Nowadays, as long as anyone who has achieved excellent results in academics, scientific research, art and other fields, everyone calls them "scholars".
When it comes to "Xueba", you can't help but think of our country's fameQian Xuesen, a meritorious scientist of "Two Bombs and One Satellite", as well as Li Siguang, the "Father of Modern Geology", Liang Qichao, an "Encyclopedic Scholar", and Chen Shiingshen, the "Father of Differential Geometry".
They have all made outstanding academic achievements in their respective fields, so they can also be outstanding representatives of Chinese scholars, which are the "scholars" of modern China, so who are the representatives of the ancient "scholars"?
In the history of our country, there is a scholar whose achievements and status are widely praised, he is Ji Xiaolan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty.
Ji Xiaolan, formerly known as Ji Yun, the word Xiaolan, a native of Danyang, Jiangsu, is known as"An Emperor of the Ages".Qianlong once praised him as"Wizard of the World".
Ji Xiaolan was employed by the famous Confucian Dong Bangda at the age of 15, was admitted to the examination at the age of 24, and was ranked as a scholar at the age of 31, and performed well in the imperial examination, ranking among the best in the township examination, the meeting examination and the palace examination, so he became the youngest champion in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Moreover, he has not only achieved outstanding results in academics, but also achieved high achievements in the fields of politics, literature, etc., like"Notes on Reading Wei Caotang" and "Ji Wenda's Public Testament".and other heirlooms.
Ji Xiaolan once served as the editor of the Hanlin Academy and the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and was an important figure in the political and cultural fields of the Qing Dynasty.
As a result, Ji Xiaolan is considered to be the best scholar in Chinese history, and his academic achievements and status are highly praised in the Qing Dynasty and even in the entire Chinese history.
Emperor Qianlong also commented on Ji Xiaolan as:"A generation of Wenzong, erudite and talented, and his articles are brilliant all over the world. ”And the Jiaqing Emperor was:"My teacher, my friend, a generation of Confucianism, a model of Shilin. ”
Even his colleagues and protégés commented on him:"The article is a master, a moral master, and a model for our generation. ”Not only that, Ruan Yuan, a famous minister of the Qing Dynasty, and Nalan Xingde, a literary scholar of the Qing Dynasty, commented on him as both:"A learned man, a great man of articles, an example of my generation to learn from Xi. ”
As can be seen from these reviews,Ji Xiaolan was highly praised by the emperor and Shilin in the Qing Dynasty, and his academic achievements and personality qualities were fully affirmed.
Later generations will use it"The sea is inclusive, and tolerance is great".to express Ji Xiaolan's way of dealing with the world, with"The ups and downs of the sea are like gulls and birds, and the books of life and death are not old".to express Ji Xiaolan's lifelong dedication to academic research.
with"In the middle of the night, I return to my heart three paths, a bag of autumn colors and four screens of incense;I didn't feel it all in front of the bed, and it was difficult to teach white hair to grow in front of the mirror.", to express his indifference to fame and fortune, with"Jiangnan, thousands of mountains and thousands of rivers;Saibei, one day, one place, one saint. ”Express his appreciation for talent.
Through Ji Xiaolan's deeds, it can also be seen that in ancient times, if you wanted to be an official, you had to participate in the imperial examination system, and the selection was carried out at all levels, so many people regarded the current public examination system as a continuation of the ancient imperial examination system.
This is because both of them are selected through examinations to select suitable ** or civil servants for the country and society, but the difference is that the ancient imperial examination system is more focused on the selection of the ** of the feudal dynasty, and the main test is classical cultural knowledge such as literature, scripture and history, and poetry.
The modern public system is more diversified, not only the selection of teachers, doctors, engineers and other fields of talents, the content of the examination is more comprehensive and rich, and the modern public system has also made more efforts in fairness, impartiality, etc.
So as a scholar who is considered to be the best in history, Ji Xiaolan was only admitted to the Jinshi at 31, and now in my country, the age when he is a doctoral student is usually around 27, so how difficult is the Jinshi exam?
The ancient imperial examination system was very different from the current academic system, and at that time, those who could study were basically people from better families, and for children from poor families, the possibility of studying was very low.
The ancient imperial examinations were divided into:Children's Examination, Talent Examination, Lifting Examination and Jinshi ExaminationIn the four stages, if you want to be admitted to the Jinshi, you must first pass the Tongsheng Examination to become a Xiucai, then participate in the lifting test, and finally be eligible to participate in the Jinshi Examination.
And the exams at each stage are very strict, the admission places are limited, and the competition is fierce.
Take the Qing Dynasty as an example, according to statistics,The total number of children in the Qing Dynasty was between 2 million and 3 million, while Xiucai was only 460,000This means that in more than 200 years, a country with hundreds of millions of people has produced a total of less than 500,000 talents.
Being able to be admitted to Xiucai already means that there is an essential difference from ordinary people, and he has the right to speak and the alternate team member of feudal officialdom.
Looking at the difficulty of the examination of lifting people and Jinshi, according to the observation of the visiting Japanese monk Cheng Xun during the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Xiucai from Mingzhou, Wenzhou, and Taizhou participated in the examination, and about 500 people took the solutionIn the end, only three people were taken as officials
The number of talents in the state military towns across the country reached 10,000, and only three people were selected for the official competition in the springThe admission ratio is about 1 out of 1,000 studentsIt can be seen that the examination of lifting people and jinshi is extremely difficult and the competition is very fierce.
Now it is known that the competitive pressure of selection in ancient times is not lower than the competitive pressure of our country now, and it can even be said that it is"More than enough".Therefore, the number of students will naturally not be only one, so which province is the largest number of students from?
Historically, there have been 592 champions under the imperial examination system, and one-third of them came from the same province, which is Fujian Province.
This is because the origin of the imperial examination system was in the first year of the great cause of the Sui Dynasty, although the imperial examination system has been formed, but it was not highly valued by the emperor, and it was not until the Tang Dynasty that the emperors attached great importance to it as the main means of selecting ** and talents.
Therefore, since the Tang Dynasty, Fujian Province has had brilliant achievements in the imperial examination, and a large number of champions and jinshi have appeared, according to statistics, the total number of champions and jinshi from Fujian has reached8,613, among othersFuzhou, Putian and Quanzhou are the cradles of imperial examination talents
Fujian Province's achievements in imperial examinations are not only reflected in the number of people, but also in quality.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Fujian's imperial examination results led the way, creating the myth of the imperial examination of a list of three tripods and three champions.
The first list of three tripods refers to the fact that in the same imperial examination, Zheng Xingzhi, the champion of Fuzhou, Sun Deyu and Tanhua Huang Gui won the top three;The three champions of the three branches refer to Xiao Guoliang, Zheng Qiao, and Huang Ding from Yongfu County, Fuzhou, who have become champions for three consecutive years.
The reason why Fujian Province can become"Xueba Province".There are many reasons for this, the family concept in this area is strong, Fujian people respect learning, respect intellectuals, and take the achievement of fame through the imperial examination as a way to glorify their ancestors.
Moreover, Fujian was the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road in history, and its economic development was relatively prosperous, and with the improvement of economic strength, it also provided a material foundation for the development of culture and education, and stimulated people's pursuit of the imperial examination.
In addition, Fujian is located on the southeast coast, the terrain is hilly, relatively closed, and the Fujian region has been prevalent historically"Emphasizing literature over force".of the ethos.
As a result, culture and education were highly valued in Fujian, and the imperial examination became an important way for Fujian people to realize the value of life, so Fujian became the province with the most "scholars" at that time.
For example:Zhu Xi, the "ancestor of Fujian learning", Huang Daozhou, one of the "Ming Four Families", and Cai Xiang, who is known as the "Song Four Family" with Su Shi, Huang Tingjian and Mi Fu, are all from the Fujian region.
The students of Fujian Province continue to inherit the spirit of the champions, work hard to learn Xi, make positive progress, and contribute their own strength to the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.