A respectable selfless educator - martial arts

One day during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, a young beggar in ragged clothes and ugly appearance came to the door of a large household in Tangyi County, Shandong Province. This beggar sometimes sang begging passages, sometimes dressed up as pigs and dogs, and sometimes learned to bark as a donkey. Because the performance skills are not very skilled, it caused the crowd to laugh. And he didn't think anything of it, and sang in a hoarse voice: "I beg, I accumulate money, and I cultivate a righteous school to be poor." Some of the onlookers who knew this beggar shook their heads, "The beggar still wants to cultivate righteousness, isn't this a fool's dream?"

This is not the plot of a martial arts novel, and this beggar is not an outsider like Hong Qigong. His name was Wu Xun, and he was an ordinary beggar at the bottom of Chinese society at that time. However, this ordinary beggar has been praised by posterity for his most extraordinary deeds. In Chinese history, the only person who entered the history as a beggar was probably Mr. Wu Xun. The deeds of martial arts have had a great influence on the cultural and educational circles of modern China. More than fifty years after his death, the storm that swept away China's intellectual circles caused by him will make people lament the strangeness of the historical situation.

　Wu Xun was a native of Wuzhuang (now Part of Guan County) in Tangyi County at the end of the Qing Dynasty, born in the eighteenth year of Qing Daoguang (1838). Wu Xun originally had no official name, and like Lu Xun's Ah Q, he was a kind of poor person who was "so poor that he didn't even have a name". Because he ranked seventh among the brothers of the same generation in the family, he was named Wu Qi. The name Wuxun was actually a given name, and in his old age, the imperial court named him "Training" in recognition of his righteous deeds of Xingxue, in order to show the support and encouragement of the imperial court for him to establish yixue to discipline poor students.

　Wu Qi's family was poor since childhood, he lost his father at the age of 7, and begged with his mother for a living. Every time he passed by the academy with his mother, the young WuQi had to stop for a long time, and he was always deeply attracted by the sound of reading aloud inside. However, at that time, as far as Wu Qi's family conditions were concerned, going to school was just a distant dream. After the age of 14, Wu Qiqi went to large households as a domestic worker many times and was often bullied. After three years of hard work, when it was time to receive wages, the large family forged a fake account, deceived Wu Qiqi into being illiterate, and falsely claimed that all the wages had long been spent. Wu Qiqi argued on the basis of reason, but was falsely accused of "blackmail" and was severely beaten by his family. He was so angry that he foamed at the mouth, fell seriously ill, and did not eat or speak for three days in the broken temple. After thinking about it, Wu Qifang Wu had been bullied and humiliated in the past, all because he had suffered the loss of illiteracy. He also thought that there were many poor people like him around him, and if they did not study, the poor would never have a way out. So he had the idea of establishing a righteous school.

　Poor and strong, do not fall into the ambition of the clouds. Once he had established his goal, Wu Qi's efforts to achieve it were achieved throughout his life with asceticism and persistence. Since ancient times, in addition to the official office, the academy has been funded by the people. The act of rejuvenating righteousness in the body of extreme poverty has never been heard of in ancient times, and its difficulty can be imagined. A beggar, who does not seek fame and profit, has such a great ambition, although it is worth admiring, but is this ambition too "ambitious" for him? Is it possible?

　In the ninth year of Xianfeng (1859), the 21-year-old Wu Qiqi began to implement his "great" plan, going to various places to beg and raise funds. His hair was dirty, his face was dirty, his clothes were dirty, but he was very happy, singing his own songs as he walked, begging everywhere, "begging and maiding" as he went. Over the past few years, this bitter and happy beggar has traveled all over Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu and other places. Every time he got better clothes and food, he managed to sell them for money. Like an ascetic, he ate only the most shoddy food, and sang while eating: "Eat miscellaneous things, you can eat as a meal, save money to build a righteous college." ”。 He sometimes performed like a juggler with a cone sashimi, a knife breaking the head, carrying a big ding, and even ate caterpillars, snakes, scorpions, and swallowed stone rubble for rewards. He also cut off his braids, leaving only a small pigtail on the corner of his forehead, and dressed up as a clown in the play to get alms from others. Wu Qiqi begged during the day, and at night he spun thread and sang while doing work: "Pick up the thread head, wrap the thread egg, and concentrate on cultivating a righteous academy; winding the thread egg, wiring the head, repairing a righteous study without worrying." "When the farmers were busy, they often gave short-term jobs to the rich, and made up various songs at any time to sing to the crowd. In addition, he was also a matchmaker and a history of letters to receive thank-you gifts and maid money.

　After years of hard work, Wu Qiqi finally accumulated a small amount and saved a considerable amount of money. Since he had no place to live and nowhere to store the money, he planned to find a rich family to store it. He heard that there was a man in the county who raised a poplar tree, who was upright and had a good reputation. Wu Qi, feeling that this person was trustworthy, ran to Yang Mansion to ask for a meeting. Because he was a beggar, the master refused to see him, so he knelt at the gate for two days, and finally touched Yang Juren. Wu Qiqi recounted the original version of begging for money and xingyi learning, and Yang Juren was greatly impressed. Yang Juren not only promised to help him save money, but also said that he would help him run the school. With the increase of funds, Wu Qiqi began to buy land for learning. At the same time, he lends to others at three cents to get more money. At the age of 49, Wu Qiqi had purchased 230 acres of land and accumulated more than 3,800 hangings. This was already considerable at the time, but he still did not give up his status as a beggar and chose to enjoy, and he continued to live in abject poverty. At this time, he felt that the time had come and decided to create a righteous school, so he proposed to Yang Juren the matter of jianyixue, Yang Juren said that there are three filial pieties, no queen is greater, Wu Qiqi should first marry his wife and have children, Wu Qiqi sang: "Do not marry a wife, do not have children, cultivate a righteous study to be selfless." ”

　In the fourteenth year of Guangxu (1888), Wu Qiqi spent more than 4,000 hangings to build the first righteous school outside the east gate of Liulin Town, Tangyi County, named "Chongxian Yishu". Wu Qi's entire thirty years had elapsed to realize his ideals, and during those thirty years, he had suffered a lot, but he had always been determined to move step by step towards his goal. After the school was completed, he personally went to the local learned scholars and people's homes to kneel and ask them to teach, and went to the poor people's homes to kneel and beg them to send their children to school. In that year, there were about 50 students enrolled, and according to the custom, they were divided into Mongolian classes and jingban classes, with tuition fees free, and the funds were paid from the school field purchased by Wuqi. On the first day of school, Wu Qiqi would first worship the teacher and then the students, a ritual that lasted for many years. Every time he hosted a banquet to entertain the teacher, he asked the local gentleman to accompany him, while he stood outside the door, waiting for the prostration to enter the dish, and hurried away after the feast to eat some scraps. Usually, he often came to visit the school, and he knelt down to thank the teachers who were diligent in teaching; for the teachers who were lazy for a while, he knelt down to be alert. Once the teacher overtook a nap, the students were playing in the school, Wu Qiqi went straight to the teacher's room, knelt down and sang loudly: "Sir sleep, the students are making a fool of themselves, I have come to kneel and beg, a hundred." The teacher was ashamed and did not dare to be lazy again. To the students who were playful and did not study seriously, he knelt down and wept and advised: "You don't need to work hard to read, and you can go home without face to see your father and brother." In this way, the teacher of the righteous school was very respectful to him, and the students did not dare to slack off in the slightest, everyone strictly abided by the rules of learning, worked hard, and many people achieved success in learning.

　In the sixteenth year of Guangxu (1890), WuQi cooperated with the monastery and established a second yixue school in Yangerzhuang, Guantao County. In the twenty-second year of Guangxu (1896), Wu Qiqi again relied on begging for savings, and asked for the support of Linqing officials and gentry, and used 3,000 funds to hang in Yushi Lane, Linqing County, to run a third school of righteousness. Wu Qiqi was single-minded in running a righteous school, and in order to avoid the burden of his wife's room, he did not marry a wife or a family in his life. His brother's relatives and friends repeatedly asked for financial support, but he refused, and he sang: "Regardless of relatives, regardless of the reason, I have cultivated several places for righteousness." "The Inspector of Shandong, Zhang Yao, heard of Wu Qi's righteous deeds, specially summoned him, and ordered that he be exempted from the yixuetian money, grain, and servitude, and donated another 200 taels of silver, and gave the name Wu Qiqi as a martial training. At the same time, the Guangxu Emperor was asked to award a plaque with "Happy Charity and Good Charity". The extraordinary and miraculous deeds of martial arts sensationalized the government and the opposition. The Qing court gave him the title of "Righteous Scholar" and wore a yellow coat. Since then, the reputation of martial arts training has been greatly enhanced. On April 23, 1896, the twenty-second year of Guangxu (1896), Wu Xun died of illness at the Yushi Lane Yishu. According to the Qing History Manuscript, "(Wu Xun) was sick, and he heard the chanting of the students, and he smiled with his eyes open." In this way, Wu Xun left this world with a smile in the sound of the children reading aloud, at the age of fifty-nine. On the day of the funeral, all the officials and gentry of Tangyi, Guantao, and Linqing counties sent the funeral and were buried on the east side of Chongxian Yishu in Liulin Town, Tangyi County, in accordance with the will of Wuxun. Villagers in various counties automatically participated in the funeral for more than 10,000 people, and there were many people watching along the way, and the cries of teachers and students shook the sky, and the villagers shed tears.

　Mr. Tao Xingzhi's short poem "Ode to Martial Arts" summarizes the life of Wu Xun, in which it says: "Towards the twilight of the dynasty, happy and happy." All your life into old age, running around. For the sake of the bitter child, the sweet is the camel. Beneficial with people, cows and horses also do. There are no backrests, and there are not many friends. Uneducated, overshadowed. Kneeling in public, the stone turned the rudder. Do not buy family property, do not marry a wife. For a big thing, revitalize learning, revitalize learning, and revitalize learning. Although some people questioned the authenticity of the fact that WuXun was rewarded with a yellow coat, it is an indisputable fact that Wuxun was solemnly praised by the imperial court and praised by the people of the times. At that time, the Qing Dynasty was already in a state of collapse and crumbling, and still made the National History Museum set up a biography of the deeds of Wuxun, which made Wuxun and his deeds attract the attention of the world. According to the Qing History Draft, Xuan Tong Benji records, "He has not yet, to Ji Zhao Xingxue Shandong Tangyi. The facts of the Righteous Servant Martial Arts are announced to the History Museum. The deeds of Wu Xun were later compiled into the Section 286 on Filial Piety in the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty.

　All the deeds of Wu Xun's life, in addition to the National History Museum has been ordered to set up a biography, Mr. Liang Qichao also specially wrote a very wonderful "Xingxue Abridgement" for him, in praise. Liang Wenzhong said that the martial arts school of righteousness "has been practiced for decades, and the number of disciples who have passed away is innumerable", and he has always "spent two dollars a day and a rough meal". At the end of the article, it is concluded, "Baht accumulates every inch, but it is the only thing to promote learning." The so-called miracle festival is a unique one! Liang Qichao was the leader of the restoration and reform at that time, and he was also a titan in the intellectual circles, and under his advocacy, martial arts training attracted more and more people's attention. Zhang Mosheng's "Biography of The Strange Deeds" also has a section on the martial arts of Yi Qi, publicizing his deeds. In 1903, Inspector Yamen of Shandong Built a Mausoleum for Wuxun, built a Wuxun Ancestral Hall, and erected a monument as a memorial. In the Republic of China period, in order to commemorate the famous "civilian educators" and "righteous scholars" martial arts training at home and abroad at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Mr. He Siyuan, then director of the Shandong Education Department, allocated funds to rebuild the Wuxun Ancestral Hall. He Siyuan also erected a white jade statue of Wuxun Han in the Wuxun Ancestral Hall, which was slightly larger than the real person. According to the local people who had seen the martial arts training after the liberation, the statue resembled the martial arts training itself, but unfortunately it was destroyed by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. In 1932, Han Fuyu, then chairman of Shandong Province, built the "Wugong Memorial Hall" to commemorate the martial arts training initiated by the Linqing Dynasty, and built two "Wugong Memorial Halls" on both sides of the memorial hall.

　After the Xinhai Revolution, people admired Mr. Wuxun's actions and spirit, and Wuxun won more widespread praise, and he was hailed as the pioneer of universal education, the model of private education, and the model of China's education cause. Cai Yuanpei, Huang Yanpei, Deng Chumin, Li Gongpu, and other democratic figures; Political dignitaries such as Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei, Dai Jitao, and He Siyuan; military figures such as Feng Yuxiang, Zhang Xueliang, Yang Hucheng, Duan Shengwu, and Zhang Zizhong; and people from cultural and educational circles such as Tao Xingzhi, Yu Dafu, and Zang Kejia either wrote praises, or wrote inscriptions to commemorate them, or donated money for the study of righteousness in the name of martial arts. In 1934, Wuxun Primary School in Linqing County launched a commemoration of the 97th anniversary of Wuxun's birth. The people who participated in this commemoration almost included military and political leaders and well-known figures in the cultural and educational circles throughout the country at that time. Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Xueliang, Yang Hucheng, Feng Yuxiang, Yu Youren, Yu Dafu, Chen Hengzhe, He Siyuan and other celebrities have used inscriptions, poems, essays, biographies, and other means to praise the spirit of running martial arts. In December 1945, Tao Xingzhi and others raised activities in Chongqing to commemorate the 107th anniversary of the birth of Wuxun. Guo Moruo, Deng Chumin, Liu Yazi and a large number of educators, literary artists, and patriots from all walks of life attended the commemorative meeting. The two commemorations echoed back and forth. It plays an important role in promoting the spirit of martial arts training and developing public education. In the 1940s, when prices were soaring and education funds were tight, Tao Xingzhi once put forward the slogan of "learning with martial arts" throughout the country, asking everyone to do "collective martial arts training" and run schools with painstaking efforts. At that time, the deeds of martial arts were officially included in school textbooks. There are more than 30 schools in seven provinces across the country named after martial arts. In particular, Feng Yuxiang, who "runs a large number of volunteer schools, and the most urgent task is the most important", founded fifteen martial arts primary schools in Shandong between 1932 and 1935. Later, Tao Xingzhi founded the Yucai School and Zhang Boling founded the Nankai School, both of which had a lot to do with the influence of the martial arts spirit. There are even names such as Wuxun Publishing House and Wuxun Street throughout the country. A normal school in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, also juxtaposes the statue of martial arts with the statue of Confucius. The people of Shandong even called him "Martial Sage", which shows the high status and wide influence of Martial Arts at that time.

　On December 1, 1945, Guo Moruo wrote an inscription for martial arts in the Xinhua Daily's special issue commemorating martial arts: "Wuxun is China's Pei Shi Tronch, and Chinese people should go everywhere to build bronze statues of him." On the 6th of the same month, Xinhua Monthly published articles by Huang Yanpei, Deng Chumin, Li Gongpu, Pan Zinian and others commemorating martial arts training. In order to commemorate the martial arts training, the government of the Hebei-Luyu Border Region of the Communist Party of China during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression explicitly ordered that Tangyi County, the hometown of Wuxun, be renamed "Wuxun County" and Liulin Town be renamed "Wuxun Town", and various commemorative activities were held on the anniversary of Wuxun's birth. In the same year, the Hebei Southern Branch of the Communist Party of China also established a martial arts training teacher in Liulin Town. In short, in the first half of the twentieth century, before the great criticism of the "Biography of Martial Arts" in 1951, successive regimes at different stages of Chinese society had the same attitude towards martial arts and the spirit of martial arts. Whether during the Qing Dynasty, during the Republic of China, or even in the enemy-occupied areas controlled by the Wang puppet regime, martial arts were a positive, praised, and revered image. The martial arts training office not only has a high reputation in China, but also has a certain influence abroad. He was included in the World Dictionary of Education, and because he had no culture, he was called a "silent educator" and a "civilian educator".

　At that time, the spirit of learning martial arts became a common practice. The reason why people attach so much importance to martial arts is because the spirit of martial arts had a profound social background and the background of the times at that time. Old China was a large country with a population of 40,000, and it was a poor country with a very high illiteracy rate. Whether education can be popularized and prospered is a major event related to the fortunes of the country. The essence of the martial arts school is to open the door of the academy to everyone, which is a great attempt to turn elite education into civilian education. In this respect, Martial Arts is one of the only awakened people in the world's drunkenness, one of the forerunners in a hundred years of obscurity. Although he was an illiterate and beggar, his solitude and foresight may seem too simple and simple to the knowledgeable. In essence, martial arts training takes the road of education to save the country. Its educational activities more or less reflect the simple reformist will of the lower peasants. Although any reformism in modern China will inevitably be subverted and denied, from the perspective of profound and painful historical lessons, reformism is undoubtedly the best choice, but it is a pity that China has repeatedly lost its hand. Wuxun shows strong compassion and fraternity for the bottom of society, embodying China's ancient tradition of "benevolent people love others". At that time, no one would narrowly understand the spirit of martial arts as the true meaning of the spirit of martial arts only by begging to run a school. In fact, people praised all the righteous deeds and deeds that were helpful to education at that time as acts with the spirit of martial training, and those who did their best to promote national education were called martial arts figures.