Wu Jingzi's time in Ganyu

Wu Jingzi (1701-1754), zi minxuan, yizi wenmu, trumpet grain people, one of the greatest novelists of the Qing Dynasty. People from Quanjiao County, Chuzhou City, Anhui Province, because their family has "Wenmu Mountain House", so in their later years they called themselves "Wenmu Old Man", and because they moved from their hometown of Quanjiao County in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, to the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, they are also called "Qinhuai Yuke" (the existing Wu Jingzi handwritten "Orchid Pavilion Preface" is stamped: "Quanjiao Wu Jingzi Grain People's Seal")

"The History of Ru Linwai" and "The Travels of the Old Remnant", "The Appearance of the Officialdom", and "The Strange Situation Witnessed in Twenty Years" are the four major satirical novels in ancient China.

The Outer History of Ru Lin is a novel written by Wu Jingzi. Fifty-six times in the book, with realism to depict the different performances of various people for "fame and wealth", on the one hand, it truly reveals the process and reasons for the corrosion of human nature, so as to make a profound criticism and ridicule of the corruption of the officials at that time, the hypocrisy of the evil etiquette of the imperial examination, etc. The History of Rulinwai represents the peak of the ancient Chinese satirical novel, which creates an example of directly evaluating real life with novels.

Everyone knows Wu Jingzi and the "History of Ru Lin", but few people know the origin of Wu Jingzi and Ganyu.

When Wu Jingzi was fourteen years old in the fifty-third year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1714), he accompanied his father Wu Linqi to Ganyuqi, Jiangsu Province, until the twenty-third age of the first year of Yongzheng (1723), which was his youth. Nine of these ten years were spent in Ganyu.

Many of the popular words and phrases in the "History of Rulinwaishi" are derived from the dialect of Ganyu, and the Ganyu dialect is brought into full play, and the old Ganyu people who have read the "History of Rulinwaishi" have a sense of well-being.

In 1701, Wu Jingzi was born in the northwest of Quanjiao County, Anhui Province, in the 40th year of the Kangxi Dynasty. The Wu family was a family of scholars, and Wu Jingzi's grandfather and great-grandfather had a total of six jinshi within the family in the forty-eight years.

Guangxu's "Chronicle of Ganyu County" records that in the fifty-third year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1714), the fourteen-year-old Wu Jingzi went with his father Wu Linqi to ganyu, the northernmost coastal city in Jiangsu.

Until the age of twenty-three in the first year of Yongzheng (1723), it was his youth. Nine of these ten years were spent in Ganyu.

He later wrote a poem recalling: "In the past, when he was thirteen years old, he lost his mother and lost his wife. Fourteen from the father eunuch, a thousand miles on the sea. The weak crown father lives forever, and the affliction begins from this. ”

The creation of "The History of Ru Lin" began with the author's life experience in Ganyu, and Wu Jingzi had a lifelong complex for Ganyu. Wu Jingzi's father (successor) Wu Linqi was admitted in 1686 and was appointed in 1714 as the education officer in Ganyu County, that is, the academic officer in charge of education.

Wu Lin's teaching position was roughly equivalent to that of the current director of education, Ganyu's original xuegong, and many buildings were burned down by Chongzhen in the fifteenth year (1642). In the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651), it was rebuilt on the old site through the funds raised by the county government, including Dacheng Hall, Ji Gate, Lingxing Gate, Qisheng Ancestral Hall, Minglun Hall, Wenchang Pavilion, Kuixing Tower, etc., which were once flourishing. In the seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1668), it was severely damaged by an earthquake. Although it has been repaired many times, it has not been restored to its old appearance. Later, the whole county was hit by tsunamis, insects, waterlogging and other disasters, the officials had no money to repair, the school affairs stopped for many years, and no one in the county participated in the scientific examination for more than ten years.

Although Wu Linqi is a tribute, he is an upright Gengjie and does not seek Rongli. The teachings are in charge of education, and the immediate situation is that the xuegong has collapsed, the school buildings have been destroyed, and many teachers and masters have gone to other places to teach, even if Confucius is reborn as a teaching in Ganyu County, it is also a nonsense. Therefore, Wu Lin's self-drafted performance plan can only be to apply for funds to repair the palace and school building, and then gradually gather teachers to teach.

In the face of the dilapidated xue palace, the protestant Wu Linqi was like facing the sea not far away, and his heart was surging. The broken walls and tiles were worried in the distant wind of the sea, and the surrounding doors and windows could no longer cover the wind and rain. Because the school palace could not be used for many years, most of the local teachers went to other places to make a living, leaving only the old, weak, sick and disabled who were still struggling to maintain, and it was difficult to return to school normally. This is true of the county seat, and the countryside is even worse. The teachings cannot hear the sound of reading, so what is the teachings? But he was really worried, several county masters could not do anything, how could a new teaching edict that had been waiting for many years to be supplemented have a law?

Wu Jingzi, who had not taken money properly since childhood, looked at his worried father and said: My grandfather can no longer take charge, and the Wu family's silver money is no less than that of a small poor county. It is better for father Feng Lu to take some and then let his hometown send some silver two.

So Wu Linqi donated his own money of 40 taels a year, and then sold his ancestral property and fertilizer fields, raising nearly 1,000 taels of silver to build the Temple of Literature and the Zunjing Pavilion, which were destroyed in the earthquake in 1668. And a new "Jingyi Pavilion" was built. Wu Jingzi witnessed his father's contribution and was deeply proud of him.

To be continued