How to view the popular filial piety in the history of Han Dynasty

Among the various dynasties in China, the Han Dynasty paid the most attention to filial piety. There are many reasons, the key reason is the selection system of imperial officials. Whether before the overthrow of hundreds of schools of thought and the sole respect of Confucianism, or after that, filial piety was an important criterion for selecting talents that the imperial court vigorously promoted. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the inspection system was clearly regarded as the main method for selecting officials. What to investigate and what to recommend? Examine the words and deeds of the scholars, and then recommend talents in two fields to the court. One is a scholar and the other is filial and honest. Scholars are mainly those who have certain attainments in Confucian classics. In the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, there were very few people who excelled as scholars. One reason is that due to the trend, everyone values ??filial piety too much. Another reason is probably that scholars need to be knowledgeable, and the results of the investigation can be seen relatively simply and directly. It is really unreasonable for an illiterate person to become a scholar. But filial piety and integrity are different. The main thing is filial piety to parents. But if you can become an official by being filial to your parents, then even those with little talent or ability can participate in the selection. To put it simply, Xiaolian’s inspection threshold is relatively low. This may be one reason why filial piety and honesty prevailed while scholarly talent declined in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty.

As a result, many interesting stories about filial piety were left in the folk and official circles of the Han Dynasty. Some are surprising, some are admirable, some are puzzling, and some are surprising. indignation. All kinds of filial piety, all kinds of people.

There are many descriptions of filial sons in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. One of the more famous ones is Zhao Zi. Robbers came to rob the house. In order not to disturb his eighty-year-old mother who was sick, Zhao Zi took the initiative to invite the thieves to dinner and said, In addition to leaving some clothes and food rations for my mother, the thieves can choose the money and belongings of other wives, children, and children at will, and they will never stop them. The thieves were stunned for a moment. Later, the thief did not dare to attack because he felt that Zhao Zi was too kind, so he turned around and ran away, but Zhao Zi chased him out with the money. I remember Zhao Zi chasing and shouting: "Brother thief, give you money...". Zhao Zi is highly praised in the biography, and the world also admires Zhao Zi very much. However, as times change, many concepts also change. If there was such a person in modern times who did this to thieves, everyone would probably laugh at Zhao Zi for being such a fool, and female friends would definitely shout slogans, calling on Zhao Zi's wife to kick her heartless husband away.

However, the Han Dynasty was indeed that kind of dynasty. Parents were like heaven and earth, and wives and children were nothing more than clothes and items. The less they looked at their wives and children, the more virtuous they appeared. So if a senior official like Jing Zhaoyin and Zhang Chang painted his wife's eyebrows and put on make-up, he would be severely criticized by the Central Discipline Inspection Department - it was really embarrassing for a scholar-bureaucrat. For thousands of years, people's evaluation standards for an official have been different from those for a scholar (gentleman). We now say that an official who can serve one term and benefit one party is a good official. In ancient times, if you could educate and govern the people with virtue, although it was not enough to make the people rich, you could still maintain stability and not harass the people. That was considered a good official. In other words, when evaluating officials in modern times, they pay more attention to ability, while in ancient times, when evaluating officials, they paid more attention to virtue. As for scholars, those who can serve as generals and prime ministers and serve the country are respected by people; but those who live in commoner life, live in seclusion in the mountains and forests, and have noble aspirations are also models of scholars.

However, there are very few people in the past who can truly be filial and have noble aspirations. Most of them are hypocrites who seek fame and fortune under various banners. Of course, if a person can be a hypocrite all his life and a fake filial son can be a filial son all his life, then he is a true filial son. But what is regrettable is that whether it is the court's review system or public opinion, it is more practical. A person who is poor but filial is far less enviable than a person who is rich but rebellious. As the world continues to this day, it laughs at poverty but not at prostitution. What kind of moral integrity are you going to talk about now? People will think you are stupid.