On June 15, 2021, the historical reproduction content of the large-scale documentary "Confucius Mother Yan Zhengzai" was launched in the "Spring and Autumn Warring States City" of the Xiangshan Film and Television Base in Zhejiang.
On December 10, 2021, Zhang Yinjun, director of the Qingai Engineering Office, chairman of the Beijing Qingai Education Foundation, and president of Nishan Mother's Love College, was interviewed by Xia Jun, editor-in-chief of Confucius Mother Yan Zhengzai. The following is a transcript of the interview.
one
Q: The age gap between Yan Zheng and Shu Liang Qi is particularly large, and it is impossible for common sense to agree to marry Shu Liang Qi. But in the end, Yan Zhengzai still chose to agree to this marriage, how did she consider it, and from it, what kind of character can Yan Zhengzai be?
Zhang Yinjun: There have been many strange women in history, and these strange women have many unusual features in their life choices, including their own marriage choices, they all show special and unique outstanding character, and they will not be exactly the same as the world. Yan Zhengzai is undoubtedly such a strange woman. During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan's sister married Liu Bei, Song Qingling married Sun Yat-sen in the last century, and Weng Fan married Yang Zhenning today are all typical examples of this. As far as the combination of Confucius's parents is concerned, although the age difference between the two is very large, they still have the strange fate of "beautiful people matching talents". Not to say that Shu Liang Qi chose Yan Zheng zai, it is said that Yan Zheng is choosing Shu Liang Qi, which has far exceeded the world's vision. This endowment dooms Yan Zheng to be able to take on the great responsibility of nurturing saints. Specifically, Shu Liang was a burly figure, a well-known local warrior and hero, which was enough to make a discerning girl admire; on the other hand, their combination had the words of a matchmaker, and the order of her parents, Yan Zheng, as a filial and knowledgeable woman, obeyed her father's orders to marry, which was in line with the Zhou rites of the time. It can be seen from this incident that Yan Zheng has an outstanding disposition and a unique vision, and it is not accidental that he later became the mother of the saints. When we look at the mother of a generation of saints today, we still cannot stick to the worldly conventional wisdom and the eyes of ordinary people. Extraordinary people must have extraordinary initiatives, and they must have extraordinary life stories.
two
Q: After the death of Shu Liangqi, Yan Zheng faced various tests and choices, and in the end, Yan Zheng chose to move to Qufu, the capital of the Lu State, with his son, and briefly introduced Yan Zheng's reasons and intentions in moving to Qufu from the positive and active aspects. The impact of this important event on the future growth of Confucius?
Zhang Yinjun: After the death of Shu Liangqi, Yan Zheng was faced with a major life choice: either to stay in the same place and raise his children in the mountains and wilderness; or to take the children away from home. Yan Zheng resolutely chose the latter. Where to go? At that time, the best choice was undoubtedly to go to the capital of the country of Lu. The State of Lu was a fiefdom of the Duke of Zhou in the Zhou Dynasty and had the highest status among the princely states. There is the best educational environment for children. Yan Zheng chose to take his children to settle in Luguo Queli and face the difficult challenges of life, and this protracted act of "one move" laid the foundation for raising Kong Qiu to become a saint. The Analects describe Confucius's youth as "multi-capable and contemptuous", indicating that the life of their mother and son in Lu Guoque was extremely difficult. This, in turn, can see how unique and challenging Yan Zheng's original choice was. It is no exaggeration to say that without Yan Zheng taking his children to settle in the country of Lu in that year, there would be no later Confucius.
three
Q: Meng Pi was Confucius's half-brother, after the death of Uncle Liang Qi, Yan Zheng was also facing various tests and difficulties in orphans and widows, but she still took the orphan Meng Pi to Qufu without hesitation, and Yan Zheng's care for Meng Pi was not only a mother's responsibility, but also the embodiment of social morality and benevolence. What do you think?
Zhang Yinjun: My admiration for Yan Mu lies first of all in Yan Mu's virtue. We look at a woman's virtues, today and in ancient times, not primarily by looking at how she treats her own children, but by how she treats other people's children. In ancient China, where polygamy was practiced, how a mother treated a non-biological child was an important sign of whether a mother was virtuous and wise. Yan Zheng can carry the disabled Meng Pi with him and treat him as if he were his own, which is an important embodiment of Yan Zheng's great personality. It is precisely because Yan Zheng has such an extraordinary heart of benevolence and fraternity that she can personally cultivate a generation of benevolent masters.
shop
Question: Confucius's Confucianism, with family ethics as the core of "benevolence" and "etiquette", laid the foundation for psychological identity. And is the source of this thought closely related to the fraternity and daily behavior of her mother, Yan Zhengzai?
Zhang Yinjun: I have been thinking about Confucius's "teacher of impermanence", who is his teacher who became a saint? With my in-depth understanding of Yan Zhengzai, I suddenly realized that Confucius's teacher was none other than his birth mother Yan Zhengzai. It was Yan Zhengzai's words and deeds that made a generation of saints Confucius. We see that Confucius's ideas and doctrines, Confucius's personality endowments, actually came from his mother. This echoes the old saying, "Only when there is a mother is a son."
five
Q: How to interpret the relationship between children's character development and mothers? As a descendant of the nobility, what kind of cultural accomplishment may Yan Zheng have?
Zhang Yinjun: I have been engaged in children's education for many years, I am still a mother, and now I am a grandmother, my personal experience and personal experience is: the mother is the first teacher of the child, and the first factor that determines the development and growth of the child is his mother. For this reason, I founded Nishan Mother's Love College with the hope of educating our children and grandchildren by educating our mothers well. Over the years, I have been engaged in children's education in Nishan, especially focusing on the education of mothers, that is, to "honor the Virgin and nurture the world", and use the example of Confucius to teach all mothers. I asked the sisters of Jining to insist on going to the Yanmu Ancestral Hall regularly to worship and guard, which is to set an example for the world to "respect the mother and respect the mother". Speaking of Yan Mu's cultural attainments, we can see from the results of Confucius's actual growth that his mother's extraordinary cultural upbringing as a child educator. When Confucius married his wife at the age of twenty, the king of the State of Lu sent a carp as a congratulatory gift, which fully explains the great success of "Yan Mother and Childbearing". With Confucius's identity and social status at that time, if there was no extraordinary quality and performance, it would be impossible to get the favor of the king of the State of Lu. All this undoubtedly depends on the careful teachings of his mother. Confucius died when his mother was 17 years old, by this time Confucius had grown up and was expected to be in the early lu kingdom.
land
Q: What are your insights on the role of music education on the way people think? What does it mean to receive a music education as a child?
Zhang Yinjun: Confucius appeared in the country of Lu, which is inseparable from the specific conditions of the country of Lu. At that time, the important place where the State of Lu was different from other princely states was that it was a country of ceremonial music. History says that "Zhou Li is all in Lu", even at the end of the Warring States period, the State of Lu still has the cultural tradition of "Xuan Ge does not fall". Confucius lived in such a country of music, living in such a large school of liturgy, and it was very natural that he had become a generation of poets and music teachers.
Seven
Q: Some outstanding figures in Chinese history, such as Meng Ke, Tao Kan, Yue Fei, Ouyang Xiu, etc., were all born after the early death of their fathers and were brought up by widows.
Zhang Yinjun: Widowhood is an important cultural and educational phenomenon. My understanding is twofold: first, in such an environment, a mother will take great care of and nurture the child, and the mother will give all her love to the child; on the other hand, the child living in such an orphaned and widowed family will also be more considerate of the mother's intentions and cherish the mother's education and teachings. A unique growth environment has made unique talents.
split open
Q: What "lowly" occupations did Confucius engage in when he was a teenager? What kind of impact did these experiences have on Confucius's life? For the son to engage in these low-level occupations, the mother's educational concepts and methods in it?
Zhang Yinjun: This question can be understood from two aspects. On the one hand, Confucius's mother and son's life at that time was indeed very difficult and tasted the hardships of life, and the premature death of Yan Mu could not be said to have nothing to do with this; on the other hand, it was undoubtedly Yan Mu who deliberately tempered, tempered and exercised Confucius, so that Confucius experienced and understood the hardships of the bottom life from an early age, and inspired Confucius to establish a lofty life ambition. Confucius did not have the habit of arrogance, which enabled Confucius to adapt to various harsh and harsh environments later, including the turbulent and displaced life of traveling around the world; Confucius was able to put forward the great educational idea of the super advanced era such as "teaching without class", which is also directly related to the hardships of Confucius's early life at the bottom. Great thought must have an unusual source of life.
Nine
Q: What is the important value of the success of Yan Mother's godson to Chinese maternal love and motherhood culture? What is the enlightening significance of her wisdom and experience in nurturing Confucius's success for contemporary family education?
Zhang Yinjun: Mother Yan's godson is an important humanistic and educational heritage of the Chinese nation. We have not paid enough attention to this. The mother who can cultivate the great thinkers and educators of mankind must also be a great mother. Confucius from birth to 17 years old adulthood, the 17 years of Confucius growth, it can be said that Confucius mother alone to complete. The story of Confucius's mother raising saints is one of the greatest and most legendary narrative stories of the Chinese nation and in human history, and we have the responsibility to unearth this great educational heritage and provide the most brilliant example for Chinese motherhood. When we say that the mother teaches one person, we don't just mean Meng Mu, but first of all, it should be Yan Mu --- confucius's mother! In 2016, I founded Nishan Mother's Love College in YanMu's hometown, and its original intention and intention is to gather the strength of all aspects to excavate, research, inherit and carry forward Yanmu's educational heritage, so that more contemporary women and contemporary mothers can learn from Yanmu.
Green love heart language
Love is the soul of education,
There is no education without love.