Cromwell versus Shangyang

The idea to put Thomas Cromwell and Shangyang in juxtaposition is inspired by their paths of life. Thomas Cromwell, the Chief Minister under King Henry VIII of English, lived from 1485-1540 AD; Shangyang, one of the Chief Ministers under Emperor Xiao of China Qin Dynasty, lived from 390-338 BC. The two tried to enforce reformation which would change the landscape of European history and ancient China history. Both had origins of plebian. Both with the full support of kings uprooted the then existing societal system. With the upheavals in minds, both were executed later by king for their reformation interfered and vitiated the powers and benefits of imperialists and nobilities.

Thomas Cromwell, an English statesman also the son of a clothworker/smith/house keeper(different accounts), rose to power for offering advocacy to King Henry VIII’s religious reformation which broke English from the control of Rome Papacy. Though King Henry VIII’s purpose was to denounce the marriage to Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, the mother of famous Elizabeth I. King Henry VIII was a devoted Catholic to the Pope of Rome. But under the old Rome Catholic church system, the Pope of Rome would deny Henry VIII’s request of the announcement of a null marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon.

Catherine of Aragon was also the aunt of the then King of Spain, Emperor Charles V, who put the then Pope of Rome in prison. After King Henry VIII was bewitched by Anne Boleyn, whose action was under the maneuver of her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn. Being an ambitious statesman, Thomas Boleyn first sent his elder daughter, Mary Boleyn, to be the mistress of King Henry VIII. After Mary lost Henry VIII’s favor, Anne Boleyn was arranged to flirt with Henry VIII. And the king fell into the trap. Under Anne’s insistence, Henry VIII resolved to divorce Queen Catherine and establish Anne as the Queen of England. That’s where Cromwell seized the opportunity to rise to power.

Cromwell first served under the Cardinal Wolsey who tried to mediate between the King Henry VIII and Pope of Rome to achieve the goal of divorce but failed. And Cromwell rode the waves and became the strongest advocate of His Majesty. In order to break away from Rome Church, Cromwell pushed the religious reformation, which made the King Henry VIII the head of England Church. Also, Cromwell put force a radical eradication of Catholic churches and their influences in England. A great societal upheaval was detonated, and not only some court members and royal family members were dissatisfied with the reformation, even a plebian rebellion was sparked which for once frightened His Majesty, King Henry VIII. However, the breakaway gave England the opportunity to enjoy autonomy and later developed different social and law system which, under the Elizabeth I, created the era of Great Britain Empire.

Yang, also a son of plebian, was raised to learn the law and jurisdiction system. By then, the ancient China Kingdom was broke into numerous small states, and the power of the ancient East Zhou Empire was eclipsing. Those ambitious Dukes were actively recruiting intellectuals and smart statesman to beef up their own strength. Before Yang, there were a few jurisprudents such as Wu Qi began to spread the importance of law and its supremacy. One background tip, during the Zhou Dynasty, the very beginning of China civilization, law and jurisprudence was under their very earliest age of development.

Enamored by the theories advocated by legists, Yang spent great amount of time studying law books and their applications. Yang was noticed by the chancellor of Duke of Wei. He was recommended to the Duke of Wei upon the chancellor’s death. The chancellor said to the Duke to use Yang as the future chief minister, or deprive his right of life in case of no interest. The chancellor warned the loss of Yang to other states would be a disaster to Wei. However, after the passing away of the chancellor, Wei ignored either his recommendation or the warning. Yang left State of Wei and went to State of Qin. The duke of Qin, Xiao, was experiencing great military failure and invested heavily to recruit the most talented person nationwide.

Yang managed to talk to Xiao, Duke of Qin, and had the duke prevailed. Eager and thirsty for new policy to strengthen his power, Xiao gave Yang the full power and support. Named one of his chief ministers, the only one non-royal family member of the four chief ministers, Yang was granted the full control of the reformation. And he began to press his way. By then, royal family members were above laws, and in order to demonstrate the supremacy of laws, Yang even punished the tutors of princes and received the oppressed acquiescence from royal family members and nobilities. Also, in order to enrich the Qin state treasury, Yang enforced laws to confiscate the lands once owned by nobilities. The nobilities championed the old instituted political system of Empire Xia, Shang, and Zhou, whereas Yang debated the once successful political system couldn’t adapt to new situations. Not to mention, the reformation pushed by Yang striped the inherited benefits away from nobilities.

Under Yang’s reformation, Qin sailed into prosperity and finally was able to defeat all the states and unite the whole nation. Empire Qin was born with the blessing of Yang’s reformation. Yang once was awarded with the state of Shang, and he was later remembered as Shangyang. However, the next Emperor was so dissatisfied with Yang, bearing in mind whose tutor was punished by Yang, also with the encouragements of those nobilities who hated Yang so much, that the Emperor sealed Yang’s miserable ending. Shangyang was executed alive by four chariots, which torn his body apart. And Yang’s family was destroyed entirely.

Cromwell suffered the same fate. His head was cut off and boiled and spiked on a rod for public display. That’s the fate of reformers, doomed from the beginning. People would wonder if there is any way for a successful reformer to maintain a blessed ending. However, no mater whatever the personal consequences, Cromwell and Yang were able to change the land of Europe and the land of China forever.

Octavian vs. K’ang-hsi

Recently when I am half way through the book, the Penguin History of Europe, I suddenly came to an involuntary comparison of Octavian, the great “Augustus” in ancient Roman time, and K’ang-hsi (Kangxi), the great emperor of China Qing dynasty.

Though the idea is quaint, the possibility is highly recommendable. Some similar characteristics of the two great ancient leaders, one in the Occidental from 63 BC to 19 Ad, one in the Oriental from 1654-1722, can be found easily. 

First, the longevity of the two emperors. Octavian outlived many of his contemporaries, even some among his next generation died before him. The longevity of Octavian is an odd phenomenon in Roman time, since most of the population couldn’t make even their thirties. In an era of turbulence, watermarked by “Dark Age”, endless wars and domestic violence gulped lives like those lives were not in existence at all. On the other hand, Kang-hsi was lauded one of the longest lived emperors in China ancient history. Though he short lived Octavian several years, the comparability is still reasonable. The longevity of both guaranteed a certain length of peace time for both peoples. The Romans acquired a respite of rest under Octavian’s reign, and several civilization achievements were able to come into being. The same applies to Kang-hsi, the years under Kang-hsi’s reign was accredited “Prosperous Era of Kang-hsi” and he laid the foundation for his successor, “Prosperous Era of Qianlong”.

Second, both suffered the agonized period of young ages under another ambitious regent. Octavian has to fight Antony, who has an affair with Octavian’s mother, Atia, the sister of Caesar, the dictator of Roman Republic. And Kang-hsi has to manage to survive under the regentship of Oboi, since he came into throne only at age of seven. However, Octavian had already grown up to 19 when he was adopted by Caesar when the famous assassination occurred. Under the maneuver of a smart mother, Atia, Octavian along with his own achieved intellectual mentality managed to live and survive and crashed Antony finally in the later Rome-Egypt War. But Kang-hsi is not that lucky. At the age of 15, under the support of the Grand Dowager Empress, Xiaozhuang, he arrested Oboi and claimed the full throne without an army. Xiaozhuang, the legendary empress of Qing Dynasty, a smart, decent and long-lived lady, was behind the looming prosperity of later emperors. The comparison of Xiaozhuang and Atia, both the ladies behind a thriving ancient empire, could generate interesting findings for the women’s influence in the occidental and oriental history.

Third, both are warmongers. During Octavian and Kang-hsi’s whole life, both fought against external foreign nations as well as domestic rebellions. And under warfare, that the two great emperors were able to stabilize internal societal status as well as expand into larger territories never being forgotten by history. Octavian suppressed the other triumvirs during the first and second triumvirate periods. And his coldness and iron hand murdered as many senators as possible. Also, he sought opportunities to initiate wars against his enemies inside and outside. Finally he claimed the title of Roman Emperor, and under his series military campaigns, the Roman Empire was able to expand and realize its “sovereignty without limit”. One of Kang-hsi’s achievements was to stall the invasion of Mongol and Russian Empires. At the time around 1700, Russian Empire thrived under the reign of Peter the Great, and kept a strong nation well into 19 centuries. Also, Mongol clans were eyeing at China territory for long. The conflicts led to wars and Kang-hsi himself as commander in chief fought with Mongols. Finally Qing signed a treaty and fixed a border with Russia. And though the harassing of Mongols lasted longer Qing finally defeated the efforts of invasion. Also, Kang-hsi initiated the wars against the three Feudatories. Among them, the wars with Wu Sangui, the most powerful feudatory, was the most legendary. It took several years to overthrow the internal rebellions. And finally, Kang-hsi rejoiced in his empire without limit, though confined to oriental boundary.

Interesting similarities can be found if you delve into mountainous historical materials. However, the societal settings are in sharp difference. The ancient Rome had established the idea of Republic and built up the rudimentary Senate system. Democracy was a prevalent ideology even Octavian had to bend his head, though he stole the dictatorship in a stealthy way. And Europeans never get used the idea of one uniform and culturally homogenous kingdom for thousands of years. The existence of many nations on the land of Europe gave the birth to the quintessential modern democracy system, United States. On the contrary, Chinese for thousands of years are under the mentality of one nation one people. Since the prevalence of Confucius Doctrine, Chinese always seek to unite under one nation. Against the rebels of feudatories, China stays one nation.