Since ancient times, there have been so many corrupt officials#
Song scholar Ye Shi said: “Since ancient times, there have been so many corrupt officials.” In fact, it is not just the Song Dynasty; throughout China's history from the Qin to the Qing, in over two thousand years of autocratic rule, no dynasty has escaped the fate of rampant corrupt officials, especially in the later periods of dynasties, where corrupt officials even accelerated the downfall of the dynasty.
Why are corrupt officials not eradicated?#
Why have corrupt officials not been eradicated since ancient times? Because the excessive reproduction and expansion of the autocratic ruling class has led to redundant officials and personnel, resulting in a malignant inflation of bureaucratic institutions, inefficiency and corruption in officialdom, and factions occupying positions and drawing salaries without contributing. Overstaffing is the beginning of decay; high salary expenditures trigger a fiscal crisis for the government, and the large ruling class interest groups then exploit the common people excessively and without restraint, leading to an imbalance of wealth, suffering among the populace, and ultimately threatening political stability, falling into a vicious cycle of “officials forcing the people to revolt.”
Lessons from history#
“Corrupt officials harm the people, and they have slaughtered my entire family; today is the perfect time for revenge,” the heroes of Liangshan expressed the reason: “It is because the court is unclear, condoning corrupt officials in power, allowing them to abuse their authority and cruelly harm good citizens, that we are willing to assist Song Jiang in acting on behalf of heaven.” Confucius said: “Those with a country and a family do not worry about scarcity but about inequality; they do not worry about poverty but about instability.” Qing scholar Yu Yue verified that this saying originally meant: “Do not worry about poverty but about inequality; do not worry about scarcity but about instability.”
The way to stabilize the people#
The sages believe that lords and nobles, those with a country and a family, do not worry about wealth being insufficient but about political inequality; they do not worry about land and population being too few but about not being able to stabilize the people. So, how can the people be stabilized? Yan Ying said: “In acquiring wealth, it should be equitable, balancing the rich and the poor, and not indulging in desires.” Inequality in wealth will inevitably provoke resistance from the people.
The responsibility of rulers#
To alleviate social contradictions and prompt the ruling class to restrain their behavior, it must be “balancing the have and have-nots, equalizing the rich and the poor,” especially for the privileged class, where the pursuit of profit must be moderate and restrained. In Yan Ying's view, wealth should be “regulated by virtue,” neither too much nor too little. Rulers should understand the hardships of the people, “know their poverty and wealth, and not let them suffer from cold and hunger, then the people will be close to them.”
The balance of economy and politics#
If a ruler “hoards wealth and does not use it, it is ominous; if he neglects the loss of wealth and does not distribute it among the people, the common people will inevitably rise up and divide it themselves.” What Confucius and Yan Ying referred to as “equality” is not “averaging,” but rather “equilibrium,” which Zhu Xi explained as “each getting their share,” meaning “justice.” The ruling class should treat the common people with fairness and justice and not exploit them excessively.
The paradox of autocratic rule#
However, throughout history, autocratic rulers often established the slogan of “equality” when conquering a territory, but once they secured the throne, the autocratic centralized rule they implemented would deviate from the original intention of “equality,” excessively exploiting the common people, indulging in extreme desires without restraint, leading to rampant corruption, exacerbating the wealth gap, resulting in a situation where “the rich families feast while the streets are filled with frozen corpses.”
The tragedy of cycles#
How should one gauge the degree of treatment towards the common people? Dong Zhongshu believed, “The rich should have enough to show their wealth but not to become arrogant; the poor should have enough to sustain themselves but not to worry. This is the measure.” However, under the dominance of the autocratic imperial ideology, Dong Zhongshu could not see the roots of class opposition and exploitation.
The intensification of social contradictions#
Over thousands of years, in the later periods of each dynasty, there often appeared phenomena that severely deviated from Dong Zhongshu's so-called “measure”: on one hand, the rich not only displayed their wealth but also became arrogant and tyrannical. On the other hand, the poor could not sustain themselves, leading to numerous worries. The most pitiable aspect is that the poor, in their shame, resort to unscrupulous means to pursue material desires.
Conclusion#
The entire society thus falls into Machiavellianism, resorting to any means to achieve its goals. “Measure” signifies an appropriate ratio of the distribution of labor results between the government and the common people engaged in individual economies. This ratio can ensure that the common people maintain their reproduction rather than depleting resources, forcing them to take risks.
Excessive exploitation has become a significant reason for the periodic outbreak of peasant wars in ancient Chinese society. Although the rulers of autocratic dynasties recognized the importance of this “measure” for their long-term stability, each dynasty inevitably “exploited excessively,” especially in the later periods, where the government's excessive exploitation of the common people ultimately led to a change in regime.
The cycle of power and corruption#
Why do autocratic rulers knowingly engage in actions that are inadvisable? This is due to the inevitable periodic fiscal crises in monarchic autocratic societies. Why do autocratic dynasties experience periodic fiscal crises? In the development process of monarchic autocratic dynasties, the overall trend is that the growth of the “non-productive population” exceeds that of the “productive population,” with the growth of the ruling class population being the main part of the non-productive population.
As the dynasty develops, these explicit and implicit expenditures become an increasingly severe economic burden on the state. One can understand the reasons by looking at the Song Dynasty's “graceful seals” and “shadow appointments.” The Song Dynasty particularly favored royal family members and trusted disciples, arbitrarily granting official positions, resulting in thousands of people flooding into the bureaucratic ranks each year.
The end#
As the ruling class interest groups exploit the common people more deeply, over time, once they encounter natural disasters or foreign enemies, they will only face the need for regime change and a shift in policies.