In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han ruled the country with Taoist thoughts, so that the people could recuperate from the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty. History calls it the rule of cultural scene.
Later, Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu advocated the policy of "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone" to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, which was adopted by later emperors. Taoism has since become a non-mainstream thought.
Although Taoism has not been officially adopted, it continues to play an important role in the development of China's ancient thoughts. Metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties and Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties were developed by combining Taoist thoughts.
After Buddhism was introduced into China, it was also influenced by Taoism, and Zen was inspired by Zhuangzi in many ways. Among the pre-Qin philosophers of Taoism, although there are not as many disciples as Confucianism and Mohism, and their status is not as lofty as Confucianism, with the development of history, Taoism has shown eternal value and vitality in philosophy with its unique understanding of the universe, society and life.
For about forty years, Emperor Wendi and Emperor Jingdi in the Western Han Dynasty enjoyed political stability and remarkable economic development. They have always been regarded as the "prosperous times" of feudal society, and are known as "the rule of culture and the rule of scenery" in history. Liu Heng (203 BC ~ 65438 BC+057 BC), Emperor Gaozu Liu Bangzhong, whose mother was Ji Bo. In the 11th year of Emperor Gaudi (196), he was made acting king. In BC 180, Lv Hou died and Zhu Lu made an insurrection. The prime minister, Qiu, Zhu, and other imperial clan ministers ruled Zhu Lu and made him emperor for 23 years. Liu Qi (189 ~ 14 1) Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was the prince of Wendi, and his mother was Empress Dou. He ascended the throne in 157 BC and reigned for 16 years.
After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu, Hui Di and Lv Hou all devoted themselves to restoring agricultural production and stabilizing the feudal ruling order, and achieved remarkable results. After Emperor Wenjing ascended the throne one after another, on this basis, he took further measures to neglect paying taxes and share the interest with the people.
Emperor Wen of Han attached great importance to agricultural production. After he acceded to the throne, he issued imperial edicts many times to persuade farmers to teach mulberry, set up a number of employees according to the proportion of household registration, and often gave rewards to encourage farmers to develop production. At the same time, he also pays attention to reducing the burden on the people. In the second year (before 178) and the twelfth year, Wendi "withdrew the land rent by half" twice, that is, the rent rate was reduced to 30 tax, and the land rent was completely exempted in the thirteenth year. Since then, the Han Dynasty has customized thirty taxes. During the Wendi period, the tax was reduced from per person per year 120 yuan to 40 yuan, and the corvee was reduced to once every three years. In the second year of Emperor Jingdi (before 155), the system of 17 years old in Qin Dynasty was changed to 20 years old, while the book fu in Han Dynasty was 23 years old. Emperor Wendi also issued the imperial edict of "forbidding the relaxation of mountains and rivers", that is, opening the mountains and rivers originally owned by the state, thus promoting the development of farmers' sideline production and salt and iron production, which have a great relationship with the national economy and people's livelihood. In the twelfth year of Emperor Wendi, the customs clearance system was abolished, which was conducive to the circulation of commodities and economic ties between regions, and also promoted the development of agricultural production.
Emperor Wen of Han also carried out major reforms in criminal law since Qin Dynasty. (1) Criminals in the Qin Dynasty, that is, those who were sentenced to official service and were heavier than official service, mostly had no prison term and served hard labor for life. Emperor Wendi issued a decree and re-enacted the law, stipulating the term of imprisonment according to the seriousness of the crime; A sinner will be exempted from serving his sentence as Shu Ren. (2) According to the Qin law, the parents, brothers, sisters, wives and children of sinners should sit together, and the heavy ones should be put to death, while the light ones should be buried as official servants, which is called "sitting by death". Emperor Wen explicitly abolished it. (3) There were four kinds of corporal punishment in the Qin Dynasty, namely licking, licking and palace (see Yunmeng Qin Law). Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty abolished flogging, flogging and gouging and replaced them with flogging. Jingdi also reduced flogging. Although the latter two reforms were not seriously implemented at that time and later, many officials of Wendi were able to break the prison lightly, and were generous and not demanding, so the prison affairs were simple and the oppression suffered by the people was significantly reduced compared with that of Qin Dynasty.
The Wenjing Dynasty did not easily fight against the surrounding ethnic minorities and tried their best to maintain peaceful relations. Lu Houshi, Zhao Tuo, king of South Vietnam, became emperor on his own, serving in Fujian, Vietnam, Ou, Luo and other places, taking the Huang family as an opponent and the Han Dynasty as an enemy. After Emperor Wendi acceded to the throne, he repaired the ancestral grave for Zhao Tuo, honored Zhao Kundi, and sent Liu Jia to South Vietnam to write to Zhao Tuo, so Zhao Tuo went to Zuoge, Huang Wu, and joined the Han Dynasty. In the second year after Yuan Dynasty (BC 162), Wendi went to war with Xiongnu. Since then, although the Huns broke the contract and repeatedly violated the border, Emperor Wendi only ordered the border counties to be on strict guard and not to attack dispatch troops, so as not to disturb the people.
The reason why Wenjing became the flourishing age of feudal society is inseparable from the personal efforts of Emperor Wen. Shortly after he ascended the throne, he abolished the crime of slanderous words, and envoys were able to boldly put forward different opinions. Since the Qin dynasty, there have been so-called "secret wish" officials, and whenever there is a disaster, they will fight. In the thirteenth year of Emperor Wen, he abolished it and declared the emperor responsible for the mistakes and sins of officials. The next year, he forbade temple officials to bless him. Wendi is also quite frugal. During his twenty-three years in office, palaces, cars and royal things have not increased. He has repeatedly sent letters prohibiting counties from contributing rare foreign objects. His beloved Mrs. Shen doesn't mop the floor or embroider curtains. Wendi Deng once wanted to build a terrace. Hearing that he wanted one hundred gold, which was equivalent to the output of ten people in China, he gave up. Because Emperor Wen advocated frugality, the national financial expenditure was restrained and reduced at that time, and aristocratic bureaucrats dared not squander it, thus reducing the burden on the people, which was also one of the important contents of the "rest and recuperation" policy.
Due to the above-mentioned series of measures taken by Wenjing two generations, the social economy at that time made remarkable development and the feudal ruling order was consolidated day by day. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, there were only ten thousand governors and five or six hundred small countries. In the world of culture and scenery, refugees returned to the countryside, and their accounts soon increased. There are 30,000 to 40,000 people in the country, and the number of small households has doubled, which is much richer than in the past. The development of agriculture has greatly reduced food prices. In the early years of Emperor Wendi, millet ranged from ten yuan to dozens of yuan per stone. According to the Records of Food in the History of Han Dynasty, during the seventy years from the early Han Dynasty to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, due to the stable domestic political situation, as long as there were no floods and droughts, the people always gave their families enough food, and the granaries in the county were full of food. The food in Taicang is rotten because of Chen Xiangyin, so it can't be eaten. The government treasury has more money. There are millions of money in Beijing, and even the strings of money are broken. This is a very vivid description of the rule of Wenjing.
However, the purpose of the policy of "resting the people" in Wenjing period was to stabilize and strengthen the control of farmers and further consolidate feudal rule. Some measures that seem to be beneficial to farmers are actually more beneficial to landlords and businessmen. For example, if Wenjing reduced or exempted the land tax, the landlords would gain the most, which would also help improve the political status of businessmen. At the same time, in order to achieve political stability, Wendi once restricted the power of princes with the same surname, but failed to take decisive measures to eliminate the hidden dangers of unrest; In the third year of Emperor Jingdi (before 154), seven countries in Wu Chu conspired to revolt (see the rebellion of seven countries in Wu Chu), which should have something to do with this.