A Study Of Tang Zhen's Political Critical Thought

The late Ming and early Qing Dynasty was characterized by a great many upheavals. Ming Dynasty was fallen and the army of Qing Dynasty moved in on Shanhai Pass. The autocratic politics was highly intensified, and social contradictions manifested a deeper and far-reaching trend. The common people in those days suffered a lot. In face of the political change of the society, the thinkers in the early Qing Dynasty reflected upon the political traditions of the ancient China. Tang Zhen and the other thinkers went beyong the lament for what the one-family empire has risen and fallen, and reconsidered the system of monarch autocracy,and came up with new ideas for the idealistic politics.The ancient China was well known for the man-based tradition. The thinkers early realized the important role of the common people, and expected the emperors to carry out a policy of benevolence from which Tang Zhen's thought came directly. Tang Zhen followed the tradition and regarded it as the core of his political ideas. Starting from the man-based tradition, Tang Zhen made an intensive reflection on the responsibilities of the rulers and the purposes of politics. He came to the realization that working in the interest of and for the convenience of the people was the social responsibility of the rulers and the starting point of his policy as well. According to Tang Zhen, the emperors of the three generations were those of keen intelligence and excellent judgment, so the reign of those three generations would be unquestionably successful government. Tang Zhen modelled on the government of three-generation and expounded the principles to be emperor and courtiers as well, and proposed the claim of raising the public and benefiting the people.Tang Zhen held that it could be attainable for people to live in abundence and the society in good order on condition that the emperor and the courtiers joined hands together to work in the interest of and for the convenience of the people. This was Tang Zhen's political ideal. Tang Zhen exalted the three-generation reign, but he did not want to return to it in a simple way. He wanted to build his ideal society. Tang Zhen's idea showed his longing for a good social life and his attitude towards the current politics, In his eyes, the current politics was not in the interest of and for the convenience of the people. Therefore, he exalted the man-based idea, armoured himself with his ideal politics, and opposed and criticized the autocratic monarchy vehemently.All through the ages in ancient China there was a tradition of criticizing the tyranny. Tang Zhen followed the tradition. He criticized the autocratic monarchy more vehemently and more fearlessly. In the eyes of the ancient Chinese thinkers, the tyrant was regarded as the cause of the tyranny. So Tang Zhen aimed directly at the autocratic tyrant and called the emperors from Qin Dynasty thieves. It is true that Tang Zhen went extremes when he criticized harshly or abusively all the emperors by the one word in spite of right and wrong. However, Tang Zhen revealed the nature of the autocratic tyranny which set the interest of the tyrant up over that of the common people. Tang Zhen believed that the monarch in an autocratic country possessed the paramount power and exercised dictatorship. As a result, order attributed to the monarch and disorder attributed more to the monarch. The tyrant was the cause of the tyranny. And the bureaucratic officials were one of the causes too. So Tang Zhen fiercely criticized such respects as the bureaucratic system, indifference to people's poverty and corruption by taking one's advantage. The feudal ethical code served the autocracy. The autocratic ruler maintained that the masses follow the ethical code aiming at keeping the good social order. Tang Zhen based on his sense of justice and integrity and criticized the feudal ethical code. He denied the feudal ethical code that the emperor was the headrope of the courtiers from the angle of equality of personality and social responsibility. He maintained that the emperor and the courtiers work in the interest of the people, and put the interest of the people in the first place. To be loyal to the emperor was based on the interest of the people, so the emperor must cherish the people and benefit the people. Therefore, he vehemently opposed the foolish loyalty of the courtiers. Tang Zhen reflected upon the code that the huaband was the headrope of the wife and expected that there was a mutual respect rather than a husband-centered pattern in conjugal relation, which attacked, to some degree, the feudal dogma of the superiority of the men over the women.Tang Zhen recognized many defects of the current politics, and attempted to achieve his political ideal by reform. Restraining the current political power was always the issue on which both the Chinese and the Western thinkers concentrated themselves. Thinkers in history made a great many efforts and assumptions, and Tang Zhen and other thinkers in the early Qing Dynasty were more concerned about the topic. In the eyes of Tang Zhen, order and disorder depended on the emperor, so the power of the emperor should be restrained and oriented towards the interest of the common people. Tang Zhen, like the other thinkers, was in hope of reducing the detriments to the masses by cutting down the over concentrated power of the emperor. To set up a prime minister was the consensus between Tang Zhen and Huang Zongxi, but Tang's proposition was more daring than that of Huang. Tang Zhen hoped to restrain the power of the emperor by that of the prime minister, even displace it, a somewhat constitutional monarchy. In order to avoid the over concentrated power, Tang Zhen put forward a proposition that six courtiers undertook the duties at the same time. That is, Tang Zhen already touched on the point of system. Furthermore, Tang Zhen put forward to reform the official system and rectified the bureaucracy. He hoped to set up a bureaucratic institution which was condensed, incorruptible and helpful for the people. Tang Zhen's proposition of "the rule by law" was in the interest of the common people too. He believed that law was of great importance in governing a country, that law was indispensible in the political life, that law should be made to serve the country and the people as well, and that law should be adjusted to be advantegous to the people accordingly. Moreover, he thought the law should severely punish those deceitful and corrupt courtiers, and even, he proposed that the tyrant be punished if he engaged in the brutal killing. But for the common people, Tang Zhen insisted on a lenient punishment. Tang Zhen's proposition of "the rule by law" reflected, on the one hand, his recognition of the importance of law; on the other hand, his deep concern for the common people.Tang Zhen vehemently and fearlessly attacked the feudal autocratic monarchy, and he put forward a comparably reasonable proposition in political reform. In restraining the power of the monarch, Tang Zhen recognized the importance of dividing the power. His proposition in reforming the official system and rectifying the bureaucracy and "the rule by law" revealed his efforts in realizing his political ideal. From his proposition, we can see Tang's core concept of value which was based on the people, served the people and valued the people life.Tang's political critical idea was the essence of that era. However, the cause of his idea still derived from the tradition, thus, he could not release himself from the traditional restraints.We can see a lot of limitations of traditional thought from Tang Zhen'political critical thought. Although Tang Zhen reflected a lot upon the autocratic monarchy, what he criticized was the centralized power of the monarch and the tyranny of the tyrant, he considered unreasonabale political process, so his proposition in political reform could be only an illusion. Though, Tang Zhen and other thinkers thought over in restraining the power of the monarch by dividing it, they failed to find an efficient approach to restrain the monarch's power. What they thought was how to divide the power within, and they did not try to seek a way from the outside. Their proposition could only prevent the power from bing over centralized to some degree. As to how to prevent the power from being used abusively, they had no good way. Also Tang Zhen and other traditional thinkers neglected a very important problem, that is, whether the autocratic monarch had the supreme power. If the monarch possessed the supreme power, then it could not be accomplished to reduce the power by setting up a prime minister and six courtiers undertaking duties at once, because such things could not be allowed by the autocratic monarch. As to whether it could be achieved to reform the bureaucratic system the proposition of "the rule by law" depended wholly upon the monarch's personal likes and dislikes. Tang Zhen's reformative proposition could only be an illusion if there was an autocratic monarchy and the monarch possessed the supreme power. The restraints could only be confined to moral principles. Although Tang Zhen and other traditional thinkers maintained that the monarch work in the interest of and for the convenience of the people, what they was concerned was the financial conditions of the people rather than the political rights. The people were still designed as the object of power, their interest was up to the monarch, and they were the object of being cherished and cultivated. Because traditional thinkers considered current politics only from the political process, so they must find cause from the person itself, so they could only repose their political reform in a monarch who had the highest virtue, and had keen intelligence and excellent judgement. What they expected was but for what a monarch of integrity could offer to the people. Finally, they slipped back to the expectation of a monarch who had the highest virtue and keen intelligence and excellent judgement.