The establishment of the Tang Empire, as usual in the long history of Old China, by blood and violence can only be restained by bood and violence. Li Shimin, later the emperor of Tang Empire, killed his brothers and forced his father to abandon the throne by conspiracy. When the sons and daughters of the slaughtered brothers were brought to his face, Li Shimin, for a moment, was inclined to spare the innocent lives of his political victims; till recollecting that his innocence might leave a chance to be revenged on himself, he commanded ruthlessly, without regard to the posterity of Li family that they should be led away to instant death. The inhuman sentence was executed in no time.
In his time-honored work bearing the title of An outline of The Nation History （錢(qián)穆《國(guó)史大綱》）Qian Mu makes a comparison between Sui Danasty and Zhenguan Regime to illustrate that the proserity of Zhenguan Regime was much less than that of Sui Danasty, though the latter was much shorter the the former. That's another topic.
So the tradition of being ruth on the surface in officialdom was exercised one generation after another. This went on in the name of loyalty and filial piety unfulfilled simultaneously. The intellectuals were preached that in the dilemma of family and the emperor they should choose the latter rather than the former. So in the history of China，the officials who stayed far away from home to be an official would not or should not, in the point of veiw of the feudal system, attach too much importance to the family affection and behaved like a man romantic and affectionate.
This is the reason why I regard Zhang Jiuling's poem Missing family afar When Gazing at the Moon as a significant one in the sea of poetry. It's a poem in which human nature awakens to the call of love and affection.
聯(lián)系客服
