Northern Song Dynasty Poop Stick

Forget about Su Shi, he can't accomplish anything or do anything bad, but Shen Kuo can do bad things.

"To govern the world with the scholar-bureaucrats, not with the common people.

There is a passage by Qian Mu, a master of Chinese studies, which is quite enlightening. If combined with my point of view, it can be said that it can solve some seemingly difficult historical phenomena of Song and Ming Dynasties. Qian Mu said this: "The political power of the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties was actually in the hands of intellectuals in civilian society. Intellectuals in civilian society were divided into their own groups. One group was true scholars who followed the traditional spirit and hoped to advance society through politics. The other group was focused on relying on the imperial examination. In this confrontation, fake people can win by any means, while real people have a tradition of being noble and not serving as princes, and they turn to the lower classes of society to exert their influence. This tendency was seen in the Eastern Han, Song and Ming dynasties. … Therefore, after the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination system was implemented and the political power was opened up rapidly, but the educational institutions for cultivating talents could not keep pace with it. If this is the case, then the open government will attract the hypocrites and hinder the ideal future of the true people. If this general trend is understood, the Taizhou and Longxi factions can complement Donglin Fushe. If today's intellectuals can follow the late Ming Dynasty and still take these two paths, and they can still advance or retreat before standing on the middle road, they can still exert considerable power in politics and society. Unfortunately, the Manchu and Qing regime blocked both roads. " There are several points worth noting in Qian Mu's words. First, he said that "the political power of the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties was actually in the hands of intellectuals in civilian society." It should be said that this cannot be established for the Tang Dynasty. In the early Tang Dynasty, the political power was in the hands of powerful nobles and relatives, while in the middle and later stages of the Tang Dynasty, it was in the hands of warlords from various places. But this is true for the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. But the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty were different. Where did this difference manifest itself?