Hu (59) | Hu Yan family: Hu Yao's great-grandfather Hu Tao served as the Lingzhou Assassin of the Later Shu regime

Huang Yong/Wen

Hu (58) | Qinghua Hu Clan: The Fenzhi Longtan Hu Clan Chongwen Re-teaching, famous for the script exegesis scholar Hu Pu'an

Since the Tang and Song dynasties, the southeast coast has become the most important economic region in the country, and has become a political center several times, especially in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the core areas of the southeast coastal area, and since the Song and Ming Dynasties, talents have emerged and a large number of famous and prestigious families have been formed. After the famous and prestigious families in Sichuan during the Song Dynasty, most of them moved to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which injected a deep foundation into the local culture.

The Hu surname is distributed in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and although it cannot be compared with the surnames of Wu and Zhang, it is also among the top 20 surnames. Most of the Hu surnames in Jiangsu and Zhejiang moved in from other places, such as Hu Yan, a pioneer, thinker and educator of science in the Northern Song Dynasty and the founder of the Anding School, whose ancestors moved from Lingzhou (present-day Renshou County, Sichuan) to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Hu Yan's descendants scattered in the Jianghuai area, and many celebrities emerged.

Portrait of Hu Ye (file photo)

Hu Yu's great-grandfather Hu Tao moved from present-day Renshou County, Sichuan to the Central Plains

Hu Yan, the character Wing Zhi, from a cloth to a prince teacher, lifelong commitment to education, a life full of legends.

As for Hu Yu's place of origin, it is common to say that his ancestral home was in Andingbao, Shaanxi (present-day Zichang County, Shaanxi), and he was born in Rugao County (present-day Rugao City, Jiangsu).

However, due to different historical records, there are still many controversies about Hu Yan's birthplace, and there are three main theories.

In addition to the theory that Hu Yu was a Rugao person, one theory is that Hu Yu was a native of JunhaiLing County, Taizhou (present-day Hailing District, Taizhou, Jiangsu); another is that of Juntai County, Taizhou (present-day Jiangyan District, Taizhou).

The similarity between these three theories is that Hu Yu is a person from a large area of the Taizhou Army. The difference is, which part of the Taizhou Army is Hu Yu?

Ji Xiaolan, a famous writer and official of the Qing Dynasty, believed that Hu Yan was a native of Rugao County. Where is Ji Xiaolan's basis?

The Northern Song Dynasty calligrapher, writer, politician and tea scholar Cai Xiang said in the "Epitaph of Dr. Taichang to Hu Jun" that during the Tang Dynasty, Hu Xiang's distant ancestor Hu Xiang was a native of Andingbao, Yanchuan County, Yanzhou, and Hu Xiang was an official to the Bingbu Shangshu.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, due to the chaos of the war, Hu Tao's grandson and Hu Tao's great-grandfather moved his family into Shu. After Meng Zhixiang established Later Shu, Hu Tao served as the assassin of Lingzhou (陵州, in modern Renshou County, Sichuan).

After Later Shu was destroyed by the Northern Song Dynasty, Hu Tao submitted to the Northern Song Dynasty and followed the Later Shu lord Meng Chang to the capital city of Fenjing (汴京, in modern Kaifeng, Henan), where he served in the imperial court and served as Wei Weiqing.

Hu Tao's son, Hu Xiuji,Hu Xiuji (胡修已), served as a Taizhou Sikou (Taizhou Sikou) and was in charge of prisons and pickets. It was at this time that the Hu family moved to Taizhou JunhaiLing County.

Hu Wei's father, Hu Wei, served as a jiedushi officer in the Ninghai Navy, in charge of military, financial, and civil affairs. At that time, this position belonged to the inferior officials, and there were fewer officials, and the Hu family entered the situation of "poor family and self-sufficiency".

Hu Wei was "erudite and good at belonging to literature", and the chancellor Lü Yijian admired him very much, and once recommended him to Song Renzong to "prepare for the revision of the history of the country". After Hu Huan's death, he was posthumously awarded the title of Crown Prince Zhongyun.

According to the historical records of Rugao County, after Hu Wei left office, because his family was poor, his family moved to Hujiazhuang outside the south gate of Rugao County. Hu Yan was born here and later moved to Yanjiawan in Rugao County.

Hu Yu studied: studied day and night, and did not return home for 10 years

Hu Wei is the eldest son of Hu Wei, who has been intelligent and studious since childhood, can write articles at the age of 7, and understands the Five Classics at the age of 13, and is regarded as a genius by his neighbors. Hu Wei once said with great satisfaction: "This son is a great instrument, very child also!" ”

Hu Yan was diligent in reading, eager to learn, ambitious, and often appointed himself as a sage. However, because his family was poor and could not afford to provide him with education, Hu Yan did not receive a good education in his early years.

After Hu Yan grew up, he and Sun Fu, Shi Jie and others who later became scholars carried boxes to Taishan Qizhenguan for further study. It is worth mentioning that Hu Yan, Sun Fu and Shi Jie later became the pioneers of the Song Dynasty's science, known in history as "Three Gentlemen".

Hu Yu devoted all his energy to studying, and under very poor living conditions, he "did not want to eat and sleep", studied day and night, and immersed himself in the study of the sage classics.

For 10 years, he did not go home once, and usually kept in touch with his family by letters. Whenever he received a letter from home, he stopped reading the word "peace" and threw it into a mountain stream in order not to disturb his lofty mind.

Ten years of wall-facing figures broke through the wall, and Hu Yan finally learned something.

He returned to his hometown and confidently took the imperial examination. However, fate always likes to tease people, and he did not pass the exam 7 times in a row.

Hu Yu, who was not confused in his old age, was completely desperate for the imperial examination. He returned to Taizhou City and opened a academy (private school) at the Jingwu Ancestral Hall (where the present-day Taizhou Middle School) next to the Huatuo Temple, which was called Anding Academy in the name of his ancestral home and Wasing, and he was also known as Mr. Anding.

【Next issue concern】

See the surname Hu (60).

【Special Thanks】

Mr. Hu Chuanhuai, an expert in literature and history of Pengxi County, Sichuan.

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