Zhang Xuecheng - an outstanding historical theorist in Chinese history, including "Wenshi Tongyi", "School Chicken Tongyi" and other legends, known as the terminator of classical Chinese historiography, with the reputation of "Zhejiang Eastern Historiography Temple Army"; at the same time, he is also the founder of Chinese Fang Zhixue theory, majoring in "Hezhou Zhi", "Yongqing County Zhi", "Bozhou Zhi", "Hubei Tongzhi" and other more than ten zhi books, creating a complete set of Xiu Zhi Yi examples, is a well-deserved Fang Zhi Xue taidou in Chinese history.
One
In the third year of Qianlong (1738), Zhang Xuecheng was born in Huijidong Township, Zhejiang, which is daoxu Town in shangyu, Shaoxing today. His original name was Wen Wei (文镳), the character Shi Zhai (實斋), and the number Shaoyan (少岩), whose ancestors moved from Fujian to Zhejiang. The ancestor of the Zhang family, Zhang Shenyi, in the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, had been working in the land of Yuanmu, and seeing the chaos in the world, he gathered the crowd to cause trouble, and had the ambition to clarify the world, and when he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang's great achievements were about to be completed, he retreated in a hurry and returned home to farm. By the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Zhang clan had more than 10,000 people. Zhang Xuecheng's grandfather, Zhang Ruzhang, was a small official who had a candidate experience, and his family had a collection of books, and the history recorded him——
Zhang Xuecheng's father, Zhang Yi(张镳), was a young orphan, and his ancestor's suicide note was lost, but he did not quit reading, and he was a scholar in the seventh year of Qianlong (1742), and Qianlong began to serve in Yingchengzhi County, Hubei Province in the sixteenth year. It is said that Zhang Bi -
Zhang Xuecheng remembers his father Zhang Yisheng's forward behavior, and there is such a written narrative -
It can be seen that Zhang Xuecheng is generally regarded as a scholarly door, and the origin of family learning has its own.
Two
Zhang Xuecheng was ill when he was young, his qualifications were dull, and his memory was particularly poor, "he recited more than a hundred words a day, stopped his illness, received fourteen chambers, and had not yet died in the Four Sons' Book." However, his father Zhang Bi was diligent in his studies and could follow his example. Fourteen-year-old Zhang Xuecheng followed his parents out of Zhejiang for Yingcheng. At this time, Zhang Xuecheng's childlike heart did not rest, although his father invited him to a master who was good at lifting his profession, but he refused to study the texts of Yingju, but liked to read a group of books, and his interests tended to be close to historiography. He once tried to take the "Zuo Zhuan", "Chinese" and other books, adapted into the History Book of the Ji Chuan Style, the famous "Book of the Eastern Zhou", secretly operated for three years, but was prevented by the librarian and gave up. At that time, he was "self-proclaimed historically talented, and his words were not inferior." However, the basic skills are poor, "the use of paraphrasing aids in the text is still not appropriate." After Zhang Yi was deposed for some reason, he spent more than ten years in the academies of Yingcheng and Tianmen Counties in Hubei Province, with hard work and hard work, and it goes without saying that he could only hope that Zhang Xuecheng could strive for fame. As Zhang Xuecheng grew older, "a little aware of the difficulties of the world, he looked back on his profession, and there was no one who could use it in the world", and he had to take the only step of the reading person at the time of the imperial examination.
| Ancient imperial examinations
In the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong (1760), the 23-year-old Zhang Xuecheng went to Beijing for the first time to take the Shuntianfu Township Examination and returned home. Every other year, he went to the township to take the test, also known as Luosun Mountain, so he studied in the Guozijian. After that, under the Tuzhu Junmen of Beijing Normal University, he was able to explore his rich collection of books, and discussed the academic origins and similarities and differences with the famous scholars who came and went to Zhumen, and made great progress in his studies. In the summer of the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong, Zhang Xuecheng took a leave of absence from the capital and was pro-Hubei province, when his father Zhang Bi was doing a lecture at Tianmen Academy. In the winter of the following year, Zhang Bi presided over the compilation of the "Chronicle of Tianmen County", in which Zhang Xuecheng, 27 years old, participated, and also wrote the article "Ten Discussions on Xiu Zhi", which put forward ten systematic views on the compilation of Fang Zhi.
Its main views: First, Zhi is a historical style, so "the genre should be based on the historical law", and the compilation of Fang Zhi should be modeled on the Ji Chuan style history books, and put forward that the "art text" part should not be indiscriminately included in the poetry, and the poems should be selected as auxiliary to the zhi book; second, Fang Zhi should "draw materials for the history of the country", so it must be "detailed and clear, neat and uniform". To this end, he proposed that the local government "should establish a determination to take advantage of the science room on weekdays" to preserve relevant materials; the third is that the preparation of Fang Zhi should be "creative" and "not a person who is not reckless", so that it is not only a book of Yiyi, but "a book of the world". These insights are the views formed by Zhang Xuecheng's extensive books, extensive reference to ancient and modern Fang Zhi, and careful analysis and reflection. It can be seen that Zhang Xuecheng already has a high academic attainment in editing and repairing Fang Zhi Lingcheng. Since then, Zhang Xuecheng has established the understanding that Fang Zhi is the whole history of Fang Zhi, which enabled him to closely combine his historical research in his subsequent revision activities, and opened up a broad future for the establishment of his own Fang Zhi and historical theory.
Three
In the thirtieth year of Qianlong (1765), Zhang Xuecheng went to the Beijing Division for the third time to take the Shun Tianfu Township Examination, still falling behind, but he met shen Yefu, the first confidant in his life. After Shen Yefu's introduction, Zhang Xuecheng soon formally asked Zhu Yun, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, to be his teacher. At that time in the capital, Zhu Yun, Together with Shen Yefu, Weng Fanggang, and Zhang Zengchang, was known as the so-called "Four Great Kongs" in the academic circles.
| Zhu Yun
Zhang Xuecheng received a lot of help from Zhu Yun, and he also lived up to expectations, working extremely hard, reading and buying books. For several years, he also visited Dai Zhen. Dai Zhen, also spelled Dongyuan, was a first-class scholar during the Qianlong period, a master of scripture and evidence, and an outstanding thinker. Dai Zhen's remarks greatly shocked Zhang Xuecheng. Dai's way of learning is: "So the enlightened one, the word also; so the word maker, the word also." From the word to the word, from the word to the way, there will be a gradual. That is to say, it is necessary to interpret the scriptures by exhorting the words and phrases in order to further enlighten the tao, that is, to draw theoretical understanding. When Dai Zhen first saw Zhang Xuecheng, he taught him the way to govern with an authoritative attitude, claiming that -
This discussion caused Zhang Xuecheng, who was not deeply educated and had always neglected to be exegetical and prospective, to fall into contradictions and wandering, and to realize that "my generation in the Four Books and One Classic, just as it has not yet opened the book, can be ashamed, can be cold." This kind of mood is clearly expressed in Zhang Xuecheng's "Treatise on The Study of Sun Runan" in Qianlong's thirty-one years. Is it to adhere to the original path of "don't give advice, don't be imprisoned for discipline"? Or do you change your course and engage in historical evidence? Zhang Xuecheng must make a choice.
In the autumn of the thirty-second year of Qianlong (1767), seeing that "the sun and the moon do not dwell, and sit on the boss", Zhang Xuecheng was forced to make a living and accepted the commission to revise the "Chronicle of the Guozi Supervisor". Thirty-three years after Qianlong, after Zhang Bi died in Yingcheng, the whole family of seventeen or eight came to Beijing, Zhang Xuecheng had to do learning, and he had to support his family, and he had to take the imperial examination, and the burden of life became heavier and heavier. He had to write a letter asking his teacher Zhu Yun to help him seek the position of book editor, "This is the matter of life and death, The Master, should be given to him." The extent of his embarrassment can be imagined. In the autumn of the thirty-sixth year of Qianlong, Zhu Yun oversaw the study of government in Anhui. Zhang Xuecheng left Beijing with Zhu Yun and arrived at the Taiping Embassy in Anhui. At the beginning of the second year after Zhang Xuecheng left the capital, he was introduced by Zhu Yun and edited the "Hezhou Zhizhi" at the invitation of Liu Changcheng of Hezhou Zhizhou, which was the first time in Zhang Xuecheng's life that he used the Fang Zhi theory he proposed to practice operations. Zhang Xuecheng had no choice but to save 20 manuscripts, which are now preserved in the Outer Edition of Zhang's Testament.
In the forty-second year of Qianlong (1777), Zhang Xuecheng drummed up Yu Yong again, hardened his scalp, and fought in the next game, and finally the sky had eyes, and the township test was lifted. The following year, good things come again, and finally become a soldier. But the years wear and tear, the chicken ribs are warm, this year, Zhang Xuecheng has reached the year of no confusion. At this time, it had been ten years since his father Zhang Bi had died. Zhang Xuecheng said bitterly: Late ascension to Jiadi, the pain of the first gentleman is not enough to see also. After Zhang Xuecheng entered the priesthood, he was given the GuoziJian classics, but he thought that "pedantic" was not suitable for the world, and he was reluctant to enter the army, so he successively lectured at Dingzhou Dingwu, Baoding Lotus Pond, Gui DeWenzheng and other colleges, and was invited to Yongqing to continue the "Yongqing County Chronicle". While compiling and revising the "Yongqing County Chronicle", Zhang Xuecheng also completed the book "School Chicken Tongyi", which is one of the most proud works of Zhang Xuecheng's life.
Four
In the fifty-second year of Qianlong (1787), Zhang Xuecheng, who had reached half a hundred years, finally got a position in Zhixian County in the midst of hardship and helplessness. But Zhang Xuecheng hesitated again and again, and finally gave up, and he showed his heart in a poem -
Zhang Xuecheng was determined to make up his mind and take scholarship as his career, and he went to Henan Biliang under the recommendation of a friend and submitted a letter to Inspector Bi Yuan of Henan, which is the famous "Book of Shangbi Futai", and wanted to use Bi Yuan's strength to compile the "Examination of Historical Books". The following year, Zhang Xuecheng went to Guide to give a lecture at the Wenzheng Academy of GuideFu, and with the strong support of Bi Qiufan, he started the compilation of the "Historical Examination" in Kaifeng. However, due to Bi Yuan's transfer to the post of Governor of Huguang, the compilation of the "Historical Records Examination" quickly fell into a stalemate. In desperation, Zhang Xuecheng went to Wuhan in the fifty-fifth year of Qianlong to enter the Biyuan shogunate and assisted in the compilation of the "Continuation of The General Book of Zizhi", and at the same time continued to compile the "Examination of Historical Records".
In the fifty-ninth year of Qianlong (1794), Zhang Xuecheng, who had been wandering in a foreign land for more than forty years, returned to his hometown. In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), Qianlong died and He yan collapsed. Although the 62-year-old Zhang Xuecheng has already "risen to the top and listened to both ears", he is still an old man who wrote political essays such as "The Book of Current Affairs on the Reign of Shang", "The Book of Xianggong of Shanghancheng", "The Book of Xianggong of Hancheng Again", "The Book of Xianggong of Sanshang Hancheng", "The Book of Shangyin Chuzhenge", "And Cao Dingxuan's Imperial Tribute Book", and made generous statements, overflowing with words, and repeatedly affirmed that he "is poor with literature and ink, don't you have any hopes?" It can be used for the world, and it can be cool without the suspicion of drying in."
In the fifth year of Jiaqing (1800), although Zhang Xuecheng was poor and sick, blind in both eyes, he still kept waving his hands, and articles such as "Zhejiang East Academic" and "Shao and TongBei Biography" were completed in the same year. Xiaoshan Wang Huizu said in his "Aftermath of sick bed dreams": It was the spring of the year, Zhang Xuecheng "was sick, wrote on the matter of Judas, and Qian wrote the official record grass." In the summer of the sixth year of Jiaqing, Zhang Xuecheng also wrote "Yu Room Zhi" for Wang Huizu, "There are numbers that are not safe, the mailbox is reversed, and the discussion is repeated." The manuscript was written quickly, and it became a masterpiece." In November of this year, Zhang Xuecheng, a historian of a generation, died of illness at the age of 63 and was buried in San'in Fangwu.
Five
Zhang Xuecheng's life was turbulent and displaced, impoverished, and "tired of running in the rivers and lakes," but "writing between the dust and horses of the car," and the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" said that "Xuecheng was good at debate, had the courage to be confident," and "regarded the Style of the Tang and Song Dynasties with disdain." Zhang Xuecheng devoted his life's energy to writing treatises such as "Wenshi Tongyi", "School Chicken Tongyi", and "Examination of Historical Books", and his "Wenshi Tongyi" was on a par with Liu Zhiji's "Shi Tongyi" of the Tang Dynasty, advocating the history of the Six Classics, advocating historical meaning, pushing the theory of ancient Chinese historiography to the peak, and being the "double bi" of ancient Chinese historical theory.
Zhang Xuecheng is the ancestor of Fang Zhixue. From the age of 27, he followed his father to revise the "Chronicle of Tianmen County" and began to write Fang Zhi's papers. In the 20 years from the 38th to the 58th year of the Qianlong Dynasty, he successively compiled or participated in the compilation of the zhishu "Hezhou Zhi", "Yongqing County Zhi", "Daming County Zhi", "Bozhou Zhi", "Hubei Tongzhi" and so on. Pre-study includes "Macheng County Chronicle", "Changde Fu Zhi", "Jingzhou Zhi" and so on. According to the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, these zhishu "are all decent and recommended by the world." At the same time as compiling the Zhizhi Book, he wrote articles such as "Fang Zhi Discernment Body", "Fang Zhili Three Books Discussion", "Ji and Dai Dongyuan on Xiu Zhi" and "Ten Discussions on Xiu Zhi", carefully discussing the nature, style, function and compilation method of Fang Zhi' origins, forming a complete set of systematic Fang Zhi theory. Zhang Xuecheng's views on Fang Zhixue can be summarized as follows:
For the first time, the viewpoint of "Zhizhi Xinshi" was put forward, the nature of local history was scientifically defined, and the nature of Fang Zhi was clarified; Li Di Chen said that "Zhi Nai Historical Style", "Zhi Nai Shi Zhi", "Zhi Zhi Xin Shi", "Fang Zhi should be deleted for the history of the country", "Fang Zhi is the whole history of Fang Zhi", and other propositions included Fang Zhi in the scope of history books, holding that history books and Zhishu have the same nature and role. He said --
The focus of Zhang Xuecheng's Fang Zhi compilation thought has changed twice, from focusing on Fang Zhi's art and literature to focusing on how to preserve the local palms, and from trying to preserve the palm in the Fang Zhi Shuzhi to the separation of the "Zhi" body and the palm of the Fang Zhi. On the basis of summarizing the experience of his predecessors in xiuzhi, he put forward important viewpoints such as "three books", "four bodies", "Fang Zhi discernment body" and suggested that states and counties "Te Li Zhi Ke" and founded Fang Zhi Xue, thus laying an important position in Qing Dynasty historiography.
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Author: Wang Zhenyu
Wang Zhenyu is a national first-class writer and deputy editor-in-chief of Phoenix Publishing and Media Group.
Article source: "History of Nanjing" Courtesy of Nanjing Local History Office
Review, Release: Zhu Zhenxin