai-shek's son, but because he has obtained the corresponding qualifications and prestige in the Kuomintang, and has won the support of most party leaders. His being Chiang Kai-shek's son is only an indirect reason and advantage for him to be his successor. In other words, as long as it is not stipulated in the rules that the descendants of non-previous leaders cannot succeed, it cannot be said to be "family world".

In short, the "1911 Revolution" did not end China's autocratic system, but only ended the "family world". It is a major watershed that can be compared to the end of the encapsulation system. Before that, China's political system was the prefecture-county system and "family world"; after that, after more than 30 years, China has finally formed a more advanced autocratic society.

March 18, 2009