In November of the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong (1772 AD), Zhu Yun, a scholar of Anhui Province, played a song to the Qianlong Emperor, saying that the "Yongle Canon" in the Hanlin Academy was scattered, and suggested that it be recorded and checked for gains and losses, and by the way, many endangered books of the past dynasties were collected and sorted out. This suggestion was immediately approved by Qianlong, and he immediately ordered the compilation of the Yongle Canon and the compilation of "all the official engraved books adopted by the provinces and Wuying Hall" under the title of "Siku Quanshu", and in the same year, the "Siku Quanshu Library" was also established. The vast cultural project of compiling the "Four Libraries" began. The reason why Zhu Yun had this proposal was because of a figure that could not be avoided- Zhang Xuecheng.
Zhang Xuecheng
Zhang Xuecheng was a native of Huiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang), who was in poor health and read less when he was a child. Later, he followed his father to serve in Yingchengzhi County, Hubei Province, and studied with teachers to meet his career. But Zhang Xuecheng had little interest in the imperial examination, but liked to read a lot of books, especially in history. In 1756, Zhang Xuecheng's father was deposed for some reason, and the family, which was not rich in the first place, immediately fell into trouble, and even did not have the cost of traveling back to his hometown. His father pinned his hope that Zhang Xuecheng could strive for fame, and Zhang Xuecheng, after this change, also tasted the hardships of the world, decided to solve the problem of livelihood and embarked on the road of the imperial examination.
However, Zhang Xuecheng entered the Beijing Ying Shun Tianfu Township Examination, took the exam three times, and failed the list three times. In 1766, Zhang Xuecheng, who was already 29 years old, threw himself into the hanlin academy to edit Zhu Yun's door. Zhu Yunfu has a rich collection of books, and the circle of friends are some academic celebrities, Zhang Xuecheng not only has the opportunity to browse the books, but also to discuss academics with famous scholars, make great progress in his studies, and gradually achieve higher achievements in Fang Zhixue and historical theory.
Zhang Xuecheng aspired to the study of Fang Zhi and historiography, but the difficulties of his family situation forced him to "deter everything and be angry for the decision", but a greater disaster came. In 1768, Zhang Xuecheng's father died in Yingcheng, and a family of eighteen old and young people defected, and the burden on his shoulders became heavier, in his own words, "this is the threshold of life and death", and he had no choice but to ask for help from his mentor Zhu Yun. At the recommendation of Zhu Yun, Zhang Xuecheng was given the post of editor of the Guozi Jianzhi.
However, as soon as he entered the Zhi Bureau, Zhang Xuecheng immediately noticed something different, not only was his work constrained everywhere, it was difficult to display his talents, he also found that the leaders of the Zhi Bureau were jealous of their abilities, reversed right and wrong, and excluded and attacked people with real talents and practical scholars. In order to make a living, Zhang Xuecheng endured again and again, and after three years of work, he resigned in anger and was determined to use what he had learned to write the "Literature and History of Tongyi".
It is also because of the "Literature and History Of Tongyi" that Zhang Xuecheng proposed to his teacher Zhu Yun to search for the world's suicide notes, classify them into categories, and write a national art and literature. Only after that did Zhu Yun's Shangqin to the Qianlong Emperor, which can be called the source of the compilation and opening of the Siku Quanshu. Zhu Yun also did not forget to bring up his disciples, and specially recommended Zhang Xuecheng to the chief compiler Ji Xiaolan. However, Zhang Xuecheng refused the olive branch thrown by the Sikuguan with a resolute attitude, preferring to spend his life in poverty to do his own learning rather than step into the system again.
Since then, Zhang Xuecheng has embarked on a lonely road - while concentrating on compiling the "Literature and History of Tongyi", he has been displaced and sent around to compile local chronicles to maintain his livelihood. His withdrawal, for the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book", can not but be said to be a great regret, however, this also completed another him - Zhang Xuecheng concentrated on academic research, became a famous historian of the Qing Dynasty, by Liang Qichao called "the greatest achievement of historiography", the terminator of classical Chinese historiography, the founder of Fang Zhixue.
In 1773, Zhang Xuecheng, who was writing the Chronicle of Hezhou, met a scholar, Dai Zhen. This is the second time the two have met, and the same as the first encounter a few years ago, the two cannot agree with each other's academic views. The two passed each other in the years, Zhang Xuecheng left the Siku Quanshu, and Dai Zhen entered the Siku Pavilion in this year.
Dai Zhen
At the end of 1723, Dai Zhen was born in Huizhou, Anhui Province, to a small merchant family. His father made ends meet in a small business of selling cloth. Dai Zhen was smart from an early age, never forgot to read books, and when he was more than ten years old, he was already familiar with the "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics" and so on. In the process of selling cloth with his father, Dai Zhen studied with many teachers, including the famous scholar Jiang Yong.
Jiang Yong is knowledgeable and proficient in the Three Rites, Bypass Astronomy, Geography, Arithmetic and Phonology. After bai Jiangyong became a teacher, Dai Zhen made great progress in learning, and at the age of 22, he wrote "Calculation", at the age of 24, he wrote "Notes on the Record of Examination Workers", and later, he also wrote "Pythagorean Cutting Circle" and other articles. In 1755, an event changed his destiny.
Because of a piece of land where the ancestors were buried, Dai Zhen had a dispute with a tycoon and did not want the other party to collude with the government and punish him. Dai Zhen had to "avoid revenge into the capital", in a hurry, he did not bring luggage and clothes, and the "lonely family" entered Beijing. Unexpectedly, he was actually blessed by misfortune and met Ji Xiaolan and others in the capital. With the help of friends, his books "Notes on the Notes on the Records of examination workers" and "Notes on the Cutting of the Pythagorean" were engraved, and Dai Zhen became a hit and became an academic celebrity in Beijing. After that, he lectured around or participated in the compilation and revision of local chronicles, which was very influential.
However, ironically, Dai Zhen failed the examination and failed to make people doubt life. In 1772, Dai Zhen, who fell for the fifth time, was already a fifty-year-old man. As in the previous times, he once again left the capital and went to Jinhua Academy in Eastern Zhejiang to give lectures. At this time, fate favored him.
Because of Ji Xiaolan's recommendation, Dai Zhen was specially summoned to Beijing into the Sikuguan to edit, from a folk intellectual, to put on an official robe to become a civil servant of the empire, anyone should be happy to blossom, but Dai Zhen was questioned. It turned out that the scholars at that time were still resistant to the Qing Dynasty and were unwilling to surrender to the system. Dai Zhen's choice caused an uproar among the scholars, but Dai Zhen did not think so, he believed that as long as the learning he did was true learning, there was no difference between inside the system and outside the system.
Dai Zhenyi threw himself into his work without hesitation. In the world of writing in the Sikuguan, Dai Zhen was so oblivious that he did his best to survey and compile books on astronomy, algorithms, geography, and writing, especially the "Notes on the Water Classics", which solved the problem of confusing scriptures and annotations that had long plagued the academic community, and won Qianlong's praise.
Compilation was a heavy task, not to mention that there was no modern tool to assist at that time, all by hand, Dai Zhen was working day and night, wearing stars and wearing the moon. Finally, in the fourth year of entering the Sikuguan, he was tired and fell ill, and in that year, Dai Zhen was only fifty-five years old. His disciple said, "Mr. Shu bowed down and died in an official manner."
Dai Zhen and Zhang Xuecheng, one in and one retreat in the Four Libraries, show two decidedly different views of life. However, whether they advance or retreat, what they insist on is the dedication to learning, they have invested their life's energy in academia, and the two have the same destination, and finally met in the history of Chinese scholarship, becoming gemini stars on the cultural firmament of the Qing Dynasty, shining with eternal light!