Dong Zhongshu's achievements are not small.

Based on the "Ram Spring and Autumn Period", Dong Zhongshu combined the religious Tiandao concept since the Zhou Dynasty with the doctrines of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, absorbed the ideas of Legalism, Taoism and Yin and Yang, and established a new ideological system, which became the official ruling philosophy of the Han Dynasty, and gave a relatively systematic answer to a series of philosophical, political, social and historical questions raised by the society at that time.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Huang Lao's learning was implemented, and he ruled by inaction. The economy developed rapidly, and there was a prosperous era of cultural prosperity. But in the era of Emperor Jing, there was a rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu. A united country will be in danger of being divided. Dong Zhongshu, who was a doctor of Emperor Jing at the time, believed that the important issue was to consolidate the centralized and unified political power and prevent the emergence of a situation of division and separation. Dong Zhongshu looked for a reason for unification from the Confucian scriptures, and he found the 'great unification' from the "Ram Spring and Autumn Period". Dong Zhongshu put forward the theory of 'great unification' according to the record of "Ram Spring and Autumn". He said in "The Three Strategies of Heaven and Man": "The great unification advocated in the Spring and Autumn Period is the common sense of heaven and earth, and it is suitable for any era in ancient and modern times. ‘

Since "great unification" is the most general law in the universe, then the feudal dynasty must of course follow it. This is the core of the political philosophy that Dong Zhongshu wants to establish. In accordance with the universal law of 'great unification', he put forward the argument that ideology should also be 'great unification'. Dong Zhongshu said in "The Three Strategies of Heaven and Man": "As long as it is not among the six arts, (the so-called "six arts" are the six talents necessary for scholars in the past, "etiquette", "music", "shooting", "royal", "book", and "number.") and Confucius's set of Confucianism. It is not allowed to develop and exist with Confucianism. The chaotic sects and doctrines will no longer come to confuse the people. It is the laws and institutions of the country that can show their status. The common people also know what kind of way to educate future generations'. Only when there is unity of thought can there be a unified law and a standard of behavior for the people, and only in this way can political unity be maintained and consolidated. To consolidate political unity with ideological unity, ideology should be unified on Confucianism represented by Confucius, and the people should know what to follow and how to do it. Only political unification can achieve long-term peace and stability, and the politics of the Han Dynasty at that time were unified, but not stable. Unifying thinking has become the key to great unification. As a result, Dong Zhongshu repeatedly emphasized the idea of using Confucius and Confucianism to unify the world.

After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion to unify his thoughts, he implemented the "depose the hundred schools." Confucianism's policy. Taking Confucianism as an orthodox thought, the authority of Confucianism was established in the intellectual circles of the Han Dynasty, and the unique Chinese classics and scriptures were produced. The Han Dynasty established a doctor of the Five Classics, and a scholar of the Ming Classics. Formation of the trend of scriptural thought. Dong Zhongshu is regarded as the 'Confucian Sect'.

Dong Zhongshu's theory of 'heaven and man induction'. It's social, political. He used the natural phenomena recorded in the Spring and Autumn Period to explain the crux of social and political decay. He believes that the ruler should be 'law-heaven' and 'virtuous government'. Otherwise, "the heavens will send down all kinds of calamities to 'rebuke' the people." If the king of the people still does not repent at this time, the 'heavens' will cause the king to lose the world.

Through the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu realized that the political power of the peasant class could determine the rise and fall of a feudal dynasty. The 'heaven' that Dong Zhongshu refers to here refers to the armed strength of the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty. He wanted to use this 'heaven', which symbolized the political power of the peasant class, to guard against the emperor and make him self-contained. Limit him with 'heaven'.

At that time, why did Dong Zhongshu use the form of 'heaven and man induction' to guard against fear of the emperor? The reason was that the level of social sciences in the Western Han Dynasty was low, and the influence of the theory of the Mandate of Heaven on people's minds was extremely deep. Dong Zhongshu used 'heaven' to limit the emperor's personal desires and restrain his supreme power. And the bitter lesson of Qin Shi Huang's unchecked power, which led to a peasant uprising and the rapid collapse of the country, turned it into the emperor's spiritual shackles to limit the emperor's power. From this point of view, Dong Zhongshu's idea of 'heaven and man induction' limited the emperor's selfish desires and power, and made an important contribution to the long-term peace and stability of the entire feudal society, and its significance is far-reaching.

Although the people ruled by the Western Han Dynasty pursued Huang Lao's idea of 'ruling by inaction', in essence, they still ruled the people with strict punishment and strict laws because of the Qin system. Emperor Wu was good at spells and punishments, reused cool officials, and strengthened his rule with strict punishments, which brought great disasters and suffering to the people. For the sake of the stability of social order and the long-term peace and stability of feudal rule, Dong Zhongshu believed that it was necessary to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, coordinate various social contradictions, and put forward the idea of 'adjusting the balance'. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty 'limited the amount of land privately occupied, restricted the annexation of land by the powerful and powerful, did not allow officials to compete with the people for benefits, the salt industry and the metal industry were controlled by the people themselves, and the majesty of the slave system and unauthorized killing was removed, and taxes were reduced, and forced labor was reduced, so that the people could recuperate and recuperate, and the consumption of civil power was reduced. These propositions were, first, to crack down on the powerful and powerful forces and strengthen the strength of the central power; second, to temporarily ease the class contradictions between the landlord class and the peasants, to strengthen the dictatorship of the feudal ruling class, to prevent further social turmoil, and to prevent peasant uprisings. Dong Zhongshu learned the lessons of the fall of Qin, and in order to alleviate the contradictions between the landlord class and the peasants, he advocated the rule of virtue, eliminated the maladministration of the Qin period, and carried out 'reform'. His idea of 'reconstruction' was to use Confucian courtesy, righteousness, benevolence and virtue to limit the exploitation of the people and maintain and consolidate the dictatorship of the ruling class of the Han Dynasty. He believed that severe punishment and strict laws could not bring a stable ruling order to the ruling class, and could not maintain and consolidate the political power of the feudal landlord class. He proposed: to implement the policy of propriety and righteousness, to give benevolence and virtue, to govern by virtue, to attach importance to 'education', and to advocate the use of benevolence instead of severe punishment. He regarded the idea of 'rule by virtue' as the basic governing principle for consolidating feudal rule. And Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: 'As an emperor, we should uphold the will of God to do things, therefore, we should use the education of benevolence rather than the rule of law, and the rule of virtue should be the mainstay, supplemented by the "rule of law."

Dong Zhongshu has written a lot, there are more than 100 articles and words that have been handed down, and there are still two volumes of articles collected in "Three Strategies of Heaven and Man", "Shi Bu Yu Fu", "Spring and Autumn Dew" and Yan Kejun's "All Chinese Literature".

Dong Zhongshu's evaluation in history is also well-known. "Book of Han": Dong Zhongshu has the material of Wang Zuo, although Yi and Lu died to add, Guan and Yan belong to him, and he is the Zuo of the uncle, but he is not able to die.

However, Dong Zhongshu's achievements did not come out of nowhere.

The achievements made by Dong Zhongshu are completely the result of Dong Zhongshu's efforts.

It is said that there is such a story about Dong Zhongshu's hard work.

Dong Zhongshu, gifted and intelligent since childhood, loved to study when he was a teenager, and often forgot to eat and sleep when he read. In order to let the child rest, he decided to build a garden behind the house, so that the child could have the opportunity to go to the garden to relax and rest his mind. In the first year, Dong Taigong sent people to the south to study and see how people's gardens were built, while preparing bricks, tiles and wood. In the first year of construction, the garden was sunny, the grass was green, the birds were singing and the flowers were fragrant, and the bees and butterflies were dancing. My sister invited Dong Zhongshu to play in the garden many times. He held the bamboo slips in his hand, just shook his head, continued to look at the bamboo slips, learned Confucius's "Spring and Autumn", and memorized the poems arranged by Mr. The following year, a rockery was built in the small garden. The children of neighbors and relatives climbed the rockery to play. The friends called him, he didn't move and lowered his head, carved poems on the bamboo slips, and didn't bother to lift his head. In the third year, the back garden was built. Relatives and friends brought their children and daughters to watch, and they all praised the exquisite construction of Dong's garden. His parents asked Zhong Shu to play, but he just nodded and still buried himself in his studies. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Dong Zhongshu's family ate moon cakes in the garden and admired the moon, but there was no trace of Dong Zhongshu. It turned out that Dong Zhongshu took advantage of his family's moon viewing opportunity to find his husband to discuss poetry again. As he grew older, Dong Zhongshu's thirst for knowledge became stronger and stronger, and he read books on Confucianism, Taoism, Yin-Yang School, Legalism and other schools, and became a master of Confucianism. (To be continued......)