The Emergence, Decline, and Functional Characteristics of Traditional Rural Sages: A Reference Foundation for Modern Local Worthies' Social Edification

After the beginning and establishment of Qin and Han dynasties, Traditional Chinese rural sages experienced six development stages as follows: the consolidation in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties; the expansion in the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties; the prosperity and perfection in the Ming Dynasty; the retrogression and divergence in the Qing Dynasty; the alienation in the Min-Guo Dynasty; and the disappearance after the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China. On the whole, it has experienced a process from generation, prosperity to differentiation and extinction. It is the outcome of agricultural economy self-sufficiency, the result of Patriarchal clan political power game, and the pursuit of Confucian cultural idea of governing the world. Its extinction is caused by the disappearance of power vacuum caused by the administrative embedding, the cultural soil discomfort caused by the social transformation, the class contradiction caused by the hostility between the gentry and the people. The identity role of the traditional local sages in this area has both the dual attributes of the officials and the people, and the functional role has both positive and negative effects Its status and role depends on the degree of control of the ruling power and its game results, good and evil depends on its own action results and the degree of its benefit.