Text/Simon Orange
How did the emperors train at the end of the late Qing Dynasty? Let's take a look at it through the learning and growth path of the two little emperors of Tongzhi and Guangxu.
Both Tongzhi and Guangxu were "Chong Ling JianZuo", that is, they succeeded to the throne as emperors at a very young age. Tongzhi ascended the throne at the age of 5, Guangxu was carried into the palace at the age of 4, and the two were cousins in blood, but in the legal system, their fathers were Xianfeng, and their mothers were both empresses Of Ci'an and Cixi.
Although the two people were 15 years apart, the educational model was basically the same, and Cixi did not treat their education much differently, and wanted to cultivate them to become good emperors with both moral integrity and ability, and literary and martial arts.
By the late Qing Dynasty, the Great Qing Dynasty had existed for more than two hundred years, and how to educate the emperor and train the emperor had long formed a fixed and strict model and method, which was gradually explored by the Shunzhi Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong.
01
What knowledge and skills do you need to master to become emperor of the empire?
It is roughly divided into three types, the first is the Chinese language and related Confucian classics, you have to study the Four Books and Five Classics, the subset of the history of the classics, but also chant poems to pair, write and paint. Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong is a master of Han culture learning, especially Yongzheng, who writes poetry and painting at a high level.
The second is Manchu Manchu and Mongolian, which must learn their mother tongue and master the language of their important political allies, the Mongols; the third is physical education, as a shangwu people outside the Guanxi, they must be able to ride horses and shoot arrows, wrestle and hunt.
All three are taught by special teachers, and those who teach Chinese are called masters, who have the highest status and can sit and lecture; those who teach Manchu and Mongolian are called Neizhida and can only stand in class; those who teach physical education kung fu are called Waizhida.
These contents were tested by the two hundred years of education in the Qing Dynasty, which can be regarded as a tradition, whether it is Tongzhi or Guangxu, this is a compulsory course.
However, for four- and five-year-olds, these contents are excessive, and of course, what is more difficult is the tight and heavy learning schedule.
02
Their schedule is like this:
When they came together in the morning, the little emperor would first follow the two empresses to listen to the government, summon the ministers, and immediately get to the study room after the matter. First pull the bow to exercise the arm strength, then learn Mongolian, Manchu, then read Chinese books, follow the master, or discuss and comment; all the way to learn to pass on the supper. Before the age of eight, the emperor was young and could rest after dinner, but after the age of eight, after eating, he had to continue his studies.
The time of the day is rotated continuously, and what is even more frightening is that there are no Saturdays and Sundays, and there are only a few rest times in a year - birthdays, Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Lantern Festival, and other times, whether cold or hot, all year round.
Such a heavy study task is really bitter for the little emperors, it is the time of childlike romance, but they have to be locked in the study every day to read with a group of old men.
03
The old men who taught the emperor to read were all national treasure-level figures, academic authorities, moral models, and leaders in the political arena, known as the "Emperor's Immortal Class.".
First look at tongzhi's emperor shi xian class, because he studied in the Hongde Hall, so it was named "Hongde Dian Emperor Shi Xian Class".
Masters: Li Hongzao, Wu Ren, Xu Tong, Weng Tonggong.
Chenda: Wushi Hunbu, Ai Ren, Guangshou, Yiqing.
Reading: Yi Xiang, Yi Xiang
Prince's Care: Mianyu
The masters of the Tongzhi Emperor are really national treasures, they are all university inquirers who have learned a lot, and you may be familiar with Wu Ren, who once said a sentence called "the way to establish the country, still etiquette and not power; the fundamental intention is in the hearts of the people and not in the skill." This is the representative quote of the diehards in the middle school history books, like a bullshit nerd, but the character is three-dimensional, conservative is only one aspect of Wu Ren, his appeal at that time was extremely strong, someone wrote such a couplet praising him: "After suing me, the way of Confucius and Mencius is not to speak, sincerity and righteousness, only these four words; in this dynasty, outside the Tanglu Zhuru, keep the first and wait, such as the public one." In short, the evaluation is quite - when - high.
However, although his learning was good and his morality was high, there was no research on the teaching methods. It was basically a cramming teaching, allowing the little emperor to memorize those sage books by rote. Wu Ren is the chief master of the Hongde Hall, the study of the Tongzhi Emperor is arranged by him, the purpose of his education is a word "strict", insisting that the behavior of the king of a country should be a model for people, so he uses the strictest model of man in the universe to ask the little emperor of Tongzhi.
According to Weng Tonggong's diary, Wu Ren's lectures were both raw and astringent, and Tongzhi could not listen to them at all. If Tongzhi plays between classes, tells a joke, and makes a grimace, Wu Ren is a loud rebuke. For example, once, the empress dowager of the two palaces wanted to visit the gardens of the kings, and watching the emperor study hard, he said to take them with him to play. Wu Ren immediately went up to dissuade him, putting the importance of sacred learning on the most important thing, demanding an immediate cessation, and making the empress dowager unhappy.
It was so strict that the little emperor could not breathe for a moment, and he could not experience the joy of learning, so his learning initiative was not high. There was also a disturbance in school, once during the class, the little emperor was really bored, wanted to take a leave of absence to hang out, the master Li Hongzao did not agree, Tongzhi was angry and threw the book on the ground, Li Hongzao was not a vegetarian, in order to maintain the dignity of the teacher, resolutely wanted Tongzhi to pick up the book and put it on the table. The two men insisted for a long time, but finally Tongzhi gave in and picked up the book.
Since then, the little emperor has not loved to learn, Weng Tonggong wrote in his diary, the emperor in class or laughter, or tired, reading a full book is extremely difficult, Chinese composition often can not be written, poetry is not good, anxious master helpless.
Cixi put forward the minimum requirements, at least you must learn to recognize words, otherwise you will not be able to understand the folding in the future, she told the master, "In the future, you must consider the words and words, and it is important to see the folding." It seems that their requirements are getting lower and lower.
However, such a low demand, the Tongzhi Emperor did not achieve. He often mispronounced the emperor's "emperor" as "fart."
Is he really not aware of the word? I'm afraid not, it's a reaction to his rebellious mentality. He saw himself as an emperor, although he became emperor at the age of four or five, but he did not have any real power, there were two mothers behind him nodding, there was an uncle Yi in front, although he had the name of the emperor, he did not have any power.
Some people say that he was the emperor of the Qing Dynasty who did not like to learn the most, and the emperor who learned the worst. If the students are poor, they have to blame the teachers, and their authoritarian and cramming teaching methods make Tongzhi more and more disgusted and willful about learning.
In the end, his willfulness allowed him to die after two years as emperor.
04
In contrast, under the same education system, the Guangxu Emperor was raised to be a well-behaved child.
First look at the Guangxu Emperor's "Imperial Master Immortal Class". He studied in Yuqing Palace, so he called his masters "Yuqing Palace Emperor Master Immortal Class".
Yuqing Palace Emperor Shi Xianban
Masters: Weng Tonggong, Xia Tongshan, Sun Jia Nai, Sun Jia Jun, Sun Yi Jing
Zenda: Boyan Nomuhu, Jingshou, Songshou, Songshou
Prince's care: Yi Li, Yi Zhen, Yi
Weng Tonggong appeared in Guangxu's xian class again, and the two empresses felt very good about him, and asked him questions at every turn, master Weng explained vividly and vividly, in-depth and simple, so he handed over the education power of the Guangxu Emperor to Weng Tonggong.
Weng Tonggong was very attentive to Guangxu, prepared for the exam carefully, explained well, and became his mentor and friend, as well as a teacher and father.
In fact, in general, Guangxu's Imperial Master Immortal Class lineup is inferior to Tongzhi, except for Weng Tonggong, the other few people are not great Confucians, nor are they academic authorities, but because of this, they are not so rigid, but will make some adjustments according to the characteristics of the Guangxu Emperor.
For example, Sun Jiahua was a very intelligent person, he often told Guangxu some small stories, and integrated the truths of the dignity of the teacher and the ruling of the country into the story, and the little emperor listened to it and loved to learn.
Sun Jiahua's hometown was in Ningbo, one of the first areas in China to open up the atmosphere, and his thinking was very open, and he often told the emperor about foreigners. Once, Sun Jiajun said that foreigners do not use chopsticks to eat, and the little emperor said curiously: "Is it?" So what do they use? Sun Jiajun said, "Eat it with your hands." "Maybe I'm talking about Indians." Guangxu was very curious, and when he ate, he also grabbed it with his hands to eat, and the empress dowager said why use his hands, and the little emperor milked the milk airway". This frightened Sun Jiahua, "the power is white".
Although the master-apprentice relationship is generally good, there are also times when the temper is thrown. For example, once, these teachers invented an "introspection record", which is actually a classroom journal that records the emperor's performance in the study room for the empress dowager to view. To put it bluntly, this is the school teacher's sinister trick to the parents.
You say I made a mistake, and you tell me in person that I can't correct me? Why sue your parents? I was the child I was holding again, and the two empresses knew about it and returned it.
The Guangxu Emperor was very disgusted by this, and made a big fuss in the study, scolding the master, and also threw the cup and plate tea set to the ground, insisting that if there was an introspection record, he would not study in the study room.
Wow, this act is amazing, it is a student rebellion against authoritarian education. Originally, there was no such introspective recording system in the study, but now the master said that there was one, so the student emperor rebelled. Fortunately, this "Imperial Master Immortal Class" was not as hard as the previous one, and if Li Hongzao and Wu Ren were there, they would have to go to the end and maintain the dignity of the Master Dao. However, Weng Tonggong felt that "more is better than less", so he withdrew the introspection record, and collectively apologized to Guangxu and asked him to come back to class. In order to ease relations, Sun Jia Nai also gave the emperor a compass to play.
Therefore, in order to let the emperor study well and study with interest, this master did not adopt the "strict" and pressure teaching of the previous session, but used a lot of brains to cater to the students to a certain extent.
In addition, the Guangxu Emperor also loved to learn, so his educational effect was still good.
05
The Guangxu Emperor loved to read and learn far more than the Tongzhi Emperor, and even Cixi said that he "really loved to read." As Guangxu grew older, he not only read the stories of the past, but also read a lot of books about the West, and even learned English himself.
From now on, although Guangxu loves to learn and has a high personal cultivation, it cannot be said that his imperial education is successful. The content of his education with the Tongzhi Emperor was basically the same, and the educational methods were not much different, but because of his personality and the teacher's education method, he produced completely different behaviors.
Tongzhi "did not succeed in classical learning" and did a lot of absurd things as soon as he was pro-government; but although Guangxu loved to learn and had good conduct, he did not do a good job in governing the country.
The times are changing, but education has not changed with the changes of the times, so how much better can our education today be than the education received by Tongzhi and Guangxu at that time?