同为儒家社会,为什么中国鄙视武士而日本赞美武士?
2022-05-18 回复奖励 29784
正文翻译
Why were warriors despised in China but glorified in Japan despite both being Confucian societies?

同为儒家社会,为什么中国鄙视武士而日本赞美武士?

评论翻译
Feng Xian, former Research Associate at Eurasian Center (2017-2018)
Because the history of China was written by literal bureaucrats.
They would not have a good attitude to their competitors in the imperial court, which is also why the eunuch class under their writings was always bad. The fault was always the manipulating eunuchs, jealous Queen or ambitious generals but had nothing to do with those bureaucrats. Even the Emperor would sometimes take more blames for not listening to the “advice” of the intellectual literal men.
Similarly, the history of Sparta was also mostly written by the Athenian historians and philosophers. They also tried to make Sparta look bad or negative while pretending to be neutral. Again, the Republican vs Democrats and the US press on Russia, China, Iran can all tell the same.

因为中国历史是文官写就的。
在朝廷里他们不可能对自己的对手态度友好,所以他们笔下的太监总是坏人。一切都是爱操弄的太监,嫉妒的皇后以及野心的将军的错,和自己没有任何关系。
甚至他们会指责皇帝不听从他们的“建议”。
类似的,斯巴达的历史也主要是雅典历史学家和哲学家写就的。所以他们也在努力的抹黑斯巴达,同时假装保持中立。还有民主党与共和党之间的对抗,以及美国媒体对俄罗斯,中国和伊朗的报道也是如此。

People only remember those who carried swords but forgot those who brought pens. The sword can kill someone physically. The pen can, however, shit on someone for eternity. Any Emperor for instance who didn’t get along with his minister may earn the tyrant/idiot reputation in history. You could kill the ministers, but after you pass away the new generation can still write you badly to deny your contribution, legacy and even give you a humiliating title.
For that reason, a lot of Emperors would indeed try to purposely make the bureaucrats happy. The Taizong Emperor of the Tang Dynasty Li Shimin, for instance, had his famous ‘listening line’ where the ministers would come in to offer advice and he would listen and give the reward. Some history indicated that in the later stage, that had turned into a formalist performance just to accumulate his prestige.
For the performance effect, he would even allow the ministers to insult him. The more the ministers cursed, the happier he may become because the historians would write down how mercy he was. Sometimes for saving face, maintaining his supremacy and earning double prestige, he may even act like being “angry” and wanted to kill, but other ministers would see the trick and try to “persuade” him, so he would spare the minister. Then all the ministers would simultaneously “congratulate” him as the most merciful and wise ruler in history. He would then laugh away and offer more rewards. The historians would then write down the “story” when that happened.

人们只记住那些带刀的人,却忘记了那些带笔的人。刀可以杀死人。而笔可以永远的抹黑一个人。比如与下属文官不和的皇帝都可能被扣上暴君或者白痴的名声。你可以杀死这些文官,但是你去世后,新的一代依然可以通过笔来说你的坏话,否认你的贡献和遗产,甚至赋予你一个羞辱的头衔。
出于这个原因,很多皇帝其实有意取悦自己的文官。比如唐太宗李世民就允许自己的大臣提供建议,然后给他们奖励。某些历史表明在后期,这种做法变成了一种形式主义,就只是为了累积他的名声。
出于表演效果,他甚至允许大臣辱骂他。大臣骂的越狠,他越开心,因为历史学家将描述他是多么的仁慈。有时候为了挽回面子,维持自己至高无上的地位,并获得双重的声誉,他可能会假装生气,想要杀人,但是其他大臣看出了端倪,于是努力“说服”他,这样他就可以免掉那个大臣的死。然后所有大臣就会齐声欢呼,说他是史上最仁慈最智慧的君王。然后他会一笑置之,提供更多的奖励。然后历史学家就会写下这段历史故事。

In the Ming Dynasty, there was even a job as ‘speaking ministers’ that did nothing but to shit on the Ming Emperors. Some even wanted to be killed by spiting on the Emperor because they would also be written in history as the loyal ministers. Instead, the Emperor would be written as tyrants and be listed up with other tyrants to be mentioned every day in the future. So the Ming Emperors usually felt like slapping a fly on his face if he wanted to kill the speaking ministers.
Thus, in history, Li Shimin would always be remembered as a merit ruler who always listened to advice and became the ideal model for the ruler. In a sense, it’s like a business for both sides.
Though their writings still had to be mostly close to real history, they would certainly emphasize their own contribution.
This is why in addition to those brave, strong generals, in Chinese history you can always see a lot of ‘strategists’ who were smart and calculated everything, offered genius advice and observations to make the turn of the battle. Those strategists were the idols as well the symbol of literal men class. Can''t say they didn’t exist, but the historians indeed liked to give them a lot of spaces in books for obvious reasons.
For those who stayed in the court when the generals went out to fight, they sometimes would purposely offer lots of negative remarks and points on the generals such as the chance of rebellion or poor leadership to the Emperor just to downgrade the warrior class.

在明朝,甚至有“说话大臣”的职位,他们无所事事,就是辱骂明朝皇帝。有些人甚至想因此而被皇帝杀死,因为那意味着他们是忠诚的大臣,会被载入史册。那么皇帝就会被写成暴君,与其他暴君一起被后世所提及。所以当明朝皇帝想要杀死这些“说话大臣”时,感觉就好像是拍死了自己脸上的苍蝇。
所以,在历史上,李世民被视为听取大臣建议的明君,成为了统治者的理想榜样。某种意义上,这对双方而言都是一种生意。虽然他们的历史记载大体上是接近真实历史的,但是这些官僚肯定会强调自己的贡献。
所以除了勇敢强大的将军外,你会发现在中国历史上还有很多聪明而善于算计的战略家,他们提供天才般的建议和观察,从而扭转战局。这些战略家是这些官僚的偶像,也是象征。不能说这些战略家不存在,但是出于明显的原因,历史学家确实给他们提供了更多的空间。
还有将军出去打仗,这些待在朝廷里的文官有时候就会故意对皇帝说这些将军的坏话,比如说他们叛变或者领导无方,从而降低武士阶级。

That basically summarized the bureaucrat class and their problem with the warrior class and how they behaved in the imperial court. Either the Emperor, eunuch, general or Queen were all restrained and sometimes “destroyed” by the bureaucrat class in the historical writings and records if they didn’t ‘behave’ well.
In Japan, it’s different because
a. Daimyos and Shogunates on principle were also warriors (supreme warriors). Though it doesn’t mean that they treated the lower class samurais nicely, the historians and bureaucrats had to be politically correct.
b. Both samurais and literal men were the clan servants of the clan they belong to. They did not get to form the nationwide organizational structure of warrior class vs bureaucrat class unlike in China. Their interests were directly determined by the supremacy of the clan they serve rather than under one authority against other classes.

以上基本总结了官僚阶层以及他们与武士阶级之间存在的问题,以及他们在朝廷里的行为。如果皇帝,太监,将军或者皇后不好好表现,那么官僚就可能在历史记载里给他们好看。
在日本,情况就不同了。因为:1、大名和将军原则上也是武士(高级武士)。虽然这不意味着他们善待低级武士,但是历史学家和官僚必须政治正确。2、武士和官僚都是所属大家族的仆人。无法像中国那样形成全国性的武士阶级和官僚阶级。他们的利益直接由所属的大家族决定,而不会与其他阶级形成对抗。

Paul Denlinger, I know a little bit about China.
You only have a strong warrior class when you have a feudal society with a strong nobility.
In feudal Japan, the emperor was weak while the nobility was strong, The nobility needed to raise their own armies in order to expand their own power and influence. This gave rise to the samurai class who were warriors who fought for their own lords.
In contrast, the nobility became weak under the Qin dynasty, and continued to weaken to the Song dynasty. The nobility was weakened to the point that they were not allowed to have private armies; the military directly served the emperor and imperial court. During peacetime, there was no need for a military and warrior class; why spend large amounts of treasury on something which was not needed? During these periods, the civilian bureaucracy was much more important than the military bureaucracy.

当你是一个拥有强大贵族的封建社会,你才会拥有一个强大的武士阶级。
在封建的日本,皇帝是虚弱的,而贵族是强大的。贵族需要建立自己的军队以扩张自己的势力和影响力。所以武士阶层才得以崛起,他们是战士,为自己的主人战斗。
相比之下,秦朝统治下的贵族阶层相当虚弱,持续虚弱到宋朝。贵族被削弱到不能拥有自己的军队;军队直接服务于皇帝和朝廷。和平时期,不需要军队和武士阶级;所以为什么花钱养一个不需要的东西?和平时期,文职官僚比军事官僚重要得多。

During the Tang dynasty, military generals were empowered to raise armies, collect taxes and effectively divided Tang China into military regions. The fact that they became too strong led to the An Lushan Rebellion - Wikipedia which seriously crippled the Tang dynasty until its final demise.
Even though the succeeding Song dynasty was founded by a general, he was quick to disarm all his generals on the founding of the new dynasty, and established himself as a civilian emperor. In some ways, Emperor Taizu of Song - Wikipedia was like Eisenhower: both were military men with impeccable military credentials, and both were very familiar with the shortcomings of the military, and did not trust them too much.
If you want to have an interesting little exercise in how Chinese emperors wanted to be remembered, there is something you should look for: look at their official portraits. In all of their portraits, they always wear civilian dress, or dress as a civilian official.

唐朝期间,将军可以养自己的军队,收集税收,实际上将唐朝中国分裂成了不同的军事区域。正是因为他们变得太过强大,所以才有了安史之乱,这严重削弱了唐朝,最终导致唐朝的灭亡。
虽然后来的宋朝是由一个将军建立的,但是在建立新的朝代时他马上就释掉那些将军们的兵权,然后让自己成为了一个文职皇帝。某种程度上宋太祖就像是艾森豪威尔:二者都是军人,有着无可挑剔的军事成就,二者都深知军队的缺点,都不太信任军队。
如果你想知道中国皇帝希望后人如何铭记自己,那么你可以去看看他们的官方画像。在所有的中国皇帝画像里,他们总是身穿文职服装,而不是军人服装。

I have not found a single portrait of a Chinese emperor wearing military dress or uniform. They simply did not want to be remembered as military officials. This is not to say that some of them were not fierce and bloody rulers: some were, but they were bloody because they were the ruling emperor, not because they were military. The Emperor gave the orders, and the military would do the killing on his behalf.
Contrast this with the Japanese daimyo and shogun portraits, where they are almost always wearing military dress which emphasizes their power and ferocity, and complete lack of mercy to their enemies.
This is just one of the ways Japan and China are very different societies with very different values.

我还没见过哪个中国皇帝的画像是身穿军事服装或者制服的。他们就是不希望人们把他们当作军人铭记。这并不是说其中的某些皇帝不是血腥的统治者;某些是,但是他们血腥是因为他们是皇帝,而不是因为他们是军人。皇帝下命令,然后军队代表皇帝进行杀戮。
而日本大名和将军的画像都是穿军装,以强调自己的力量和凶猛,以及对自己的敌人完全缺乏仁慈之心。
中国社会和日本社会很不一样,价值观也很不一样,这不过是其中的一个表现而已。

Yugan Talovich, studied history from early age in English, + Chinese for over 40 years.
Saying Japan was Confucian is somewhat misleading. Confucianism was dominant in China, but the Japanese had very different ideas about what Confucius taught, and Shinto was more important, anyway.

For example, Japanese generally gave offerings to their ancestors only to the third generation, including Grandma who you left out in the forest when food ran low. Chinese ideas of 孝 behaving properly to your family go back as many generations as you possibly can, preferably all the way back to the first ancestor, however many thousands of years ago.

I think that overall, Confucian ideals had a much higher, and more pervasive influence in China than in Japan.
Japan is very mountainous, with limited fertile ground, so raiding has always been a way of life: just ask the Koreans. The Japanese made life miserable for the southeast coast of China for centuries, especially during the Ming dynasty. You could say that the Japanese were warriors to keep themselves fed.

说日本是儒家社会其实是有点误导人的。儒家思想在中国占据主流,但是日本对儒家思想有着非常不同的看法,对于日本而言,神道教才是更重要的。
举个例子,日本人只祭奠前面三代的祖先,包括食物不足时被留在森林里的祖母。而中国的孝会尽可能的往前追溯,可能会一直追溯到第一个祖先,也就是几千年前的时候。
我认为儒家思想在中国的影响力比在日本大多了。
日本是一个多山的国家,沃土有限,所以抢劫成为了他们的一种生活方式:去问问朝鲜半岛人就知道了。几百年来日本人一直在骚扰中国东南沿海的居民,尤其是在明朝期间。你可以说日本人是一个忙着养家糊口的武士。

China is a huge country with fertile land. Also, the ideal Chinese family is as many generations as you can fit under one roof, uncles and aunts and granduncles and grandaunts and cousins and so forth; I am not aware that a similar situation existed in Japan. But with all those relatives, you have to find ways to defuse tension and get along with everybody.

Chinese literature and art have never glorified warriors, unless you count the characters in 水滸傳 The Water Margin, who are not held up as paragons to model your life after. The generals China glorifies are those who used strategy and cunning to defeat their enemy with as little bloodshed (or hard feelings) as possible.
I’m thinking of two examples. In 383, 淝水之戰 at the battle of Feishui, the northern Fu had brought an immense army, maybe as many as a million, from a wide conglomeration of tribes. The 晉 southern commander, 謝安 Hsieh/Xie An, was off playing 棋/go while the battle took place, exactly as he planned it, routing the amassed forces within moments.
而中国是一个巨大的国家,沃土丰富,一个理想的中国家庭就是几代人生活在同一个屋檐下,包括了叔叔阿姨,叔公,叔婆,表兄弟姐妹等等;好像日本并不存在这种情况。这么多亲戚生活在一起,你就得想办法缓解紧张的气氛,和谐相处。
中国的文化和艺术从未赞美武士,除非你把水浒传里的人物算进去,这些人不是人们的典范。只有使用战略和诡计以最小的牺牲打败敌人的将军才会被中国赞美。
我想到了两个例子。383年,淝水之战,北方的苻坚率领着一支庞大的军队,可能有百万之众,集结了各个部落的力量。而东晋的谢安在战役打响时却在下围棋,正如他所计算的那样,瞬间就打败了前秦的军队。
A noted warrior from the early 3rd century, 關公, the lord Guan, is for some reason called The God of War by some Western people. In China, he is noted for his bravery, especially the time he was wounded in the arm. The wound was infected, and the doctor scraped the bone clean without any anesthesia, while Guan amused himself with a game of go. You can see him with his magnificent halberd in Chinese Buddhist temples, where he is the Dharma Protector. In his own temples, Guan is invariably shown reading a book. He is the patron of business people and accountants. So even if he was a great warrior, his glory on the battlefield is downplayed.
还有就是三世纪的一个著名战士关公,出于某些原因,某些西方人称他为战神。在中国,他以勇敢而闻名,尤其是他手臂受伤的那段时间。伤口被感染,然后医生在没有打麻醉药的情况下给他刮骨疗伤,他还一边刮骨一边下围棋。你可以在中国的佛教寺庙里看到他那巨大的战戟,他是 一个护法神。在他自己的寺庙里,关公都在看书。他是商人和会计的老主顾。所以即使他是一个伟大的战士,但是他在战场上的荣耀也被轻描淡写了。

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