站在历史的高度，纵览数千年的中国传统政治史，不难发现，从先秦至明清，中国传统社会始终无法跳脱“治乱循环”的周期率，总是在治乱兴衰中不断重演暴力与杀戮、分裂与重合、饥饿与贫穷的历史悲剧，其根本原因之一就是中国传统社会一直难以摆脱封建专制主义的政治阴魂。

辛亥革命虽然推翻了封建君主制度，但封建专制主义仍然阴魂不散。“五四”运动之后，中国共产党肩负“反帝反封建”的伟大历史使命登上历史舞台，领导中国人民历经28年的革命斗争实现了“反帝”的伟大历史使命。然而，“反封建”仍然任重而道远。王义保将“封建专制主义”作为其学术著作的研究主题，理论意义重大，现实价值自不待言。

从某种意义上讲，人类政治发展史就是一部不断走向文明的历史。然而，多年的学术研究经历让我深切地感受到：无论是就人类文明还是就某种类型的文明而言，研究者对文明的把握不仅要有知识论上的要求，更需要生成一种人生、学问的境界，进而去领悟、把握文明的内涵。如果要真正探究一种文明或文化的深层底蕴，它不是单靠某种学科理论的功夫就能完成的。它需要一种使命感、一种学养修为、一种“物我两忘”的精神境界。学术研究非一朝一夕、亦非一年一岁之功就能走完的心路历程。任何学术研究都要在遵循学术研究规律的前提下，让思想在岁月中慢慢积累、沉淀，唯有如此才能成就好的作品。王义保在多年教学与研究过程中不断沉淀学术修养，历经数载完成的专著即将面世，实在是可喜可贺！

历史观是马克思主义思想体系的重要组成部分。恩格斯晚年提出并系统地阐述了“历史合力”这一思想。他曾这样指出：“历史是这样创造的：最终的结果总是从许多单个的意志的相互冲突中产生出来的”，“这样就有无数相互交错的力量，有无数个力的平行四边形，而由此就产生一个总的结果，即历史事变，这个结果又可以看做一个作为整体的、不自觉地和不自主地起着作用的力量的产物”。2730348探究中国的传统政治形态，也应当遵循“历史合力”的指导原则，从多重维度综合考察中国传统政治的历史形态。在中国源远流长的历史长河中，农耕性的经济结构、一元化的集权政治生态、半封闭式的地理环境、血缘宗法化的社会关系、伦理性的文化传统以及其他诸多客观要素相互作用，使传统中国社会走出了一条颇具特色的政治衍化之路。

大约从新石器晚期开始，中国即已形成王权与神权相统一的历史传统。2730349这一历史传统型塑了中国传统政治形态的演进轨迹及其内在特征。农耕治水的集体化经济模式，武力征战不断的社会现况，不但没有使群体性的社会组织形式随着原始社会的瓦解而日渐消亡，反而以血缘关系为纽带，逐渐衍生出高度集权化的宗法制国家，“所以中华民族刚刚进步到文明边沿，就形成了一个祖先，一个权力，一个核心”。2730350这种高度集权的一元化社会形态铸就了统治集团的经济特权，他们以国有化的名义实行土地的“王有”制，即所谓“溥天之下，莫非王土；率土之滨，莫非王臣”。2730351由此严重抑制了私有经济的发展，从而形成了中国历史的发展轨迹。恩格斯在《家庭、私有制和国家的起源》一书中曾指出：土地私有制的不存在是了解整个东方的钥匙。恩格斯关于东方社会特征的论断为我们探究中国古代社会开启了十分重要的思维路径。深入探究中国古代宗法社会形态特征会发现，中国的宗法社会以土地的国有与自给自足的农耕生产为经济基础，以宗族血亲关系为纽带，以宗统维护君统，以族权强化王权。王权与神权合二为一，王权借助神权宰执天下，所谓“圣人设神道，而天下服矣”。2730352这种“祭政合一”、“家国同构”的一元化宗法社会奠定了传统中国社会高度集权化的专制主义内在特质与敬天法祖的神道伦理情怀。

王义保从政治环境、权力结构、政治运行方式等诸多方面探究了中国古代“专制主义”的政治形态。视野开阔、立论稳固、阐述得力，既体现了较为扎实的政治理论功底，又展现了历史的厚重感。当然任何一部学术著作都不可能完美无缺。况且，由于学者们的观点各异，对任何问题的见解都会异彩纷呈。

中国封建专制主义社会，从秦汉至明清，长达两千余年。历时之久，纵览古今，横贯东西，世所罕见，堪称世界历史上的奇迹。有些学者将这一历史现象称为“超稳定结构”，已然成为学术研究的重大课题。中国封建专制主义社会何以历史长存，其中成因众说纷纭。王义保从多维的角度找寻其复杂的内在成因，但对于中国传统的“选举制度”却着墨不多。中国自秦汉以来，历代大一统封建王朝，无不面向社会各个层面，“共典选举，不偏富右”，不论门第、不分贫富，秉持公明严正的选拔原则选举贤达之人执掌国家各级政权，以吸纳社会中坚力量，从而不断扩大执政基础，这是中国专制主义社会“超稳定”的一大关键要素。关于这一问题，学界同仁往往认识不足，希望王义保在今后的学术生涯中对这一问题能有所关注，从而进一步拓展自己的研究论域。

封建专制主义给中国社会带来了极为深重的灾难，是阻碍中国社会发展的总根源。早在明末清初，一些经世致用的思想家就针对中国的专制集权制度进行了深刻的揭露与批判。明末鸿儒黄宗羲曾尖锐而又深刻地揭露了中国封建专制政权的罪恶，他说君主为“天下之大害”——“凡天下之无地而得安宁者，为君也。是以其未得之也，屠毒天下之肝脑，离散天下之子女，以博我一人之产业，曾不惨然，曰：我固为子孙创业也。其既得之也，敲剥天下之骨髓，离散天下之子女，以奉我一人之淫乐，视为当然，曰：此我产业之花息也。然则为天下之大害者，君而已矣，向使无君，人各得自私也，人各得自利也，呜呼！岂设君之道固如是乎！”2730353他在《明夷待访录》中，无情地揭露了封建帝王的罪恶，指出帝王是害民之贼寇，这些专制独裁者为了一己之私欲，不惜“屠毒天下之肝脑，离散天下之子女”，“以奉我一人之淫乐”。黄宗羲揭露了君主专制制度实为一切罪恶之根源，这些尖锐批判成为中国近代反封建专制的先声。

政治文明潮流浩浩荡荡，民主作为人类政治生活的价值追求和制度形态已经成为世界政治文明发展的主流。但由于封建专制制度在中国延续了两千多年，封建残余积淀异常深厚。这些封建残余始终是社会主义初级阶段民主政治建设的严重障碍，因此，站在新世纪的历史起点上，在既看到社会主义民主政治建设的巨大成就和成功经验，展望中国民主政治建设的美好前景的同时，还必须清楚地认识古代专制主义的残余仍然存在，中国社会主义民主政治建设任务艰巨。

曾几何时，弟子博文梓书，央师作序，俨然成例。今义保携文恳求，着实难辞。众所周知，专制、专制主义之类的关键词对于政治学者而言是耳熟能详，然而深究其内涵、范畴和体制体系，却众说纷纭，无一定论。王义保以中国古代专制主义为例，以政治学的研究视角对专制主义政治做出了一些剖析，对于深刻认识专制主义具有较好的探索和尝试性意义。当然书中的一些认识也有尚待深入探讨之处，期待作者与学界同仁继续深究之、完善之。

是为序。

杨海蛟

中国社会科学院政治学所

2012年3月

Standing at the height of history, looking at thousands of years of traditional Chinese political history, it is not difficult to find that from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties, traditional Chinese society has never been able to break out of the cycle of "chaos", and has always repeated the historical tragedies of violence and killing, division and coincide, hunger and poverty in the rise and fall of chaos. Although the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the feudal monarchy, feudal absolutism remained haunted. After the May Fourth Movement, the Communist Party of China shouldered the great historical mission of "opposing imperialism and feudalism" and led the Chinese people to realize the great historical mission of "opposing imperialism" after 28 years of revolutionary struggle. However, "anti-feudalism" still has a long way to go. Wang Yibao took "feudal absolutism" as the research theme of his academic works, which is of great theoretical significance and practical value. In a sense, the history of human political development is a history of continuous civilization. However, years of academic research experience have made me deeply feel that whether it is for human civilization or a certain type of civilization, researchers must not only have epistemological requirements for their grasp of civilization, but also need to generate a realm of life and learning, and then understand and grasp the connotation of civilization. If you want to truly explore the deep roots of a civilization or culture, it cannot be done by the work of a certain disciplinary theory alone. It requires a sense of mission, a kind of learning and cultivation, and a spiritual realm of "forgetting both things and me". Academic research is not an overnight journey, nor can it be completed in a year. Any academic research should follow the rules of academic research, let ideas slowly accumulate and precipitate over the years, only in this way can we achieve good works. Wang Yibao has continued to accumulate academic accomplishment in the process of teaching and research for many years, and the monograph completed over several years is about to be published, which is really gratifying! The view of history is an important part of the Marxist ideological system. In his later years, Engels proposed and systematically expounded the idea of "historical synergy". He once pointed out that "history is created in such a way that the final result always arises from the conflict of many individual wills", "so that there are innumerable intersecting forces, parallelograms of innumerable forces, and from this arises a general result, that is, historical events, which in turn can be seen as the product of a force acting unconsciously and involuntarily as a whole". 2730348 explore China's traditional political form, we should also follow the guiding principle of "historical synergy" and comprehensively examine the historical form of traditional Chinese politics from multiple dimensions. In China's long history, the interaction of agricultural economic structure, unified centralized political ecology, semi-closed geographical environment, patriarchal social relations, ethical cultural traditions and many other objective factors has enabled traditional Chinese society to embark on a unique path of political evolution. From about the late Neolithic period, China has formed a historical tradition of unifying royal power and theocracy. 2730349 this historical tradition has shaped the evolution trajectory and inherent characteristics of China's traditional political form. The collectivized economic model of farming and water control, and the social situation of continuous armed conquest, not only did not make the form of collective social organization gradually disappear with the collapse of primitive society, but gradually derived a highly centralized patriarchal state with blood relations as a bond, "so the Chinese nation has just advanced to the edge of civilization, forming an ancestor, a power, a core." 2730350 this highly centralized unitary social form forged the economic privileges of the ruling group, who implemented the "king-owned" system of land in the name of nationalization, that is, the so-called "under the heavens, there is no royal land; Leading the shores of the land, it is not Wang Chen." 2730351 this severely inhibited the development of the private economy, thus forming the development trajectory of Chinese history. Engels pointed out in the book "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State": The non-existence of private ownership of land is the key to understanding the entire East. Engels's thesis on the characteristics of Eastern society opened a very important thinking path for us to explore ancient Chinese society. A closer look at the characteristics of ancient Chinese patriarchal society will show that China's patriarchal society is based on the state-owned land and self-sufficient agricultural production, with clan blood relations as the bond, with clan lineage to safeguard the monarchy, and clan power to strengthen the royal power. Kingship and divine power are combined, and the king's power rules the world with the help of divine power, the so-called "saints set up the divine way, and the world obeys". 2730352 this unitary patriarchal society of "unity of sacrifice and government" and "isomorphism of family and state" has laid the foundation for the inherent characteristics of the highly centralized authoritarianism of traditional Chinese society and the Shinto ethical sentiment of respecting heaven and ancestors. Wang Yibao explored the political form of "authoritarianism" in ancient China from many aspects such as political environment, power structure, and political operation mode. The broad vision, solid thesis, and effective exposition not only reflect a relatively solid foundation in political theory, but also show the heavy sense of history. Of course, no scholarly work can be perfect. Moreover, because scholars have different perspectives, opinions on any issue can vary. China's feudal absolutist society lasted for more than 2,000 years, from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties. It has lasted for a long time, spanning ancient and modern times, spanning east and west, which is rare in the world and can be called a miracle in the history of the world. Some scholars refer to this historical phenomenon as "superstable structure", which has become a major topic of academic research. The reasons why China's feudal absolutist society has endured in history are varied. Wang Yibao explores its complex internal causes from a multidimensional perspective, but does not pay much attention to China's traditional "electoral system". Since the Qin and Han dynasties, successive generations of unified feudal dynasties have all faced all levels of society, "co-election, not favoring the rich and the right", regardless of family, rich or poor, adhering to the principle of fair and strict selection to elect virtuous people to hold state power at all levels, so as to absorb the backbone of society, so as to continuously expand the ruling base, which is a key element of the "super stability" of China's authoritarian society. Academic colleagues often have insufficient understanding of this issue, and hope that Wang Yibao will pay attention to this issue in his future academic career, so as to further expand his research field. Feudal absolutism has brought extremely deep disasters to Chinese society and is the general source hindering China's social development. As early as the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, some thinkers who have been used by the world have made profound attacks and criticisms of China's authoritarian and centralized system. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Huang Zongxi sharply and profoundly exposed the evils of China's feudal autocracy, saying that the monarch was "the great evil under the world"—"Whoever finds peace without land under the world is also a king." It is with its unobtained, slaughtering the liver and brain of the world, separating the children of the world, and Bo my one-man inheritance, once not miserable, I said: I am fixed for my children and grandchildren to start a business. He has also taken it for granted that he strips the marrow of the world and separates the children of the world in order to serve me alone, as a matter of course, and that this is the flower of my inheritance. However, he is the great evil of the world, and he is only a king, and he has no king, and everyone has selfishness, and everyone has selfishness, woohoo! How can the way of kings be solid! 2730353 he ruthlessly exposed the sins of feudal emperors in "Ming Yi To Be Interviewed", pointing out that the emperors were thieves who harmed the people, and these autocrats did not hesitate to "slaughter the liver and brain of the world, scatter the children of the world" and "serve me alone" for their own selfish desires. Huang Zongxi exposed the absolute monarchy as the root of all evil, and these sharp criticisms became the precursors of modern China's anti-feudal autocracy. The trend of political civilization is vast, and democracy, as the value pursuit and institutional form of human political life, has become the mainstream of the development of world political civilization. However, because the feudal autocracy has continued in China for more than 2,000 years, the remnants of feudalism have accumulated extremely deeply. Therefore, standing at the historical starting point of the new century, while seeing the tremendous achievements and successful experiences in socialist democratic political construction and looking forward to the bright prospects of China's democratic political construction, we must also clearly understand that the remnants of ancient authoritarianism still exist and that the task of building socialist democratic politics in China is arduous. Once upon a time, the disciple Bowen Zishu and the preface of the Yang Master were like a rule. Jinyiho pleaded with the text, which is really difficult to say. As we all know, keywords such as autocracy and authoritarianism are familiar to political scientists, but when we delve into their connotation, scope and institutional system, there are many opinions and indefinite opinions. Taking ancient Chinese authoritarianism as an example, Wang Yibao made some analysis of authoritarian politics from the perspective of political science, which has good exploration and tentative significance for a deep understanding of authoritarianism. Of course, some of the understandings in the book still need to be explored in depth, and I look forward to the author and colleagues in the academic community to continue to study and improve them. is the order. Yang Haijiao, Institute of Political Science, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, March 2012（AI翻译）