The situation of the landlord class in the late Qing Dynasty

The centralized absolutism in ancient China was the first floor of the landlord class, which came into being in the Warring States period and developed with the development of feudal society. It is the political system of the feudal landlord class used by the landlord class to rule and suppress the broad masses of working people. Since its birth, all dynasties have implemented policies and measures to strengthen the centralization of absolutism, and by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the centralization of absolutism had reached its peak.

(A) the emergence of authoritarian centralized system

At the end of primitive society, due to the development of productive forces, private ownership and class began to appear, and the state also appeared. In slave society, the state form is the aristocratic regime of slave owners headed by the king. Wang is the largest slave owner and supreme ruler in the country. Kings and slave owners at all levels relied on state administrative agencies, the army, punishment, prisons and so on to carry out cruel economic exploitation and political oppression on the vast number of slaves.

After Zhou Wuwang destroyed the business, the history of China entered the society of feudal lords. The basic form of the political system in the Western Zhou Dynasty is the system of dividing fields and sealing marquis based on the patriarchal clan system. Zhou Wang is the supreme ruler, not only the leader of the central organization, but also the Lord of the governors. The system of enfeoffment was implemented under the King of Zhou, which formed the pagoda-like rule of "emperor-vassal-QingDafu-scholar" that weighed on the working people, making the world famous for thousands of years. After Pingdong moved to the east, the royal family declined, and the princes sat big, resulting in the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period.

With the development of productive forces, the feudal landlord system economy disintegrated and the feudal landlord system economy sprouted. During the Warring States period, various countries carried out political reforms one after another, weakening or basically abolishing the systems of "Qing Shi Lu" and "dividing fields and sealing Hou" to varying degrees, and gradually establishing autocratic centralization characterized by official system. In the central government, the monarch was called Hou at first, and after the mid-Warring States period, he became king one after another. Under Che Jun, Xiang He will be divided into political and military affairs. In contrast, there are official positions such as suggestion, law enforcement, Stuart, Sikong, Tingwei and Shaofu. The county system is gradually implemented in local areas, and the county magistrate and county magistrate (chief) are appointed and removed by the monarch. There are grassroots organizations such as townships and villages below the county level. This is a new feudal political system based on landlords and gentry.

In 22 1 year BC, Qin unified China, which marked the development stage of feudal society, that is, the beginning of feudal landlord society. On the basis of the original system, Qin Shihuang established autocratic centralization based on the private ownership of landlord land. The system has the following characteristics:

(1) imperial system. Determine the name of the supreme ruler as the emperor, and Ying Zheng claimed to be the first emperor, leading the state power.

(2) The system of "three publics and nine ministers". The central government set up the Prime Minister, Imperial Advisor and Qiu, which were called "three fairs", to help the emperor deal with national political affairs, supervise officials and manage the army respectively. There is also a "Jiuqing" under the "Three Publics", which is in charge of the government affairs of various departments respectively.

(3) county system. The county has a guard, a viceroy, a suggestion, and a county under it. Below the county level are townships and villages, and grass-roots public security organs are called "kiosks". The main officials of counties and counties are appointed and removed by the emperor, and they must absolutely obey and carry out the emperor's orders.

Qin Shihuang (259 BC-2 BC10)

The Qin dynasty formed a ruling system from the central to the local in the whole country, which strengthened the state machine of the landlord class. This kind of autocratic centralization is a tool used by the landlord class to rule the working people. However, it is also a new development of China's ancient political system. At that time and for a long time afterwards, it played a certain role in defending and consolidating unity and promoting the development of feudal economy and culture, and had a far-reaching impact on the feudal society in China for more than two thousand years. All dynasties after Qin basically followed this system. Tan Sitong, a reformist in the late Qing Dynasty, wrote: China's administration for two thousand years was also Qin's. What is Qin Zheng? It is an absolute monarchy. This kind of politics is that the monarch has complete possession and control over the whole state machine, and anyone within his jurisdiction is absolutely subordinate and obedient to the monarch.

(B) the development of authoritarian centralization

In the early Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang inherited the Qin system, and there were three officials and nine ministers under the emperor. Locally, the "parallel system of counties and countries" is implemented, that is, on the one hand, counties are established, on the other hand, children with the same surname are divided into five, and vassal countries are established. Later, the vassal States gradually became the local forces of the five countries. During the reign of Emperor Wendi and Emperor Jingdi, a series of measures were taken to eliminate the threat of local forces to the central government. Emperor Wendi adopted Jia Yi's suggestion of "building more princes but less powerful", dividing Qi into six countries and Huainan into three countries to weaken its strength. Emperor Jingdi adopted Chao Cuo's suggestion of "cutting the vassal" and cut off the fiefs of several vassals, which led to the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion" led by the prince of Wu and Liu Bi. After the "Seven Kingdoms Rebellion" was pacified, Emperor Jingdi ordered the abolition of the feudal lords' civil rights, the reduction of feudal lords' ruling institutions, and the reduction of the official rank of the kingdom, making it a first-class local administrative unit directly managed by the central government, which basically solved the shortcomings of Liu Bang's feudal lords system and further strengthened centralization.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took a series of measures to strengthen centralization, mainly including:

(1) Reform the central system. A. establish China-DPRK relations. In order to reduce the power of the prime minister, the "China-DPRK" was formed by the lower-level trusted officials and attendants around the emperor, forming the decision-making body in the palace, also known as the "Inner DPRK". Rely on the inner court and weaken the relative rights. B. Establishment of the Secretariat and Captain Li Si. In order to strengthen local control, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty divided the whole country into 13 states. Each state set up a secretariat, regularly visited all counties and countries, supervised the behavior of county officials and local strongmen, and ensured the implementation of central government decrees. Set up a captain in the capital to picket officials in the capital. C. favor decree and supplementary welfare law. Divide the vassal States into smaller and smaller, prohibit vassal kings from recruiting guests, and reduce the power of vassal States. D. strengthening the rule of law. Supplement the Chinese law and reuse "cruel officials"

Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (65438 BC+056 BC-87 BC)

(2) Establish a service army and a guard force. The conscription system was implemented in the early Western Han Dynasty, and the central government did not station troops for a long time. Katie, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, began to form professional soldiers to serve the army and the Guards. There are three main branches of the army, namely Qimen, Yulin and Yulin orphans. There are eight guards, each with about 700 infantry, led by eight captains, so they are called "eight commanders".

(3) Reform finance. In order to increase fiscal revenue, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty carried out a large-scale fiscal reform. There are four measures for reform: a. Reform the monetary system. Private casting of money is prohibited, and five baht is uniformly cast by the state. Monopoly of salt and iron. Collecting salt, iron and wine belongs to the official camp. C. loss and leveling. The law of equal loss is a policy of the state to purchase and transport loans in various places in order to seek benefits. The stability law is a national policy to stabilize prices. D. calculate and prosecute. It is a property tax. It also ordered "confession" to encourage those who hide their property without reporting it.

(4) oust a hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion, deposed a hundred schools of thought, respected Confucianism alone and strengthened ideological rule. He also set up a business school in Chang 'an to train talents and select officials.

In this way, the centralization of power in the Western Han Dynasty was further strengthened, which was conducive to the unity and consolidation of the country.

After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu restored and developed the centralized autocratic system in the Western Han Dynasty. Liu Xiu's strengthening of centralization is the continuation and development of strengthening centralization in the Western Han Dynasty.

(1) The hero retired and entered the official position. Liu Xiu respected the heroes who followed him in the battlefield, but relieved them of their real power. Choose officials who are familiar with laws and regulations and know how to govern the country.

(2) Although there are three fairs, it belongs to Taige. Weaken the strength of Stuart, Sikong and Qiu, and strengthen the strength of Shangshutai.

(3) Strengthen the supervision system. Restore and strengthen three sets of supervision institutions: Yushitai, Captain Li Si and Secretary of State.

(4) Concentrate military forces. Weaken local military forces and strengthen central military forces. There are four armies in the central government and two armies in the capital, namely the South Army and the North Army. There are two in the local area, namely Li Yangying and Ying Yong.

Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty (6 -57 BC)

Due to the expansion of gentry, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were divided. In a sense, this is the failure of centralization. However, in various separatist regions, the rulers also implemented measures to strengthen centralization.

(C) the perfection of autocratic centralization

The unification of the Sui Dynasty was the second unification in the history of China. After Emperor Wendi ascended the throne, he began to reform and reform state affairs.

(1) Three provinces and six departments. In terms of central institutions, a system of three provinces and six departments has been established. The three provinces, namely, the province of literature and history, the province of Menxia and the province of Shangshu, are respectively responsible for drafting, reviewing and implementing government decrees; The six departments are the official department, the people's department, the ritual department, the military department, the criminal department and the industrial department, which respectively manage the examination and appointment of officials, household registration finance, etiquette imperial examination, military and political affairs, criminal law and engineering construction. The six ministers are called Shangshu, which is under the jurisdiction of Shangshu Province.

(2) state and county system. The local administrative organization changed the state, county and county levels to the state and county levels. The assessment of local officials has also been strengthened, and it is stipulated that more than nine categories of local officials should be appointed or removed by the central government.

(3) Reform the system of officers and men. The general household is composed of civilian households, and the household registration is changed to state and county management. Like ordinary civilian families, they distribute land and engage in production according to the equal land system. From then on, the system of officers and men was combined with the system of land equalization, and the original system of separating soldiers from civilians became the system of soldiers, farmers and Quan Yi, and soldiers were integrated into agriculture.

(4) Established the imperial examination system. Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty abolished the ninth-class Zheng Zhi system since Wei and Jin Dynasties, and local state and county schools selected outstanding students to take the imperial examination every year and hired them according to their grades. When Yang Di was in Sui Dynasty, the establishment of Jinshi Branch marked the emergence of the imperial examination system. The imperial examination is to select scholars by subjects and officials by scientific research. Influence: preventing powerful landlords from mastering political power, opening up the way for civilian landlords to participate in politics and expanding the political foundation of landlord class political power.

(5) Compiling the imperial laws.

The Tang Dynasty followed and improved the Sui system and further improved the autocratic centralization of authority.

(1) Central and local official system. In the central government, the main institutions are three provinces, six departments, one station, five prisons and nine temples. Locally, the two-level system of state and county is still implemented. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, in order to strengthen the control of local governments, the whole country was divided into ten monitoring areas, called Dao, and during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, it was divided into fifteen roads.

(2) the system of officers and men. The system of officers and men in the Tang Dynasty was a system of combining soldiers and peasants. The basic unit of government soldiers is called Zhechongfu (also known as the military government), and the military government belongs to twelve guards and six rates respectively. Twelve guards directly obey the emperor, and six are subordinate to the prince. Soldiers led by the military government are called guards. The guards usually engage in agricultural production, practice in the slack season, pay no rent, and refuse to serve the corvee, but they should take turns to stay in the capital or guard the border. If there is a war, you should bring your own clothes, food and equipment, and then be summoned. Generals with troops are all appointed temporarily. After the war, "soldiers scattered in the government will return to North Korea." Function: It helps to prevent the general from dominating. 40% of the families were concentrated in Guanzhong area, which made the court have strong military strength and consolidated the unity of the country.

Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong (599 -649)

(3) Imperial examination system. The imperial examination system, founded in the Sui Dynasty, was further developed and perfected in the Tang Dynasty and became the main method for selecting officials. Imperial examinations in Tang Dynasty are divided into regular examinations and routine examinations. Usually, exams are held every year, and the subjects are mainly Ming Jing, Jinshi, Fa Ming and Shu Ming. Candidates who are often cited have two sources. One is students, that is, people recommended by schools at all levels; The second is rural tribute, that is, self-learners selected through state and county examinations. Candidates are mainly concentrated in Mingjing and Jinshi. It is relatively easy to test Confucian classics in the Ming Dynasty. Scholars mainly test poetry and political theory, which is very difficult and the main way to be an official, so they are most valued. Chang Ju was presided over by the official department at first, and then by the ritual department. Chang Ju won the official qualification only after he passed the exam, and he had to pass the official examination (Shi Brown test) before he was awarded the official position. The examination is a temporary examination to recruit extraordinary talents, and it is not often held. With virtue and mouth, with knowledge and practicality, etc. 100. Generally, scholars and officials can take the exam, and all of them are superior to official positions or promotion. The imperial examination system is beneficial for landlords to participate in politics among the common people, and further expands the class foundation of feudal rule.

(4) law. There were four legal forms in the Tang Dynasty: law, decree, body and form. Tang Law is the earliest existing complete feudal code in China.

After the Anshi Rebellion, the local separatist forces developed day by day, and there was a situation of struggle between five dynasties and ten countries. The trend of unification began to appear last week. Zhou Shizong and Chai Rong carried out reforms and fought against the North, which laid the foundation for the reunification of the Northern Song Dynasty.

(D) the strengthening of authoritarian centralization

The unification of the Northern Song Dynasty is different from that of the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties because of the coexistence of Liao, Xixia, Tubo and Dali regimes. In order to prevent the invasion of other regimes and the recurrence of the separatist situation in the buffer regions, the Northern Song Dynasty strengthened centralization, military, financial and legal affairs.

(1) Political system: In the central government, the prime minister is in charge of political affairs, and the chief position is called "General Officer" (hereinafter referred to as "General Officer"), and the deputy position is called "Participation in Politics". In addition, the establishment of the Privy Council in charge of military affairs and the establishment of three departments in charge of finance narrowed the relative power and marked the further improvement of imperial power. At the local level, the system of civil servants replacing military commanders as local governors is implemented; The county magistrate was originally appointed by the local government, but by the court; Under the state official, there is also a judge, named an assistant, which is actually a kind of mutual restraint.

(2) Military system: The method of "relieving the military power with a glass of wine" was used to relieve the military power of imperial general Shi Shouxin and others. Incorporate local elite soldiers into the imperial army, leaving only some carriages with low combat effectiveness. Under the direct control of the central government, the imperial army was stationed in the capital and took turns guarding the border areas. He also created a "more defensive law" for the imperial army, which made soldiers unfamiliar with each other and could not specialize in soldiers, which was convenient for the court to control.

Zhao Kuangyin, Song Taizu (927 -976)

(3) Finance and law: The local financial power in the Northern Song Dynasty was supervised by the Transport Institute. Some criminal prisons are set up in various roads to take charge of justice. All death sentences must be reported to the central authorities for examination and approval, and judicial power is returned to the central authorities.

Influence: the imperial power was strengthened and the hidden dangers of separatist regime were eliminated. However, the tight guard of military commanders, the increasing number of bureaucrats and the insufficient training of the army have led to the situation that the country is poor and weak.

In the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi carried out political reforms aimed at "enriching Qiang Bing", mainly including "financial management" and "army consolidation". However, the new law was opposed by big bureaucrats and big landlords, and the political reform movement eventually failed.

The Yuan Dynasty ended the separation of political power since the Five Dynasties and achieved national unity. However, in the Yuan Dynasty, ethnic minorities occupied the Central Plains, and in order to maintain their own unified situation, measures were also taken to strengthen centralization.

(1) central system. The central government set up a secretariat order to be responsible for administration, the Privy Council for military power and the Ministry of Internal Affairs for supervision. Officials of Zhongshu Province and Privy Council were later led by the Crown Prince. In addition, it also set up a courtyard to be in charge of Buddhism and Tubo affairs, set up a courtyard-in-charge post station, and put the craftsman courtyard in charge.

(2) provincial system. In Yuan Dynasty, local governments mainly set up provincial books, referred to as provincial books. Today, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi and other places are called "bellies" and directly belong to Zhongshu Province. In addition, there are ten provinces, namely Lingbei, Liaoyang, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Huguang. Organizations in all provinces are modeled after those in Zhongshu Province, including Prime Minister (but the example is not permanent), Pingzhang politics, Right Cheng, Zuo Cheng, Shen Zhi politics, etc. , dealing with a province's government affairs, civil affairs, military and political affairs.

The provincial system in Yuan Dynasty consolidated the unity of the country politically and ensured centralization in administrative system, which had a great influence on later generations. After the Yuan Dynasty, the names of provinces have been used.

(E) the extreme centralization of absolutism

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he further strengthened the centralization of absolutism, and the centralized absolutism was highly developed.

(1) Administratively, in the central government, under the pretext of the Hu case, the Ministry of Books and the Prime Minister were abolished, and the relative rights were distributed to six ministries. A university student was also set up to serve as an adviser to the emperor. At the local level, in order to strengthen local control and waste the province, Ming Taizu has set up three departments (to undertake the propaganda and production department, the production department and the command and make department), which are responsible for local administration, justice and military and political affairs respectively. The three officers are not subordinate to each other and are directly responsible to the emperor. Influence: Abolishing the Prime Minister means further strengthening the imperial power. The absolute authority of the monarch is guaranteed from the system; During the reign of Emperor Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet system was formed, and the central and local governments were completely controlled by the emperor.

(2) Militarily, in the central government, Ming Taizu set up the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, which co-managed the military power with the Ministry of War and contained each other. Ming Taizu has also established a health center system, and all health centers and provincial commanders are under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army of the Central Committee. Influence: The generals and generals in the Ministry of War, the Governor's Office and the Health Institute could not monopolize military power, and military power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor.

Zhu Yuanzhang (A.D. 1328- 1398)

(3) In terms of supervision, Ming Taizu changed Yushitai to Douchayuan as the central supervisory organ. Duchayuan, Dali Temple and the criminal department of the central judicial organ are collectively called the "Three Legal Departments". Cases that cannot be decided by the "three divisions" shall be decided by the emperor. In order to monitor officials and suppress people's resistance, Ming Taizu set up a Royal Guards, and set up an "East Factory" in the Ming Dynasty and a "West Factory" in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Royal Guards, East Factory and West Factory are all secret service agencies, collectively referred to as "Factory Guards". In the Ming Dynasty, there was another penalty called "Zhang Ting", that is, the emperor tried to hold officials accountable in temples. Influence: The national judicial power was concentrated in the hands of the Emperor, and the establishment of factories and health institutions was an unprecedented manifestation of the strengthening of The Ming dynasty emperors's autocracy.

(4) The schools and imperial examinations used by Ming schools to train talents were used to recruit talents every second. The school is called imperial academy in the central government, also known as Sinology and imperial academy. At the local level, there are government, state and county schools. In the imperial examination, the examination is divided into two levels, the lower level is the provincial examination, and the upper level is the senior high school entrance examination and the palace examination. The content of the exam is the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics. Candidates are not allowed to express their independent opinions, and the style is "eight-part essay". Influence: The stereotyped writing of literati bound the intellectuals' thoughts and strengthened the feudal monarchy.

(5) Daming Law and Grand View. Amend the law and impose severe punishment on it.

The Qing dynasty followed the political system of the Ming dynasty, reformed and further strengthened the centralization of absolutism, and reached its peak.

(1) central system. In the early Qing dynasty, the cabinet was still the central organ of the government, but its power was getting smaller and smaller. Outside the cabinet, there is a meeting of ministers to discuss military affairs. Kangxi set up the south study room to divide the power of the cabinet. When Yongzheng carried out the memorial system, the power of the cabinet was even weaker. In the seventh year of Yongzheng, the military department was established. Since then, all confidential policies have been handled by the military department and become the highest authority. However, the military department has no quota and has always been in the position of a temporary institution in form. There is no system for the position of military affairs minister, but it is only for the sake of orders, which is more conducive to the emperor's centralization. The central organization has six departments responsible for political affairs, and the Ministry of Punishment, Duchayuan and Dali Temple are also called "three law departments" to hear major cases. Another Fan Liyuan is to establish and manage minority affairs. Setting up the internal affairs office to manage royal affairs, with ministers in charge, ruled out eunuchs' interference in imperial power.

Emperor Michelle Ye of the Qing Dynasty (reigned at 1662- 1722).

(2) local system. Locally, it is divided into four levels: province, province, prefecture and county. The highest officials in the province are the governor and the governor, collectively referred to as the governor. Roughly two or three provinces have a governor and each province has a governor. In the provinces below the governor, there are political envoys for civil affairs and finance, and the judges in charge of sentencing are in charge of judicial prisons. Province means Tao, Tao means government, and government means county.

(3) Frontier system. In the northeast, Shengjing is the capital, with five departments: household, ceremony, military, punishment and industry, and Fengtianfu is in charge of Shengjing. In Shengjing, Jilin and Heilongjiang, there is a general in charge of military and political affairs. In outer Mongolia, the practice of restraint, that is, the flag system. In Qinghai, Xinjiang and Tibet, ministers are in charge of affairs.

(4) Military system. The army of the Qing Dynasty was mainly composed of the Eight Banners and green camp. The Eight Banners were the original troops before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, with Beijing as its capital. The Eight Banners are divided into Beijing camp and garrison camp, each with more than100000 people. Beijing camp protects the emperor and the capital, and guards the important town. Green camp was an army of Han Chinese who was adapted and recruited after the Qing soldiers entered Shanhaiguan. Plus the Eight Banners stationed in Beijing and other provinces, there are about 600,000 people. The cross distribution of the two forms a military control network all over the country, which is not only convenient for defending and suppressing people's resistance, but also convenient for the Eight Banners to supervise and control green camp.

(5) Ideological rule. The rulers of Qing dynasty carried out literary inquisition, cultural absolutism and ideological rule.

Since the establishment of autocratic centralization, it has been constantly developing and changing in the contradictions among the landlord class, the peasant class and the landlord class. On the one hand, in order to strengthen the exploitation and oppression of the peasant class, the landlord class should constantly strengthen the state apparatus and change the way of governance. The purpose of strengthening centralization in past dynasties lies in this first place. On the other hand, the contradictions within the landlord class also prompted it to strengthen the state machine.

From a national perspective, it is a contradiction between the central and local governments. All previous dynasties strengthened the central power and weakened the local power. Reflected in: (1) Financially, "profit" belongs to the central government. Namely, financial resources are monopolized by the central government. In order to control the financial power of the whole country, the feudal dynasty took various measures. On the one hand, farmers are fixed on the land to ensure the source of agricultural tax. For example, the household registration system in the Western Han Dynasty: the Eastern Han Dynasty and some dynasties verified the national land, and the Sui and Tang Dynasties set up a household registration department in the central government to manage financial affairs. On the other hand, strengthen the management of important assets such as salt, iron, copper and coins. Such as the salt and iron monopoly in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. (2) Deprived of local affairs, officials are out of the emperor. (3) Judicially, laws are promulgated by the emperor and are in the hands of the state. (4) Militarily, the central government deployed the national army macroscopically, and the emperor monopolized the military power. (5) In the ideological field, cultural absolutism is promoted.

From the central point of view, it is the contradiction between the emperor and the ministers, which strengthens the power of the emperor and weakens the power of the prime minister. The system of three fairs in Qin and Han Dynasties was headed by the prime minister, and hundreds of officials were subordinate to the emperor to assist him in handling government affairs. Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty established China, and Liu of the Eastern Han Dynasty "established three fairs and returned things to Taige"; The system of three provinces in Sui and Tang Dynasties divided the relative power into three parts, which reflected the strengthening of imperial power. Ming Taizu abolished Zhongshu Province, but the Prime Minister did not establish it. During Yongle period, the cabinet was established, and the Ministry of War was established in Qing Dynasty, which reflected that the imperial power had reached its peak. From the changes of the prime minister system, we can see that the emperor concentrated all kinds of power in his own hands step by step by dividing and weakening the relative power, thus effectively implementing the absolute monarchy.

The centralization of absolutism is essentially a tool used by the landlord class to rule the working people. But objectively, it has also played a certain role in safeguarding the reunification of the motherland and promoting economic and cultural development.

During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the development of commodity economy, the feudal system gradually declined. The early democratic enlightenment thought is also growing. Li Zhi, a thinker in the late Ming Dynasty, accused the Confucian classics of not being "eternal supremacy" and denied that Confucius was a "born saint". He exposed the hypocrisy of Taoism. He opposes discrimination against women and oppression of businessmen. Li Zhi was a pioneer of anti-feudalism in China. In a certain sense, his thought reflects the requirements of the embryonic era of capitalism and is democratic. Huang Zongxi was a fierce critic of feudal monarchy at the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty. He believed that the monarchy was a "great disaster in the world", advocated "rule of law" against "rule of man", opposed emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, and put forward the idea of "commerce as the foundation". It was the Revolution of 1911 that finally overthrew feudal absolutism.