The famous poet Li Ciming of the late Qing Dynasty was brilliant since childhood, and at a young age he was already a well-known "Yuezhong Juncai", but his road to the imperial examination was extremely difficult. Because of the delay in passing the examination, at the age of 29, he chose to donate to the government. It was not until he was 60 years old that he became the inspector of Shanxi Province from Wupin, which was the most "prominent" official position in his life.
As a Beijing official, Li Ciming has always pursued a lifestyle that is not commensurate with his income level: living in a large mansion, using many servants, and there will be cars and horses when he goes out.
In the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (1874), Li Ciming rented a mansion, which was the old residence of the former governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and this house was not ordinary: there were famous places such as Xuancuifang, Bijiaoguan, Flower Shadow Gallery, xiaodongpu and so on in the garden, and the lake and mountains were beautiful.
He's also cool and feminine. In the fifth year of Tongzhi, he "bought a song lady as a concubine with four hundred yuan of gold"; in the early years of Guangxu, he took advantage of the drought in North China and the low population price to borrow money to buy two concubines, and one of the concubines spent 180 taels of silver. His family had many servants, and at the poorest time, his family also employed five servants, namely two maids, one husband, one cook, and one coachman.
What is even more striking is that he has been indulging in the "high social life" of feasting, singing and dancing, and smelting for many years. He spends half of his month eating at a large restaurant, more than half of the monthly feasts, and often spending money on sound and color. However, his formal income is extremely low and there are not many other sources of income, so he is often in debt. He also often cried in his diary that he was poor, "poorer than the day" and "indebted like a cow's hair". In the third year of Guangxu (1877), his brother-in-law died of starvation in his hometown, while in Beijing he spent more than a hundred taels a year on wine and food.
The first reason for his contradictory state of life, of course, is his low income but his desire for enjoyment.
His taste in life is quite high. Born into a landlord family, he grew up with a very good life. So he spent his life enjoying himself. If he made a robe and spent 20 taels of silver, he was not only not distressed, but rather proud.
Not only was he impatient with poverty, but he also looked down on his colleagues who "didn't know how to enjoy." A Hanlin who was a contemporary of him was poor and strict, did not accept bad rules, and whenever he went out, he ran on foot and did not ride. Everyone called him frugal, but Li Ciming mocked him in his diary that he did not know how to enjoy life. Li Ciming's value orientation can be seen.
The second reason was the depression of his mind. Li Ciming became famous early, and his self-esteem was extremely high, thinking that by virtue of his own talent, he would fight for the "Golden House" and "Yan Ruyu" as if he were probing for things, but he did not expect to be trapped all his life and his career was sloppy. Therefore, in the many years he served as a household secretary, he showed quite tired of his ministry, basically spending time in disappointment, laziness, cynicism, complaining, and even simply indulging in poetry and wine to eliminate the blocks. Because of his unsatisfactory situation, he loved to criticize all kinds of ugliness in the official arena at that time, and he was extremely insulting to the celebrities of the same era, and he also won the title of "outspoken", which was regarded as a clear stream.
In the late Qing Dynasty, QingLiu competed to scold Li Hongzhang, although Li Ciming also scolded many high-ranking officials, but did not impeach Li Hongzhang. The reason is very simple: the biggest "bucket of gold" Li Ciming has obtained in his life is the more than 1,100 taels of two bundles he obtained every year as the "Head of Beixue Haitang Mountain of Tianjin Qingjin Academy" in the last few years of his career, which is the basic guarantee for his living standards in his later years. In fact, this official position is just a pseudonym, and this rich shackle is the "sealing fee" given to him by Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang knew that Li Ciming was good at scolding, and he was at the center of high-level political contradictions, and it was easy for the Qingliu to catch his pigtails, so he tried his best to befriend Li Ciming. And Li Ciming, who was indulgent and indulgent and scolded, was willing to do so, and he had to say that he bent over for five buckets of rice.