◆ Jiang Feng, chief writer of "Japanese Overseas Chinese Daily".
Nowadays, it is not difficult for me to go on a trip to "pack a backpack and go", and some people call me "the first writer in the Chinese media industry in Tokyo today." "As for whether it's derogatory, positive, or maybe a little sour, I don't care. Although I was not approved for a "full refund" several times, I basically achieved a "half refund", and one of my requirements for "half refund" was to "write only what I like to write." Nowadays, it's hard for me to do a 'pack and stop' tour. It's hard to explain why.
However, at noon on April 15, 2024, after participating in the ancestor worship ceremony of the "14th China Jiang's Huaibin Root-Seeking Cultural Festival", I hurriedly went to Tianmen City, Hubei Province to participate in the opening ceremony of the "Zhuangyuan Cultural Park". Going a little further, I saw a city site sign with "National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit Jiang Guo Ancient City of the Western Zhou Dynasty". At the same time, what came into my eyes was a line of small words on the sign of the city site: "Spring and Autumn Chu Prime Minister Sun Shuao Hometown". At that time, on the screen of my mind, it immediately flashed that this should be the first person of the "follower" in the "Historical Records" of Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty in the "Swan Song of the Historian", which seemed to be a few strokes, but it was a rich and colorful description - Sun Shuao. So, I whispered to the organizers if they could allow me to take a "pack and stop" tour? Fortunately, the organizers immediately readily agreed.
It is said that there is a booth about Sun Shuao in the Huaihe Museum in Huaibin County, but the arrangement of this "root-seeking cultural festival" is so nervous that people feel out of breath, and they can't move forward. Here, I really had a "chance encounter" with Uncle Sun. What makes me a little proud is that Sun Shuao is also a native of Qisi Town, Huaibin County, Henan Province today, and is from the same town as Jiang Boling, the ancestor of our Jiang family. The difference is that Jiang Boling was originally the "founder of the country" who was sealed here by Zhou Jidan, while Sun Shuao was called "the contempt (suburban) of the thinking of the people" by "Xunzi". "Look, urban-rural discrimination should have existed in that era.
However, the statement of "Xunzi" only shows the location of the "location" where Sun Shuao lived, and he looked at people according to his regional background. The "Historical Records" pointed out that Sun Shuao was a "local scholar of Chu", that is, "the hermit of Chu", which is based on "identity". Of course, this also shows the ancient Chinese standard of looking at people - first, from "location", and second, from "all status". Since this kind of "traditional observation" can be "traditional" to this day, there should be both advantages and disadvantages.
Standing in front of the sign of "Spring and Autumn Chu Prime Minister Sun Shuao's Hometown", I naturally want to open the long scroll of history again, and naturally want to devote myself to the long river of history again. Because for many years, I have been advocating "double activation", that is, "activating reading with tourism, and activating tourism with reading", insisting that "reading thousands of books" and "traveling thousands of miles" are not a causal relationship before and after, but a mutual promotion relationship.
Nowadays, when people talk about the "followers" in history, they talk about his "honesty and integrity", and often ignore the administrative actions of the rich people he lived in. If it is only "honest and honest" for one or even several terms of office, it is very likely to be another manifestation of inaction and lack of responsibility. It is estimated that Sima Qian will give a thumbs up when he hears my words under Jiuquan. Because in Sima Qian's view, Sun Shuao was recommended to King Chuzhuang by Yuqiu, the minister of state. After a three-month probationary period, Sun Shuao became the prime minister.
Sure enough, Sun Shuao has his own work style. In the "aspect of governance," he advocated "teaching the people," and the guiding result he pursued was "harmony between the upper and lower levels." Today we have been deeply touched by the social governance effect of this kind of social "harmony" and "integration." In terms of "governance", he advocated "the government is slow and prohibitive, the officials are not treacherous, and the thieves cannot afford it." That is to say, when in power, it is necessary not only to be lenient and not harsh, but also to ensure that there are prohibitions and must be stopped, and as long as the officials do not do evil and deceitful things, there will be no thieves among the people. In the eyes of some people today, these assertions of Sun Shuao may be "self-tiding" or too idealistic, but the "political delay and prohibition" are still worth savoring.
I pay more attention to the three things that Uncle Sun Ao did during his phase. The first thing is that "in autumn and winter, the people are advised to pick in the mountains, and in spring and summer they use water, so that everyone can get their own convenience, and the people are happy to live." In other words, in autumn and winter, Sun Shuao encouraged people to go into the mountains to harvest trees, and in spring and summer, he used the rising river water to transport the timber out of the mountains. As a result, the people have their own convenient ways to earn a living, and they all live in peace.
The second thing was that King Chuzhuang, who liked to toss, forcibly carried out currency reform, and the result was that three months later, "the people were inconvenienced, and they all went to their jobs", and there was a "market chaos". After receiving the investigation report from the front line of the market, Sun Shuao, with his unique courage and spirit of responsibility, immediately admonished and asked to restore the old system. As a result, the king of Chuzhuang ordered that three days later, "the city will be restored to its old state".
The third thing is that one of the folk customs of Chu is that the people love to ride a short car, and the king of Chu thinks that the low car is not convenient for driving a horse, and wants to make an "upgrade" of the national short car to improve its height. At this time, the Minister of State, Sun Shuao, bravely stood up again and said to the King of Chu, "The repeated decrees will make the people at a loss, which is not good." If you must want to make the vehicle higher, the minister asks for the villagers to raise the threshold. The passengers are all gentlemen with status, and they can't get off the bus frequently to cross the threshold, so they will naturally make the base of the car high. The king of Chu granted his request. Sure enough, after half a year, the upward and downward effects were effected, and the people automatically raised the base of the vehicle they were sitting on.
My focus may be more on the text, but the focus of my contemporary mentor is more on practice, and he mentioned Sun Shuao many times when he inspected the Huai River, saying that Sun Shuao was a great expert in water control, because Sun Shuao presided over the construction of large-scale irrigation projects such as Qisipi and Shaobi during his reign, and also developed water conservancy in the area of today's Jianghan Plain. In ancient China, water control officials often had to take the lead on the front line, and at the same time had to bear many political risks and official costs. However, Sun Shuao did so fearlessly.
Some people will compete and say, "Sun Shuao is not surnamed Sun." "That's true, Uncle Sun Ao was originally surnamed Mi (sound: rice), the name Ao, the word Uncle Sun. However, his descendants took his character as their name, making today's Qisi Town, Huaibin County, Henan Province, not only one of the sources of the Chinese surname Jiang, but also one of the sources of the Chinese surname Sun.
Think about it, a town with an area of only 85 square kilometers is actually the birthplace of the two major Chinese surnames - Jiang and Sun, who can regard it as small and biased?
The so-called "grand tour of China" can only be "walking all over the mountains and rivers with full sleeves, leaning on the side to watch a pool of stars." In front of me, it was the sign that wrote "The Ancient City of Jiang Guo in the Western Zhou Dynasty" very big, and "The hometown of Uncle Ao of the Spring and Autumn Period of Chu Xiangsun" was written small, which made it a little "thick Jiang and thin grandson". (Posthumously recorded on April 18, 2024 at Amethyst Hotel, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi)