In China, a country with a strong family culture, the birth of a baby is a great joy for a family. All young and old in the family will feel happy to add people to the import.
This has also derived a series of folk cultural traditions, such as giving baby tiger head shoes and hats, sending longevity locks, handling full moon wine, and so on. These traditions are the joy expressed by the Chinese at the arrival of a new life.
But there was a baby in history who was heavily guarded at birth, and the provincial governor and high-ranking officials never left him, and there were 13 salutes to congratulate him after he was born. He is not the heir of the royal family, nor is he the descendant of high-ranking officials and dignitaries, he is the 77th grandson of Confucius and the 31st generation of Yan Shenggong.
The origin of "Yan Shenggong".
During the Warring States Period, the ideological propositions of various schools of thought were in a state of contention. For example, the schools of "Taoism" and "Legalism", which we are all familiar with today, were widely spread at that time.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to consolidate the unification, he followed Dong Zhongshu's advice, deposed the hundred schools, and respected Confucianism. That is, to unify ideologically, to make Confucianism the only orthodoxy of its rule.
Since then, Confucianism has become the sole theoretical guide for thousands of years of feudal rule in China. Even during the period when it was ruled by ethnic minorities, the status of Confucianism was not shaken in the slightest.
As the founder of Confucianism, Confucius's status in China is even more revered. He was revered by later rulers as a Confucian saint and a master of all ages, and was listed as the first of the "Top Ten Cultural Celebrities in the World". Its influence on Chinese culture and even world culture can be seen.
In order to stabilize their rule, the feudal rulers constantly emphasized and solidified the position of Confucius. By the time of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Renzong gave the descendants of Confucius the name "Yan Shenggong" and made it the exclusive title of Confucius's descendants. The hereditary "Yan Sheng Gong" has thus become a special title that spans dynasties and has a prominent position in Chinese history.
In order to ensure the purity of the bloodline of the "Yan Shenggong", the title was only passed on to the eldest descendants of Confucius. So whether the lineage of sons and grandsons can continue is a very important matter.
The hard-won 31st generation of "Yan Shenggong"
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, China was in a state of warlord secession, and the domestic situation was chaotic. The 30th generation of "Yan Shenggong" Kong Lingyi lived in this era. At this time, he was under a lot of pressure, not because of the chaotic situation and turbulent life, but because Kong must have the historical burden of the future, and he will not be able to pick it up when he sees it.
Kong Lingyi's family has a wife and a concubine, and there has been nothing for many years after marriage, and the descendants of the Kong family have withered. Until the death of Mrs. Kong's main house due to illness, the task of continuing the heir was still not completed.
The elders of the Kong family didn't care about the death of Mrs. Kong at all, nor did they care about Kong Lingyi's pain of losing his wife, so they immediately arranged another marriage for Kong Lingyi. asked him to marry the maid of the family - Wang Baocui non-stop after his wife's funeral.
After Wang Baocui entered the door, she soon became pregnant. This is undoubtedly great news for the Confucian Mansion, which has no heirs for many years. Not only the Kong family is paying attention to Wang Baocui's belly, but the whole of China is paying attention to Wang Baocui's belly.
Pregnant in October, once delivered, Wang Baocui gave birth to a pair of baby girls. Kong Lingyi, a middle-aged daughter, loves this pair of daughters very much, but the burden of family inheritance has still not been lifted. The pressure of having a child under the attention of the whole country made Kong Lingyi's family feel sad.
In 1919, Kong Lingyi was close to 50 years old, and the hope of having a child seemed to be getting slimmer and slimmer. In desperation, Wang Baocui became pregnant again.
The whole family is taking care of this seedling like a jewel, for fear that something will go wrong. Unexpectedly, when Wang Baocui was 6 months pregnant, Kong Lingyi died of illness.
The unprecedented pressure is all on Wang Baocui alone, and the Kong family, which has lasted for thousands of years, depends on the child in the belly.
If Wang Baocui gave birth to a girl this time, then the descendants of Confucius will be truly extinct.
Therefore, this unborn fetus has received great attention from all sides. The local government even sent a large number of police officers to patrol the vicinity of the Confucian Mansion day and night, on the one hand, to ensure the smooth birth of the fetus, and on the other hand, to ensure that the Confucian people would not "steal the day" and replace the possible female baby with another male baby.
Finally, when the day of production came, the government specially transferred a general and led a large team of men and horses to guard in front of the gate of the Confucian Mansion. Not only that, the then governor of Shandong Province also came to Kong's house in person, standing at the door of the delivery room, hoping to witness the birth of a new generation of Yan Shenggong.
After experiencing the torment of dystocia, Kong Decheng, the 31st generation of Yan Shenggong, was finally born. The local government even performed a national salute with 13 gun salutes to celebrate.
"My life is up to the sky, not me" of "Yan Shenggong"
Only 16 days after Kong Decheng, the 31st generation of Yan Shenggong, was born, his biological mother Wang Baocui died of puerperal fever. His father's concubine, Tao, took on the responsibility of raising him.
As a descendant of Confucius, Kong Decheng had to receive a lot of Confucian cultural education since he was a child. Not only that, but when he was young, he also had to preside over the sacrifice of the Confucian Temple as the Holy Father of Yan. The physical and mental exhaustion was all pressed on the boy's body, and he was powerless to get rid of it.
When he was young, he did not have the care and love of his parents, and when he was a teenager, he was fiddled with like a puppet by those in power.
For those in power, "Yan Shenggong" is a tool man, just a puppet used by those in power to achieve political goals.
And for Kong Decheng, the illusory identity of "Yan Shenggong" is not a shackle in his life. In 1935, the government of the Republic of China officially canceled the title of "Yan Sheng Gong", and the title that lasted for more than 800 years was officially abolished, and Kong Decheng became the last "Yan Sheng Gong" in Chinese history.
In 1949, at the age of 30, Kong Decheng settled in Taiwan. Although he is no longer a "Yan Shenggong" and no longer needs to live as a descendant of the Confucian family, he still dedicates the rest of his life to the dissemination and inheritance of Confucian culture.
He held professorships in the Department of Chinese and the Department of Anthropology at National Taiwan University, teaching courses such as "Three Rites Studies", "Jinwen Studies", and "Yin Zhou Bronze Yi Ware Studies"; and later served as the dean of the "Examination Institute" in Taiwan until his death due to illness in 2008.
After all, Kong Decheng was still tied to the identity of Kong's descendants for a lifetime. When he was born under the expectation of the "Yan Shenggong", he was surrounded by countless halos.
However, it is precisely because of the identity of the descendants of Confucius and the last generation of "Yan Shenggong" that Kong Decheng has been burdened with the mission of his family all his life, and the expectations of the nation and personal needs have long been put aside.
This identity determines that Kong Decheng can only live in the invisible shackles of "descendants of Confucius", and any behavior that exceeds the rules is unacceptable.
It's like a bird in a cage, no matter how gorgeous the cage is, the bird loses its freedom. Such a "chosen son", lucky or unlucky, I am afraid that only I know the taste.