The Manchu taboo began during the Kangxi period. When Fulin, the founder of the Shunzhi Dynasty, was in power, he "did not let the world avoid taboos" (see Mr. Chen Yuan's "Examples of Historical Taboos"). After Emperor Kangxi Xuanye ascended the throne, the taboo system suddenly became stricter. There were two main aspects of taboo words at that time: First, the name of Emperor Kangxi. The court stipulated that the word "Yuan" should be used instead of the word "Xuan", and the word "Yu" should be used instead of the word "Ye". The word "Ye" is not commonly used, but the word "Xuan" is. At that time, writing and carving strictly followed the rule of replacing "Xuan" with "Yuan". For example, in the book "Laozi", the phrase "Xuanzhi is also Xuan, the door to all mysteries" was changed to "Yuan is also Yuan, the door to all mysteries" ". "The Scholars", which is recognized by the Red Mansion community as being written almost at the same time as "A Dream of Red Mansions", describes Wang Mian herding cattle and meeting two people "wearing Yuanse straight-breasted" clothes. "Yuanse" means "black", that is, black . The "Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang" at the beginning of "The Thousand Character Classic" was changed to "Heaven and Earth Yuanhuang", and the "Xuan Shen" in the Chinese medicine shop was also changed to "Yuan Shen", which is still used today. In addition, words such as Xuan Emperor, Xuan Palace, Xuanji, Xuanmen, Xuannu, Xuanshen, Xuanzhen, Xuantian, and Xuanlun were all changed to the word "Yuan" accordingly. Second, the disparaging names used by Han people to refer to ethnic minorities such as "Ru", "Hu", "Rong", "Man", and "Yidi" are all taboo. When the court is revising the book or the ministers are submitting the manuscript, the "gold thief" in the Jin Dynasty must be rewritten as "Jinren", the "captive general" in the Liao dynasty must be rewritten as "Liao general", and the "land of Hulu" in the Song dynasty. It can only be written as "a different place". Mr. Lu Xun has done detailed research on this.
The most brutal implementation of the Manchu Qing taboo system was during the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong. "In the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong, taboo avoidance was extremely strict." In order to avoid Yongzheng's name Yinzhen, the word "Yin" in the names of Yongzheng brothers was all changed to the word "Yun"; the famous poet Wang Shizhen was also renamed Wang Shizheng ten years after his death, and was later changed to Wang Shizhen by imperial order. Even Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty was changed to the incomprehensible "Emperor Chongzheng"; Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, was actually changed to the inexplicable Zhao Kuangyun; all place names in the world that involve taboo words will be changed accordingly, such as Zhending, Zhenyang, and Zhenning were all changed to Zhengding, Zhengyang, and Zhengning accordingly.
Compared to his father, Emperor Qianlong was even worse. He was almost a taboo maniac. Not only does his own name, Hongli, have to be taboo, the names of his father and grandfather must also be taboo, the names of his sons must also be taboo, and the most inexplicable thing is that even the names of historical emperors who have been dead for thousands of years must be taboo. , making people all over the world miserable. When compiling the "Sikuquanshu", because the name of Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was not tabooed, Qianlong personally severely reprimanded the officials of the Siku library and ordered the changes to be made. His beloved eldest son and heir to the throne, Prince Rong Yonglian, died young, and the imperial court issued a special decree to stipulate The word "Lian" was taboo; his eighth son, Prince Yishen Yongxuan, was severely punished for publishing "Gaozong's Holy Instructions" and "wrongly wrote the temple taboo, and was deprived of his royal salary for three years" (see "Manuscript of Qing History").
The Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties used the taboo system to engage in literary inquisition, and there was no shortage of books in history. In the 44th year of Qianlong's reign, Wang Xihou tampered with the "Kangxi Dictionary" and replaced it with "Zi Guan". He himself was executed, seven of his descendants were sentenced to prison, and his wife and daughter-in-law were given to the hero as domestic slaves. In the same year, Emperor Qianlong ordered that "Ling Chi be executed according to the great treason" for the case of "not avoiding temple taboos" written by Feng Wangsun in "A Brief Ode to the Five Classics", "to rectify people's hearts and enshrine laws and regulations." Also in this year, Zhi Tianbao, a common man who was selling medicine to make a living, lied about encountering a divine manifestation and taught him a book called "The Perpetual Calendar of the Dynasty", which he wanted to present to the emperor and invite wealth and honor. As a result, he caught the tiger's butt and was killed. The tragic end of being cut in half. In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong's reign, a small businessman, Liu E, printed and sold "Records of the Holy Tabulations" to children who were taking exams in order to seek promotion and support his family. During the printing, he accidentally included "temple taboos" and "imperial names" in the publication. As a result, he was also beheaded. In the same year, Wu Ying, an old and sick health official, wrote a poem "Shangchen Shiwu Policy", repeatedly using the word "Hong" without avoiding it, and was executed "for treason". Five of his sons and nephews were sentenced to be beheaded and imprisoned. In addition, more than ten wives, concubines and young descendants were rewarded as slaves to meritorious officials. In addition, there are cases of Peng Jiaping's "Da Peng Tong Ji" in the 22nd year of Qianlong's reign, Qi Zhouhua's poetry and copywriting in the 32nd year of Qianlong's reign, and Shi Zhuohuai's "Jiepu" in the 44th year of Qianlong's reign. In the case of "Poetry Copying" and the case of Wu Bifeng publishing "The Book of Filial Piety" in the 46th year of Qianlong's reign, he himself was beheaded by the court, and his relatives were also severely punished.
Most of these prisoners were down-and-out scholars, small business hawkers, and poor people in the city. They had no idea of ??"disrespect" at all, let alone committing crimes. However, Emperor Qianlong infinitely exaggerated the seriousness of it, killed innocent people indiscriminately, and caused serious consequences in society. An atmosphere of panic was created to maintain the supremacy of imperial power.
Due to the extremely harsh cultural policies pursued by Qianlong, Chinese traditional culture was greatly damaged. Many articles in the "Sikuquanshu" revised by the Qianlong Dynasty were altered beyond recognition due to avoidance of taboos, so Lu Xun The teacher angrily pointed out that "the Qing people usurped the "Sikuquanshu" and the ancient books were destroyed!" Analyzing the number of taboo cases, there were 184 cases in the Qing Dynasty, and 170 cases in the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties, accounting for more than 90% of the total.
The three generations of rule lasted for 138 years. Due to the strict taboo avoidance system, it caused a catastrophe to the history of Chinese culture.