Pembakaran buku dan penguburan cendekiawan
Pembakaran buku dan penguburan cendekiawan (Hanzi tradisional: 焚書坑儒; Hanzi sederhana: 焚书坑儒; Pinyin: Fénshū Kēngrú) adalah istilah yang merujuk kepada serangkaian peristiwa yang berlangsung dari tahun 213 hingga 206 SM di Tiongkok Kuno pada masa Dinasti Qin. Pada masa tersebut, Seratus Aliran Pemikiran dihabisi sementara legalisme berhasil bertahan. Salah satu efek samping dari peristiwa ini adalah marginalisasi mazhab pemikiran Mozi dan bertahannya pemikiran Konfusius.
Menurut Catatan Sejarah Agung, setelah Qin Shi Huang berhasil menyatukan Cina, kanselirnya Li Si mengusulkan agar diskursus intelektual dihabisi agar pemikiran politik dapat disatukan. Usulan ini didukung oleh tuduhan bahwa kaum terpelajar melakukan pembangkangan melalui fitnah.
Maka, dimulai dari tahun 213 SM, semua karya klasik Seratus Aliran Pemikiran - kecuali yang berasal dari mazhab Li Si yaitu legalisme - dibakar. Qin Shi Huang juga membakar catatan sejarah lain karena dapat mengganggu keabsahan kekuasaannya, dan menulis buku sejarahnya sendiri. Li Si kemudian mengusulkan agar semua sejarah di arsip kekaisaran dibakar, kecuali yang ditulis oleh sejarawan Qin. Ia juga mengusulkan agar orang yang mendiskusikan buku-buku tersebut dihukum mati, agar orang yang menggunakan karya-karya tersebut untuk menyindir politik kontemporer dihukum mati bersama keluarganya, dan agar mereka yang tidak membakar buku tersebut selama 30 hari dibuang ke utara untuk membantu pembangunan Tembok Besar Cina. Hanya buku mengenai perang, kedokteran, pertanian dan ramalan yang disisakan.[1]
Setelah ditipu oleh dua ahli alkimia saat mencari rahasia awet muda, Qin Shi Huang juga memerintahkan agar 460 cendekiawan di ibu kota dikubur hidup-hidup, meskipun menurut Wei Hong jumlahnya mencapai 700. Beberapa di antaranya juga merupakan cendekiawan beraliran Konfusianisme.[2]
Referensi
[sunting | sunting sumber]- ^ In Chinese: "相李斯曰：「臣請史官非秦記皆燒之。非博士官所職，天下敢有D詩、書、百家語者，悉詣守、尉雜燒之。有敢偶語詩書者棄市。以古非今者族。吏見知不舉者與同罪。令下三十日不燒，黥為城旦。所不去者，醫藥卜筮種樹之書。若欲有学法令，以吏为师」", from Shiji Chapter 6. “The Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin,” thirty fourth year (213 BC). English translation: Chancellor Li Si Said: "I, your servant, propose that all historian's records other than those of Qin's be burned. With the exception of the academics whose duty includes possessing books, if anyone under heaven has copies of the Shi Jing, the Classic of History, or the writings of the hundred schools of philosophy, they shall deliver them (the books) to the governor or the commandant for burning. Anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed. Any official who sees the violations but fails to report them is equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn the books after thirty days of this announcement shall be subjected to tattooing and be sent to build the Great Wall. The books that have exemption are those on medicine, divination, agriculture and forestry. Those who have interest in laws shall instead study from officials.
- ^ In Chinese: "於是使御史悉案問諸生，諸生傳相告引，乃自除。1犯禁者四百六十餘人，皆阬之咸陽，使天下知之，以懲後。益發謫徙邊。始皇長子扶蘇諫曰：「天下初定，遠方黔首未集，諸生皆誦法孔子，今上皆重法繩之，臣恐天下不安。唯上察之。」", from Shiji chapter 6. English translation: The first emperor therefore directed the imperial censor to investigate the scholars one by one. The scholars accused each other, and so the emperor personally determined their fate. More than 460 of them were buried alive at Xianyang, and the event is announced to all under heaven for warning followers. More people were internally exiled to border regions. Fusu, the eldest son of the emperor, counselled: "The empire just achieved peace, and the barbarians in distant areas have not surrendered. The scholars all venerate Confucius and take him as a role model. Your servant fears if Your Majesty punish them so severely, it may cause unrest in the empire. Please observe this, Your Majesty." (1Punctuation and therefore translation is ambiguous here. Punctuation given here reflects the 1959 Zhonghua Shuju (中華書局) edition.)
Pranala luar
[sunting | sunting sumber]- The Burning of the Books
- Jing Liao, A historical perspective: the root cause for the underdevelopment of user services in Chinese academic libraries Diarsipkan 2011-06-07 di Wayback Machine., The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol.30, num. 2, pages 109-115, march 2004.