▲ Location relationship map between The Jixia Xuegong Palace and the small city of Qi (Courtesy of Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
Recently, after nearly 5 years of archaeological excavations, the archaeological project of "Looking for Jixia Xuegong" has made a major breakthrough - the base site group of buildings outside the west gate of Xiaoxu Village, Qidu Town, Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong Province, has been identified by experts as the ruins of Jixia Xuegong.
Through more than 2,000 years of time and space, the "gate" of the Minoru Gakuen Palace opened. In addition to the scope of the site, topics such as its appearance characteristics, historical functions, and cultural flow have also aroused people's interest.
1
The central garden of "A Hundred Schools of Thought"
In 2017, when the archaeology team of the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology first came to the west of Xiaoxu Village, it was still a flat wheat field. Although we have a large number of clues about the location of the Minoru Gakuen Palace, it is not easy to find the remains of thousands of years ago from the crops in front of us. Even today, when a large-scale building base site group comes into view, it is difficult for ordinary people to associate it with the Minoru Gakuen Palace.
According to reports, in the middle of the site, a rural road that crosses through it has always been called "HuangDadao", and the gate from which the road enters the village is called "Huangmen". "Yellow" people, academies. In the eyes of archaeologists, history seems to have left "clues".
So, who built this school? What role has it played in history? Xu Gan of the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote in the Treatise on the Middle: "Xi Qi Huan was the official of the Gongxia, and set up the title of Doctor, which attracted the meritocracy and respected him." Since the disciples of Meng Ke, they have all swam in Qi. "The Duke of Qi Huan here is Tian Wu after the Tian Dynasty, who reigned from 374 BC to 357 BC. The mainstream view is that the Minoru Xuegong was built in the TianWu period, and the subsequent Kings of Qi Wei and Qi Xuan also made great contributions to its development.
Liu Xiang's "Beilu" of the Western Han Dynasty records: "Qi has a ji gate, and the Qi city gate is also." The Talker will be under it. It can be seen from this that in the tradition of periodic debates in the Minoru Academy, the various factions not only competed for doctrine and freedom to come and go, but were also given the power of "discussing without ruling", and even if they did not hold any official position, they still had the right to make suggestions and suggestions on state affairs. For example, the "Shiji Tian Jingzhong Completed the Family" records that "(Qi) Xuanwang Xi literary lobbyists", at that time, there were as many as 76 people who were named "Shang Dafu".
Zheng Tongxiu, chairman of the Shandong Archaeological Society and director of the Shandong Museum, introduced that at the most prosperous time, the Jixia Xuegong gathered thousands of the most influential scholars from Confucianism, Taoism, Law, Agriculture, Ming, Bing, etc., to carry out academic debates on topics such as Wang Ba, Righteousness and Profit, and Human Nature, Good and Evil, just as Sima Guang's "Ji xia fu" said: "To the wonders of a thousand miles, the great saying of the total hundred families." "The Minoru Gakuen Palace was built on the strong national strength of the State of Qi, and it also played the role of a 'national think tank'. From the debates of the Sons, the State of Qi was able to obtain a wide range of ingredients that were beneficial to political, economic, and social development. He said.
2
Archaeological confirmation and clarification
According to historical records, the Minoru Gakuen Palace, which is the main garden of the Hundred Schools of Thought, has existed for about 150 years. Later, after experiencing the decline of the Qi Min King and the Zhongxing during the Qi Xiang King, he finally failed to continue the previous prosperity, but with the qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms towards the demise.
Subsequently, successive scholars intended to "look for the Minoru Xuegong", and many documents left behind pointed out that it should be outside the west gate of the qi ancient city, but whether it was located outside the west gate of the big city or outside the west gate of the small city was not clearly recorded. It is also believed that the Minoru Gakuen Palace may be outside the south gate of the town, even below the Minoru Mountain.
The archaeological discovery of the Qi Ancient City Small City Outside the West Gate building base site group east and Qi Ancient City Small City adjacent to the south wide north narrow slightly right angle trapezoidal, east and west width of about 210 meters, north and south length of about 190 meters, a total area of nearly 40,000 square meters, a total of 4 rows of building sites. This is also the only high-grade courtyard-style complex found on the western wall and the outer side of the southern wall of the entire Qi Ancient City. "The small city moat directly encloses it, which shows that the two are planned and built as one." In this regard, Dong Wenbin, deputy research librarian of the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and leader of the jixia Xuegong archaeological project, believes that after the Tian dynasty, the small city of Qi's ancient city as a newly built political center and the construction of the Jixia Xuegong were carried out simultaneously, which was not only to put the Xuegong at the elbow and facilitate the use of control, but also to show the monarch's ambition to dominate the world.
Wang Yongbo, honorary chairman of the Shandong Archaeological Society and a second-level researcher, believes that from the perspective of the historical official schools attached to the political center, the Jixia Xuegong Palace will not be built under the jishan mountain in the deserted suburbs, but should be near the ancient city of Qi. The location of this archaeological discovery is not only outside the city, but also at a moderate distance from the center of power, which can also be corroborated by the historical records that "Chun Yu Jie saw seven people in one day and Yu Xuanwang".
While the location, shape and other basic coincidences, can the evidence of archaeological excavations correspond to the corresponding historical era and events? Relevant experts believe that the current archaeological excavations in this area has appeared "three phases" of cultural remains, judging from the rammed land foundation, excavated pottery, etc., the relics of the "first phase" cultural relics are inlaid with shells, which is very unusual, and the judgment time is the late Spring and Autumn period or later; the building base site group outside the west gate of the small city is the "second phase" remains, and the "three phases" have shown new uses, and the minted remains are generally unearthed in the western part of the building base group, and the judgment from the excavated Qiguo knife coins should belong to the late Warring States period, and it can be determined that it cannot enter the Han Dynasty.
Sun Bo, president of the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, believes that from the perspective of the upper and lower limits, it can be judged that the construction of the building base site group outside the west gate of the small city was used in the Warring States TianQi period. After historical events such as Le Yi Fa Qi, the Qi state was seriously injured, and although the King of Qi Xiang later restored the capital and restored the Jixia Xue Palace, the scenery was no longer beautiful. It is speculated that the western part of the building base group became a "mint" after the restoration of Tian Qi. "The fact that the mint, which is related to the lifeblood of the state, can be placed here shows that this is a closed area and is controlled by the state, which also indirectly proves that this place was once an official institution such as the Minoru Gakuen Palace." He said.
3
The contribution of civilization to the "former space to the robbery"
Relevant experts said that after 5 years of archaeological excavations in the Minoru Gakugu Project, the "veil" has just been opened, and it is necessary to continue to work hard. For example, the relevant chronological data need to be further verified, the possibility of long row houses buildings or barracks should also be ruled out, and there is still a lack of physical data with written evidence, which needs to be further improved in the future.
"However, through comprehensive analysis and argumentation, the current evidence points to this as the Minoru Palace, and if you want to overturn this judgment, you must also come up with excellent empirical evidence." The expert also said that from the perspective of the history of world civilization, the major breakthrough of the archaeological project of the Minoru Gakugu Proves that the "world's earliest university" also appeared in the East, can stand side by side with plato's academy twin peaks, and its site is more magnificent.
In modern times, many experts and scholars have pointed out that the Minoru Gakuen Palace is an outstanding contribution of Chinese civilization in the history of world civilization. Liang Qichao believes that the Minoru Gakuen Palace is a historical masterpiece of "the former space is robbed, and the dust is never in the future". Guo Moruo also said: "The setting of this school is of epoch-making significance in the history of Chinese culture. Other scholars believe that the sense of historical responsibility for the country and the people presented by the study of Jixia, the sense of historical responsibility for saving the world, and the enterprising spirit of unremitting self-improvement and positive and promising have played a huge role in the formation of the spirit of the Chinese nation.
The context continues. In 2022, the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology will continue to fully expose the south gate of the small city, and search for the western and northern walls to further explore the "cultural code" of the Minoru Gakuen Palace. At the same time, focusing on the protection and inheritance of valuable cultural heritage, Shandong will continue to explore the "two innovations" path of China's excellent traditional culture and achieve "circle-breaking" development. It is reported that around the construction of the Qi Cultural Heritage innovation demonstration zone, a number of projects such as Qidu Cultural City and Keju Town have been put into operation, and the vitality of regional culture is constantly radiating.
April 11, 2022 China Culture Daily
Special reports were published on the 4th edition
"Exploring the "Cultural Code" of the Minoru Gakuen Palace"
Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue