Visitors from South Korea and North Korea will flock to Yangzhou to visit the Choi Ji-won Memorial Hall. As the intersection of the ancient Maritime Silk Road and the Overland Silk Road, Yangzhou has a long history of cultural exchanges with South Korea and North Korea. Especially in the Sui and Tang dynasties, Yangzhou was the national economic and cultural center and a world-class port city, with prosperous humanities, attracting a large number of Silla envoys, international students and merchants to compete, and the Silla cultural sage Cui Zhiyuan was an outstanding representative.
It can be said that if Cui Zhiyuan had not served as an aide in The Gao Biao Mansion in Yangzhou, he would not have had a huge reputation as a "sage of Silla culture", "the ancestor of Eastern literature", and "the master of the hundred generations".
Cui Zhiyuan
Choi Chi-won came from an ordinary aristocratic family in Silla, and his youth was intelligent and courageous, so his father placed a great mission on him to enlarge the entire family.
In 868, cui Zhiyuan, who was only 12 years old, remembered his father's admonition that "ten years are not the first, not my son", and crossed the west to study in the Tang Dynasty alone, and was lucky enough to enter the Guozijian to study.
Because the international influence of the Tang Dynasty Guozijian is equivalent to the current Harvard University in the United States.
The Tang Dynasty Guozijian could accommodate more than 3,000 students, and the number of international students was large, especially in Silla and Japan, who came to China to learn advanced culture and hoped to change their destiny. In addition, the funds for foreign students are mainly funded by Datang, and even students who come at their own expense can also receive financial support.
Choi is a self-funded student, but he is the most accomplished student in Silla.
In 874, the 18-year-old Choi Chi-won passed the Jinshi examination, and the news reached Silla, and his family was extremely excited. You know, there were only more than 30 people who passed the entrance examination that year, and Cui Zhiyuan was the only foreigner, not to mention that he was only 18 years old. The Tang people have a saying: Fifty young soldiers. This means that 50 years old can pass the entrance examination, which is already considered young, which shows that the examination is very difficult. And Cui Zhiyuan, as a foreigner, was admitted to the jinshi at a young age, which is really amazing.
Cui Was a man of great ambition, and while he was waiting for the selection of officials, he began to write literature and wrote many poems.
"The Road is not far from people, and no one is foreign", which is the poem written by Cui Zhiyuan in the Tang Dynasty. During the epidemic last year, these two sentences were printed on China's medical supplies to South Korea, which triggered a large number of praise from the Korean media.
Two years later he became a lieutenant in Lishui County, a young foreigner serving as an official in China, which was rare in ancient times and illustrated the tolerance and openness of the Tang Dynasty. In 880, after Cui Zhiyuan's term of office expired, he had planned to return to the capital Chang'an to seek another official position, but the Huangchao Rebellion broke out and Chang'an fell. He was in trouble, but he was not willing to let his career be interrupted.
Cui Zhiyuan came to Yangzhou, which is relatively safe and prosperous with a glimmer of hope. Yangzhou is a city he longs for, where countless literati and inkers gather, and it is the best place for him to expand his contacts and make friends with high-ranking officials and scholars. Through the introduction of his friend Gu Yun, he entered the door of Shi Gaobiao, the governor of Yangzhou, in the form of a letter and self-recommendation, and wrote official documents for him.
Cui Zhiyuan never expected that Yangzhou, where the literati and celebrities gathered, not only opened his eyes, but also made him shine and glorify his ancestors.
Gao Biao was a famous general of the Tang Dynasty and a famous poet, whose poetry had a proud and indulgent atmosphere, no delicate words, and a high literary quality. He recruited talents, gifted scribes, and many people under his disciples. Cui's outstanding talent was soon appreciated and valued by Gao Biao, and the two formed a close personal friendship.
In May 881, Gao Biao raised an army to attack huangchao, and Cui Zhiyuan proposed the "Book of Huangchao" on behalf of Gao Biao, calling on the world to encircle and suppress the rebels, and the whole text was awe-inspiring, literary and magnificent. Excerpts from the front and back paragraphs for everyone to enjoy:
On July 8 of the second year of Guangming Dynasty, Gao Mou, the commander of the Imperial Inspection School of the Various Daos, told Huang Chaofu to keep the right practice, that the Dao was in danger of changing, that the wise man of power was successful in shunshi, and that the fool was defeated by the reverse reason. However, although a hundred years is a fate, life and death are difficult, and the master of all things is not discernible. Now that I am a royal master, there will be no war; the military and government will benefit first and then curse. Restore The period to the capital, solid and shi Chen Daxin, honor the Jia Zhi, and use the treacherous plot. And Ru Su is a distant enemy, suddenly an enemy, and even because of the situation, he dares to be chaotic. Sui Nai hid evil intentions, stole artifacts, invaded the city, and defiled the palace. If sin is the most heinous, it will be destroyed.
But kill with good and evil. God's deep benevolence, Qu Fa Shen En, great dynasty decree. Those who seek officials and thieves do not harbor selfish grievances, and those who are lost are stubbornly speaking bluntly. Fei Wu folded the words of simplicity, and solved the urgent need of hanging upside down. RuQi has no rubber pillar, learns to see the opportunity early, is good at self-scheming, and can change after passing. If you are willing to divide the land, open the country and inherit the family, free from the horizontal division of the head, get the merit of the outstanding, and do not win the trust of the friends, you can pass on the glory to the ears and grandchildren. This is not known to the child woman, but it is the business of the great husband. Early and smooth reporting, useless to see doubts. I order the Emperor to wear heaven, to believe in white water, and to respond with words, not to be gracious and deeply resentful. Or if you are led by a wild walk, sleepless, and you will refuse, and you will stubbornly want to keep the plant, then you will be the master of the bear pulling the leopard, and destroy the rabble.2 Scattered and scattered, as the cream of the Qi axe, the bones are the powder of the chariot, the wives and children are killed, and the clan is cursed. When you want to burn your belly, you will be afraid of eating the umbilicus. Er must weigh the advance and retreat, and hide separately. Instead of rebelling and perishing, it is as if it were obedient and honorable. But he who desires will be able to do so. Seek out the rules of the strong man, and set the leopard to change; there is no concern for the fool, and sit on the fox doubt. A lawsuit.
Cui Zhiyuan seized the opportunity to fully display his knowledge and talent, and became famous in one fell swoop with the "Book of huangchao" and was recited by the world. Through Gao Biao's dedication and recommendation, Cui Zhiyuan successively held important positions such as the Inner Feng of the Imperial Palace, the Inspector of the Metropolitan Government, the Inspector of Chengwu Lang, and the Inspector of Guanyi, and was awarded the title of "Gifting Fish Bag". The "Fish Bag" is a special commendation of the imperial court for officials below the three pins, who can change the imperial dress to purple and carry a goldfish bag like a high-ranking official, which is the highest honor given by the Tang Dynasty Award to foreign students.
Since then, Cui Zhiyuan has become more successful in Yangzhou, and his literary creation has reached its peak. The collected poems "Guiyuan Pen Cultivation Collection" is one of the oldest Chinese classics on the Korean Peninsula, of which more than 300 articles and 60 poems were written by him in Yangzhou, describing Yangzhou's landscape and water, cultural landscape and prosperity, reflecting the traffic and cultural exchanges between Yangzhou and the Korean Peninsula, and has important reference value for studying the situation in Huainan and Yangzhou in the late Tang Dynasty.
Cui Spent the most brilliant 4 years of his life in Yangzhou. In the late autumn of 884, Cui's younger brother came to Yangzhou from Silla with a family letter to prepare for Cui's return to China. When Gao Biao learned of this, he was very reluctant and specially went to the imperial court to request that Cui Zhiyuan be awarded the honorary title of high-ranking official of Sanpin, which was also the highest official title that foreigners could get in China at that time. The Tang Emperor not only approved the performance, but also granted him the status of "national messenger".
In this way, Cui Zhiyuan came to the Tang Dynasty at the age of 12, returned to Silla from Yangzhou at the age of 28, and he submitted the letter of the Tang Emperor to the King of Silla, spreading Han culture to Silla, and the Silla Dynasty granted him the post.
After Cui Zhiyuan's death, he was posthumously honored as Marquis Wenchang and entered the temple court of the Ancestors. Because of his high achievements in literature, he was revered by later generations in Korea and Korea as "the ancestor of Dongguo literature" and "the master of the hundred generations".
There is no doubt that Yangzhou is cui's literary hometown, a place where his ideas, scholarship and talents burst forth with brilliance.
Cui Zhiyuan Memorial Hall
In the southwest of the Tangcheng Ruins Museum in Shugang, Yangzhou, there is a Cui Zhiyuan Memorial Hall. This is China's first foreign celebrity memorial, and every year a large number of Korean friends come to the Choi Ge-won Memorial Hall to worship their ancestors, inheriting Choi's noble spirit of "the road is not far from people, no one is foreign".