On a night in the autumn of the eighth year of Guangxu (1882), a joint letter lay on the desk of Futai's study in Shanxi. After Futai opened the letter, he looked at it under the lamp and wrote: "Shengqing ruled the world with literature, and Dun Shao Confucianism... The Confucius Temple in the west of the city was flooded by the Fen River, and the Temple of Literature in the two xuegongs was destroyed by water. YangKong Shengmigao, peeping at the sage avenue academics, hereby serve the business, that is, hope to show that the Wenqu will shine again in the state, YuGe Chonghui. "There is a dense collection of names in the Fallen Money Department, including many well-known Confucians.
After this Futai looked at it, the Temple of Dunjue Literature was the place where the souls of the readers "benevolence", "loyalty" and "three principles and five constants" were attached and sacrificed, and some people even knew: "When a person reaches the end of the world and cannot eat a piece of cold meat in the Confucius Temple, it is a vain life." "If it is not handled as soon as possible, the public opinion will be uproar, but the government treasury funds are ten branches."
So Futai took a pen in his hand and wrote it to Yan Jingming, who had previously served as an inspector in Shanxi, saying: "... The cave is mediocre and decaying, and the hardships of Jin can be known, and it is impossible to draw funds to build a palace, which is afraid of losing the expectations of the people. The best advice of the special xi is to pray for it. ”
This Futai is Zhang Zhidong. He knew the weight of the joint letter from the Confucians, but he was struggling with fund-raising, so he wrote a letter to ask Yan Jingming, who was then the Minister of Military Aircraft, the Prime Minister of State Affairs, and the Assistant University Scholar.
The next day, Zhang Zhidong met Ma Piyao, the prefect of Taiyuan, who had asked for something else, and asked afterwards: "Can the Xicheng Confucian Temple be rebuilt on the old site?" "The adults are afraid that it is not appropriate, here is low-lying, the rain is getting stronger, the river is extremely turbulent, often rushing through the golden steel weir of the Beisha River and the dam and the moat, snatching it up, directly hitting the northwest corner of the city, and then turning south, and this is where the rain and flood stop." Ma Piyao replied. Zhang Zhidong nodded and said, "In the spring, the embankment is repaired to strengthen the residual dam, so that the internal water can be drained and the external water cannot enter." It seems that the Temple of Literature needs to be selected separately. ”
Ten days later, Yan Jingming wrote back: "... Shanxi Ding Pengqi was desolate, and the treasury was breathless. Taking the opportunity of rebuilding the Confucius Temple, uniting with local gentlemen, raising funds and donating funds, and making it easy for politics and religion to give, it is very beneficial..." Zhang Zhidong nodded after looking at it.
On this day, a group of people and horses came to the Chongshan Temple in the southeast of Taiyuan City and saw a place of ruins and walls and overgrown weeds. Renkan, the prince of Shanxi Xuezheng, told Zhang Zhidong: "In October of the third year of the Qing Dynasty, this temple suddenly caught fire, and the fire spread rapidly with the wind, and the first half of the temple was instantly reduced to ashes. Zhang Zhidong said: "This is not small, the Confucius Temple can be built, the temple can be integrated, and the twelve academies such as Jinyang, Lingde, Yangde, Chongxiu, and Jixiu are the same places for the further study of scholars in the province. The money for the construction can be raised in the gentry merchant Jia, and it is supervised by the Shanxi Xuezheng and the Instructor Ya Bureau. "The gentlemen Wang Xuan, Yang Shenxiu, Yang Du, and Zhang Tiesheng, who came with them, saw that the construction of the Confucius Temple was expected, and they were all quick.
King Renkan of Shanxi Xuezheng ordered Zhang to raise funds, and the people who heard people generously donated funds to become virtuous. Six years after the temple was designed and built, Zhang Zhidong was appointed governor of Huguang. Now it is Wei Rongguang who has patrolled Shanxi for the second time.
In the fourteenth year of Guangxu (1888), on the twenty-seventh day of August, Futai WeiRong, wearing a brand-new official uniform, led the officials to the scene of the sacrifice, and saw the Star Gate Yi Fang Runze, the Dacheng Hall with unique cornices, the temple color was ancient and solemn, and the sacred shrine was curved and gorgeous. The long corridor is leisurely, the courtyard is comfortable, and it deserves to be a holy place of culture and religion.
Wei Rongguang read out the "Sacrifice Text" containing the meaning and expectation of expounding the Confucian connotations and expectations of the literary context, and the literary style was flourishing, and then focused on "thanking the Jinshen for donating funds", and in turn read "Taigu Kongxiang continued to donate 80,000 taels of silver, Yuci Changsizong donated 60,000 taels of silver, and Taiyuan Wang Sicheng's family donated 30,000 taels..."
The atmosphere was solemn, the drums and bells sounded in unison, and the devotees held feathers and dragons, presented Confucius with eight dances, and carried out the ceremonies of greeting the gods, making the first offering, the sub-offering, the final offering, the removal of the food, and the sending of the gods. The three hundred ginseng festivals, the song and dance, the scene is spectacular.
In the eighth year of the Republic of China (1919), it was opened as a provincial book museum. In 1927, it was renamed "Shanxi Provincial People's Education Center". During this period, the Dacheng Hall dedicated to Confucius was changed to the "Ancient Gift Instrument Showroom"; the solemn Dacheng Gate was changed to an auditorium for lectures. The other temples are either reading rooms, libraries, or other activity rooms and showrooms.
In 1937, the Japanese army attacked Taiyuan. After the fall of Taiyuan, the puppet Taiyuan municipal government renamed the Temple of Literature as "Shanxi Xinmin Education Center".
In 1953, after the founding of New China, it was changed to Shanxi Provincial Museum. Later, it was changed to "Shanxi Provincial Folk Customs Museum", but the old Taiyuan people all know that it was originally the Taiyuan Confucian Temple, which is not only geographical coordinates, but also spiritual coordinates.
"The text carries the Tao, and the temple is sublimated." The Temple of Literature is an architectural symbol of a high degree of integration of Chinese culture and politics, and also marks the projection of Confucian culture in the city.
Lu Feng