Qilu Evening News Qilu one-point reporter Zhang Jiulong
After nearly 5 years of archaeological excavations, through more than 2,000 years of time, the Minoru Gakuen Palace, which witnessed the "hundred schools of thought", seems to have come from the dusty loess. Regarding the Jixia Xuegong, more and more evidence points to the "Qi Gucheng Xiaocheng West Gate Building Base Site Group" in Linzi District, Zibo City, and this archaeological relay will continue, which is the charm of archaeology.
Targeted looking for action
The ancient city of Qi, located in the Linzi District of Zibo City, occupies an extremely important position in the history of ancient Chinese capitals. The city has always been the capital of the two-week great power of the State of Qi, and the Han Dynasty was still the capital of the princes of the State of Qi, which lasted for more than a thousand years, which is rare in the history of ancient Chinese capitals. The preservation of the city site is also rare, not only the ground of the city wall is visible, but also the various relics and relics inside and outside the city are extremely rich, which can be said to be an underground treasure house. And the pearl in the treasure house is undoubtedly the Minoru Gakuen Palace.
The Jixia Xuegong was the world's first official institution of higher learning, and the academic grandeur of the "Hundred Schools of Thought" in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was centered on the Qi Guo jixia Xuegong. Regarding the location of the Jixia Xuegong, there are many documents pointing to the west gate of the Qi Ancient City, so from 2017 to 2021, the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted a large-scale detailed exploration of the big city of the ancient city and the west side of the small city. The direction of this round of archaeology is very clear, that is, to find the ruins of the Minoru Gakugu Shrine that witnessed the "hundred schools of thought".
Is this the historical Minoru Gakuen Palace?
Dong Wenbin, the main participant of the project and an archaeologist from Shandong Province, said that through five years of archaeological exploration and excavation work, it can be seen that the building base site group outside the west gate of the small city of Qi is the only high-grade courtyard-type building complex in the warring states period on the outside of the western wall and the south wall of the entire Qi ancient city. "Except for the building base group outside the west gate of the small city of Qi, the rest of the places mentioned in the literature have been excluded by us through work."
From the perspective of the times, the upper limit of the architectural age of this building base site group should be the middle of the Warring States period, the lower limit should be the end of the Warring States period, and the overall age should be in the middle and late Warring States stage. Through the dating of animal bones excavated from the superimposed ash pit at the base site of the building, it was found that it was slightly earlier than the noon reign time of Tian Qi Huan Gongtian recorded in the literature. According to the literature, "The official of the Xiqi Huan Public Jixia set up the title of Doctor, which attracted the favor of the wise and the favored. Since the disciples of Meng Ke have all swam in Qi," in this way, the timeline can be matched.
Archaeology found that this site is built close to the small city of Qidu, and the small city moat directly protects its circle, which shows that the two are planned and built as one. Dong Wenbin's interpretation of this is that when the Tian clan moved miyagi from the big city to the small city after the Qi Dynasty, it was decided to build the Minoru Academy Palace at the same time, which not only placed this official school at the elbow and armpit, which was convenient for use and control, but also separated from the center, and there was a difference between the inside and outside.
People are undoubtedly most concerned about what the "Minoru Gakuen" looks like. Archaeology shows that the building base site group is in a closed courtyard, with an area of nearly 40,000 square meters, a large scale and high specifications. However, from the perspective of architectural layout and base site shape system, it is not a palace building, and it is also different from high-level buildings such as general offices and temples. Coupled with the discovery of the city wall, it confirmed the title of the Palace of Learning.
Interestingly, the country road through the middle of the building site has traditionally been called Huang Avenue, and the gate that leads to the village from this road is called Huangmen. "黉" means a school, and the names of the roads and gate sites here are still used today, most likely the result of the memory of the place.
"From the above analysis, it can be seen that from the analysis of geographical location, age, architectural pattern, specifications, relationship with the small city, historical memory and other aspects, the building base site group outside the west gate of the small city of Qi's ancient city is consistent with the Jixia Xuegong recorded in the literature, and we infer that it should be the location of the Jixia Xuegong accordingly." Dong Wenbin said.
In this regard, Zheng Tongxiu, director of the Shandong Museum, agreed. "The discovery of the west gate building base site group in the small city of Qi is very important, and the rammed earth building site is neatly arranged, especially the courtyard wall has been found, which has the basic layout requirements of the palace." Moreover, the relationship between the layers is clear, the age is relatively clear, and it is in line with the records of the Minoru Gakugu, and I think that it belongs to the Minoru Gakumi Palace. Zheng Tongxiu said.
More evidence is expected
What cannot be ignored is that the current archaeological findings still lack evidence that is enough to "hammer the nail on the head", such as cultural relics with the words "Minoru" or "Minoru Gakugu". However, Zheng Tongxiu pointed out that even if such cultural relics are unearthed, they may not be ironclad evidence, not to mention that archaeology is also a game of luck, and it is possible that like the Erlitou site, direct written evidence cannot be found for decades. Therefore, he prefers to synthesize analytical arguments. At present, all the evidence points to the Minoru Gakugu, and if you want to overturn the judgment of the Minoru Gakugu, there must be other interpretations, and there must also be strong evidence.
On August 6, 2021, many senior experts from all over the country came to the Linzi Workstation of the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology to participate in the symposium on important archaeological discoveries in qi ancient city, and to carry out expert demonstration on the group of building sites outside the west gate of the small city of Qi. At the meeting, the experts had a heated discussion.
Xu Longguo, a research institute of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that the most important thing about archaeological excavation sites is to determine their spatio-temporal relationship. The Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology uses the "exclusion method" to solve this problem is a good way. I think that to increase the intensity of exclusion, not only the west side of the city wall should be removed from south to north, but also the outside of the southern wall of the small city should also be explored. ”
At the same time, he proposed that these buildings were built at one time in a unified plan, it is a period of architecture, rammed earth is not as deep as the foundation site of the palace building, nor is it as sloppy as the general residential buildings, it should be official buildings, but the area may not be large, if according to the most famous 60 Mr. Minoru to calculate, how many square meters per person has a building area? If it is less than 50 square meters, it is not a "high door house". According to historical records, the houses of Mr. Minorita were on both sides of the strait, so it was necessary to explore on both sides of the water system and expand the excavation area to solve the problem of their total area and layout.
In the literature, the Jixia Xuegong was used for about 150 years, and it gradually disappeared after the Qin Dynasty was extinguished. Judging from the current archaeological findings, the base site group of the building is consistent with the beginning and prosperity of the Minoru Gakugu, but it does not all coincide and does not meet the needs of the Minoru Gakuen. Ren Xianghong, a professor at the School of History and Culture of Shandong University, pointed out: "Perhaps, the late Minoru Gakuen Palace moved elsewhere. In order to sit on the ruins of the Minoru Gakugu Palace, it is recommended that the scope of archaeological work in the future be expanded, especially in the small city, the southern part of the big city and the northern part of the big city, and at the same time pay attention to the literature and the results of the research of predecessors. ”
Archaeologists have also discovered a strange phenomenon. In the western part of the building base group, minted remains were generally excavated, of which more than 2500 fragments of Qi Dao coin fan were found, which was the largest number of pre-Qin qian fan unearthed in the country in recent years, and the face fan characters were all "Qi Da Dao", and a small number of "Yihua" Fan Mu and Qian Fan were also found, as well as a large number of sulfur slag, pouring bags, blowers, smelting and casting sand and other relics. It can be judged that this building site group was abandoned and used as a money minting workshop. How to explain the emergence of the "mint", experts still have a lot of disagreements. In addition, some experts pointed out that the current archaeological evidence cannot exclude other possibilities such as "military barracks" and "factories".
At the same time, many basic problems have yet to be studied. "The archaeological work of the Minoru Gakugu Belongs to the category of historical archaeology, which is inseparable from historical documents, and when looking at the evidence with documents, it is necessary to carefully identify the authenticity and falsity of the documents and sooner or later." At that time, Whether Minoru Gakuen was an academic institution, a school, or an advisory institution must also have an accurate positioning. Liu Qingzhu, research institute of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
He suggested that the next step is to speed up the progress of archaeological work, focus on the main academic problems that have not yet been solved, actively absorb different opinions, and at the same time highlight mainstream opinions, accumulate archaeological materials, do a solid job, and strive to form important results at an early date.
It is very normal for academic discussions to have different voices. Archaeological work on the ancient city of Qi has been going on for decades, and the secrets uncovered are still just the tip of the iceberg. Not to mention that the total area of this building site group is nearly 40,000 square meters, which lasted for 5 years of archaeological excavations, only to clear thousands of square meters, the veil has just been lifted, more surprises are still behind, and it is not realistic to "hammer the final sound".
However, there is no doubt about one thing. Whether it is the "pro-faction" or the "skeptical faction", everyone is looking forward to speaking with more archaeological evidence. To do this, it will take successive generations of archaeologists to continue their efforts.
What does Minoru Gakumiya do?
Regarding the value of the Minoru Academy, the cultural scholar Yu Qiuyu once wrote: "Without it, all kinds of cultures are also there, and the hundreds of sons are also there, but they cannot enter a harmonious state that is both highly free and highly refined." Because there are many cultures in the world, free and not refined; and there are many cultures, exquisite but not free. Minoru Gakumiya unified the two on the basis of respect. Therefore, through the Minoru Gakuen Palace, Chinese culture has become a magnificent synergy of 'harmony and difference', and has entered the list of the few best cultures in the history of world civilization. ”
Minoru Gakugu is known as the earliest public university, in fact, this is only one aspect of its function, from today's point of view, Minoru Gakugu can be called a political, academic, educational function in one of the giant social science complex.
The monarch of the State of Qi founded the Minoru Academy Palace to use the strategic wisdom of the sages of the world to serve its political goal of enriching the country and strengthening the army and striving for the world's dominance, and the sages were also well aware of this. Therefore, anyone who can come to the Minoru Gakuen Palace is not a passive recluse. They have the practical utilitarian idea of actively participating in politics, and the fundamental purpose of talking loudly and competing for advice is to expect their "proposals" to be adopted by the monarch of the State of Qi, so as to display their political ambitions. The monarchs of the State of Qi also often consulted gentlemen on the problems encountered in governing the country, so the Minoru Gakugu First acted as a think tank of the State of Qi, equivalent to the "Policy Research Office" of the State of Qi.
In addition to the first-class hardware facilities, the high standard of talent introduction treatment in the Minoru Academy was beyond the reach of all countries at that time. During the Warring States period, all countries treated each other as scholars, but the State of Qi awarded different titles such as Keqing, Shang dafu, Lie Dafu, Mr. Minoru, and Minoru Bachelor according to their knowledge, qualifications, and achievements.
In the pre-Qin princely states, there were three grades of secretary, doctor, and scholar under the monarch. From this inference, the guest secretaries of the Minoru Academy Palace are equivalent to enjoying the treatment of "vice premier" of the State of Qi, and the Upper Doctor and the Grand Master of the Column must also enjoy the treatment of "main ministerial level" and "deputy ministerial level", which is evident in the respect of the State of Qi for scholars and sages. Moreover, at that time, the senior title that could be evaluated by the Minoru Gakuen Was itself a supreme honor and recognized by the nations. Therefore, the Minoru Xuegong also has the functions of respecting the elderly and respecting literature and united front friendship, which is equivalent to the "counselor room" of the State of Qi.
During its heyday, the Minoru Gakuen Palace housed almost all the schools of thought in the hundred families of the people at that time. Confucians, Legalists, Taoists, Mojia, Famous Scholars, Soldiers, Peasants, Yin and Yang Families, Zongheng Families, Novelists... There are about a thousand sages in the world, among which the famous scholars are Mencius, Chun Yujie, Zou Yan, Tian Biao, Shen Zi, Shen Bu Harm, Xun Zi and so on. These people are real industry titans, we call the hundred schools of contention, a large part of the results are produced in the Minoru Gakuen, it is no wonder that it can be as famous as the Athens Academy of the same era. It can be seen that the Minoru Xuegong was not only the "Academy of Social Sciences" of the State of Qi at that time, but also the cultural exchange center of the entire Chinese region at that time.
The gathering of scholars and elites in the sea naturally attracted many young descendants who admired them, and for these aspiring young people who were full of curiosity, Mr. Minoru always did not set a threshold and poured out their money to teach each other. There are no examinations and no established length of study. What kind of students to accept, what content to teach, how to teach, and when to end his studies are entirely up to Mr. Minoru himself.
Discussion, study tours, and social practice, these foreign forms of teaching have long been commonplace in the Minoru Gakuen. In the course of his words and deeds, Mr. Minorita has trained a large number of outstanding scholars and civil servants for the nations. The "University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences" in the State of Qi can be regarded as a pioneer of ancient Chinese public universities.