After graduating from primary school, a three-day feast was also held A hundred years ago, Gansu had a popular custom of "eating literary style"
Qing Dynasty Examinees Answering Papers in the Examination Shed of Gansu Gongyuan (Sculpture)
A hundred years ago, some places in Gansu had a popular folk activity of "eating literary style". Listening to the name, it is very strange, why is it called "eating style"? There are many things to eat, but the wind can't eat them. So, why do people want to "eat style"?
Gansu people advocate cultivating and reading heirlooms
Located in the northwest of Gansu, the natural conditions are harsh, the transportation is inconvenient, and the culture and education are backward. In the past, it was not easy to produce a cultural person. Since ancient times, Gansu people have been very admiring of culture, as long as conditions permit, they always want to do everything possible to provide for their children to go to school and study, so as to support the future. Therefore, many families have two sons, one ploughing the field at home, and the other going to school to study, which is often referred to as the cultivation and reading heirloom. The two children, each with a division of labor, both planted crops and read books. Even if you can't read and pass the exam, you can read and hyphenate, and you can do business, which is also a way out.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to traffic reasons, Gansu students had to take the township examination and go to Shaanxi to take the examination, the distance was long, and the huge financial and material expenditure restricted the further development of Gansu students. In this case, it is already an incredible achievement for a large family to produce a person.
In the Qing Dynasty, the number of jinshi in Gansu (including Ganningqing) was far from being comparable to other provinces in the south, or even with a county in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the number of jinshi accounted for was only one-hundredth of the total number of jinshi in the Qing Dynasty, ranking last in the total number of provinces in the country.
Among them, there are reasons why Gansu has a large area and it is not easy to participate in the township examinations, there are also economic difficulties, it is difficult to go to Beijing to catch up with the examinations, and naturally there are also factors such as backward local education and a small population base.
Xing Shu was worried about collecting tuition fees
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Shaanxi-Gansu Township Examination was held in Lanzhou, and the number of people who were recruited in the Gansu Examination increased greatly. Now that you have passed the exam, you should celebrate.
This kind of celebration has two meanings, one is to congratulate the students on their achievements, and the other is to ask the villagers to help them and make up a little tuition. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Xing Shu, one of the two shu in Gansu, encountered difficulties at his celebration banquet. Xing Shuzi Yumin, a native of Wudu, was born in the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong (1759). When Xing Shu was a child, his family was extremely poor, and he used to borrow a study in the monastery. Later, when I was successful in studying, I was ready to go to Xi'an to take the township examination, but my family had no money and could not get the road expenses, what should I do? At this time, someone gave him an idea, saying that he would buy some banquets and invite relatives and friends to participate, hoping that everyone would be able to help him at that time.
That's a good idea! However, their family could not even make up the money for the banquet, so they had no choice but to borrow money to buy a banquet. On this day, many people from the villagers came, and they watched the banquet finish, but there were no people who were willing to pay for it. Faced with this scene, the mother and son could only cry bitterly. Fortunately, after a businessman heard about this, he took the initiative to fund Xing Shu and let him go to Xi'an to take the exam.
A hundred years ago, in various parts of Gansu, warlords were fighting each other, coupled with natural and man-made disasters, people's lives were extremely difficult, and there were few people reading books. In these places, once a reader appears, people think that it is a great joy, and naturally they must celebrate. At first, it was an ordinary celebration that reflected the mutual help between the villagers. Later, it became a headache activity.
Later, it developed into the custom of "eating literary style" in the Republic of China period.
From Chongwen to vulgarity
During the Republic of China period, at first, students who graduated from college or secondary school had to celebrate, and later developed to celebrate the graduation of primary school students, and there was a whole set of procedures.
First, the relatives, friends and elders of the primary school students, led by mules and horses draped in red and green and with bells, under the guidance of the band and the encouragement of the gong and cannon, went to the primary school to greet the graduates. When the elementary school was born, relatives and friends rushed up, dressed up the elementary school graduates, wore a big red hydrangea ribbon and a top hat, and then helped the students ride home on horseback. When I arrived at the student's home, there was a set of procedures, first the firecrackers were fired in unison, and then his father was welcomed into the ancestral hall, the graduation certificate was raised high, and then the ancestral tablet portrait was three prayers and nine kowtows, and then the parents were thanked in the high hall. Afterwards, we will go to the ancestral grave to pay homage. Since then, people have also changed their names to "sir".
The Main Family inevitably has to spend a lot of money, and the feast is as little as one day, as much as three days, and more people are feasting for three days. In fact, the main family is unwilling, but it cannot stand the enthusiasm of the villagers, and can only fill the table.
Later, with the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, people from the southeast coast came to Gansu, they brought new ideas, and the custom of "eating literary style" gradually disappeared.
Text/Wang Wenyuan Photo/Gansu Keju Museum courtesy of