I have always been promoting the idea that open standards will eat the world. That’s why I love open-source software so much. But today, I want to share one of the biggest open standards, it is not called TCP/IP, it is called Ancient China.
我自己一直认为，开放协议将会吃掉整个世界。所以我非常喜欢开源软件。今天要跟大家一起学习的是一套很大的开放协议，不叫 TCP/IP ，叫“古代中国”。
China became China largely because of two people, Si Li and Zhongshu Dong.
粗略的说，两个人铸造了古代中国的体制。一个是李斯，另一个是董仲舒。
Si Li was important, because he ended the feudalism of China, and set up the County system. All power belonged to the central government, there were not lots of small kingdoms in China from him on, only counties paying the tax directly to the central government, and everybody was managed by the central government too. So even though huge, China became one kingdom. So the ancient Chinese Emperor after Si Li was not like these weak emperors of earlier dynasties, or of Europe. China became one nation, one state, within one country.
李斯的重要性在于他终结了中国的封建制度，开始了大一统的郡县制。中央直接向地方征税，管理全国每一个人。国中再无小国。秦代以后的中国皇帝，跟商周的天子以及欧洲的皇帝完全不是一个概念。因为古中国是一片巨大的国土上的一个民族，一个政府。
Zhongshu Dong was important because he institutionized Confucianism. Beliving Confucious became not just an educational pursuit, but also a political duty. He also abolished beliefs other than Confucianism.
董仲舒的贡献是把儒学制度化了。读孔孟，不只是为了学业，也是政治任务。百家被废除，思想被统一。
Of course, behind Si Li, that was The First Emperor, behind Zhongshu Dong, that was HanWu Emperor. Because of these people, China was united politically and culturally.
李斯背后是始皇帝，董仲舒背后是汉武帝。咱们总提“秦皇汉武”，大概跟他俩支持手下锻造国体，有很大关系。
Based on Si Li and Zhongshu Dong’s work, The Imperial Examination System was built.
没有李斯和董仲舒的工作，科举制度是不可能建立起来的。
China’s meritocracy was based on the system. Through the examination, working-class people might become the leaders of the state. The flow from the bottom to the top made sure China not to be divided by different wealth levels.
中国的选官体质是任人唯贤。制度保障就是科举制度。通过考试，底层人民可以成为宰相。所谓“朝为田舍郎，暮登天子堂”。人才的跨阶层自由流通，保证了中国不会因为财富水平而产生分裂，看看今天的漂亮国，不由得倒吸一口凉气。
Because of the requirement of the examination, every officer in China, even though they speak different dialects, but they all read the same Confucius books, so they write the same language and holds similar political beliefs.
也是因为考试的需要，天下皆读孔子书。整个帝国的官员虽然口音不同，但是大家的书面文字的相同的，礼教观念也相近，这个是国家日常工作开展的物质基础。
Getting united is the core of China as a protocol. Si Li’s work made sure china won’t be divided geo-wise. Zhongshu Dong belief-wise, the Examination System wealth-level-wise.
大一统，是古中国这套协议的核心。李斯保证了地理上中国不会分裂，董仲舒保证了信仰层面的不分裂，科举制度保证了阶层不分裂。
We have lots of famous scholars in Confucius’s time. Most of their work is now just opinions.
孔子的时代百家争鸣。但是其实其他学派也都最终只是学术而已。
Only Confucianim went all the way from ideas to common knowledge to political practice.
只有孔子，从主张到共识到实践，一路走来，好比一个骨架，凝结了百代风流人物的心血。
Confucious is behind everybody and every system we mentioned above. I am not saying Confucious is good or bad, I just want to remind my friends that Confucianism is the only set of open standards people have been using for two thousand years, and the influences are still deep in everybody’s heart in China and many parts of Asia.
李斯董仲舒，郡县科举制，背后都是孔子。我这里不是要说孔子是好是坏。我只是想说这是咱们两千年来真正使用的协议。就像现在的电脑键盘排列方式，一定是最适合打字的吗？不一定，但是它是事实标准。
When we were building the internet, we used Arpanet as a reference. when we build a new system, maybe we can refer to ancient china as a model. Will Confucius becomes the next TCP/IP, I don’t know, it’s up to everybody to decide.
我们在构建互联网的时候，参考了 Arpanet 。那么未来全球格局，我们是不是也应该抛弃帝国主义思想的骄横，转而考虑一下古中国的“既来之，则安之”的温和包容。孔子会不会成为 TCP/IP ，个人说了不算，天理自在人心。