Zheng Xuan

Zheng Xuan

Zheng Xuan (127-200), the word Kangcheng. Beihai County Gaomi County (now Gaomi City, Shandong Province) people. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was a Confucian scholar and master of Confucian classics.

Zheng Xuan studied jingshiyi, gongyangchunqiu, santongli and jiuzhangsuan in Taixue, studied guwenshangshu, Zhouli and Zuozhuan from Zhang gongzu, and finally studied ancient classics from Ma Rong. After returning from his study tour, he returned to Donglai and taught together with several thousand disciples. The disaster of Party imprisonment, was imprisoned, Dumen annotated, dedicated to writing. In his later years, he was forced to join the army, but eventually died in Yuancheng (now Daming County, Hebei Province), aged 74.

Zheng Xuan's scholarship was mainly based on the study of ancient classics and also on the study of modern classics. He wrote Confucian classics all over the world and spent all his life sorting out the ancient cultural heritage, which brought the study of Confucian classics into a "small unified era". He wrote seven political commentaries on astronomy, Zhonghou and other books, with a total of more than one million words. He is known as "Zheng Xue" in the world and is a great master of Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty. During the reign of Zhenguan in Tang Dynasty, Zheng Xuan was listed among the 22 "forefathers" and was entitled to the Confucian temple. In Song Dynasty, he was named Gao Mibo. Later generations built Zheng Gong temple to commemorate.

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Life of the characters

Early and smart

When Zheng Xuan was born, the Zheng family was already in decline. His grandfather Zheng Ming and father ZHENG Jin were not officials. They only worked in the countryside and lived in poverty. He had studied mathematics since he was a child, and at the age of eight or nine he was proficient in arithmetic. At the age of twelve or thirteen, he could read and narrate the five Confucian classics of poetry, book, book of changes, book of rites and spring and autumn. At the same time, Zheng Xuan also liked to study astronomy, and mastered some tricks such as "zhanhou", "Fengjiao", "Yinshu" to predict good or bad luck based on the change of weather and wind direction.

Zheng Xuan had been devoted to learning since he was young. He is not vain and pragmatic in nature. There is a small matter that can explain this problem. When he was 11 or 12 years old, he went to his grandfather's home with his mother. At that time, there were a lot of guests. More than ten guests here were all dressed up in gorgeous clothes and dressed up in a new look. Each one spoke fresh and boasted, showing great status and style. Only Zheng Xuan sat quietly, as if his status and talent could not catch up with others. Seeing this, his mother felt that there was no light on his face, so she secretly urged him to appear in public, to show some talent, to show some generosity and air. Zheng Xuan, however, disagreed, saying that these vulgar scenes were "not what I wanted, not what I wanted" (for the quotation, see the volume 215 of Taiping Guangji quoted Zheng Xuan's biography).

When Zheng Xuan was 16 years old, he was not only proficient in Confucian classics and ancient Canon system, but also proficient in divination and alchemy, and could write good articles. He was known as a child prodigy.

To study in a broken way

Although Zheng Xuan was determined to devote himself to the study of Confucian classics and already had some attainments in Confucian classics, due to his poor family and poor life, he was no longer qualified to continue his special study. His parents and brothers were forced to make a living, so they did not allow him to study for many years. At the age of 18, he had to become an official to serve as a local miser. Zheng Xuan was diligent and conscientious in his work. He was well received by the local people and soon became a local assistant.

Zheng Xuan was not satisfied with the work of the local officials, and he was not willing to make a living for them. He yearned for academic research. Therefore, while he was a rural official, he also made use of all available opportunities to study hard. He did not go home on holidays, but went to the school to consult his husband on various academic issues. His father was extremely opposed to this, and repeatedly criticized and reprimanded him. However, the opposition of his father and brother could not change his ambition. He continued to study hard. By the age of 21, he had read a lot, had a profound knowledge of Confucian classics, and was proficient in calendar, map and weft, as well as arithmetic.

Du MI, a famous scholar at that time, was appointed as Taishan prefect and Beihai prime minister. When he visited Gaomi County, he saw Zheng Xuan and thought that he was a rare talent, so he was promoted to the county as an official, which gave him the opportunity to study and further study. From then on, Zheng Xuan ended his career as a local official. Not long after he arrived in Beihai County, Zheng Xuan resigned his official post and joined the Imperial College. His teacher, the fifth yuan Xian, was the great surname of jingzhaopingling (now Chang'an, Shaanxi Province) at that time. He once served as the governor of Yanzhou and was a learned doctor of Confucian classics. Zheng Xuan, a teacher of the fifth Yuan Dynasty, studied Jing Shi Yi, Gong Yang Chun Qiu, San Tong Li, Jiu Zhang Suan and so on, all of which reached the level of mastery. Among them, Jingshi Yi was written by Jingfang in the Western Han Dynasty, and Gongyang Chunqiu was handed down by Gongyang Gao in the Warring States period and written at the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty. Both of these books are important classics of Jinwen Jingxue. Santongli is a calendar written by Liu Xin of the Western Han Dynasty, while jiuzhangsuan is said to be written by Duke Zhou of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Both of these books are important works in the study of calendar. Since then, Zheng Xuanxue had been studying for about ten years.

He studied Zhouguan, Liji, Zuoshi Chunqiu, Hanshi and guwenshangshu from zhanggongzu of Dongjun county. Except Liji and Hanshi, they are all important classics of ancient literary classics. After learning from the fifth yuan and Zhang gongzu, Zheng Xuan was not satisfied with this, but learned from Chen Qiu and studied the laws and regulations. During this period, he also studied in Youzhou, Bingzhou, Yanzhou and Yuzhou for the purpose of Mingjing study and expressing moral integrity. He visited famous Confucianists and learned from them with an open mind to discuss academic issues. Reading thousands of books, traveling thousands of miles, painstakingly and assiduously, Zheng Xuan's youth passed in such a hurry and substantial way. When he was thirty years old, Zheng Xuan had become a Confucian scholar with profound attainments. His knowledge is second to none in Shandong.

Study tour in Kansai

Although Zheng Xuan has learned a lot, he is not satisfied. When he felt that there was no one left to consult the scholars in Guandong, he left his hometown through the relationship of his friend Lu Zhi, and went all the way to Guanzhong to learn from Fufeng people. Ma Rong was the most famous master of Confucian classics at that time. He annotated Confucian classics all over the world, which made the study of ancient classics mature. There are thousands of his disciples. There are more than 400 of them who have followed him for many years, and more than 50 of them are outstanding.

Ma Rong is proud and fastidious. Although he has many disciples, he only teaches a few talented students personally. The rest of the students are taught by these talented students. After Zheng Xuan joined the school, he was not valued by Ma Rong for three years, and even never met him. He could only listen to the lectures of his senior disciples. However, Zheng Xuan didn't relax his study because of this. He still studied day and night without any lethargy. Once, Ma Rong and some of his senior disciples worked together to solve the problem of huntian, but they couldn't solve it by themselves. Some people said that Zheng Xuan was good at mathematics, so they called him to meet him. Zheng Xuan quickly solved the problem on the spot, which surprised Ma Rong and his disciples. Ma Rong said to Lu Zhi, "you and I are not as good as him!" Since then, Ma Rong attached great importance to Zheng Xuan. Zheng Xuan asked Ma Rong for advice on the difficult problems he found in his daily study. He explored the mysteries of the books, studied them carefully, and finally went further.

Zheng Xuan studied under Ma Rong for seven years. Because his parents were old and needed to return, he said goodbye to Ma Rong and returned to his hometown in Shandong. At this time, Ma Rong already felt that Zheng Xuan was a great talent, even more than himself. He said to his disciples with deep emotion, "Zheng Sheng is going now, and I will go east." That is to say, the Confucian academic thoughts inherited by him will certainly be carried forward in Kanto due to the spread of Zheng Xuan.

Seclusion business

After learning from Ma Rong and returning to his hometown, Zheng Xuan was already in his forties. By this time, he had become a master of the study of modern and ancient Chinese classics, and he was omnipotent in all schools of learning. So hundreds and thousands of people came to his door, worshipped him as a teacher and listened to his lectures. At that time, his family was still very poor, so he "ploughed Donglai as a guest" and taught his disciples while farming for a living.

In the first year of Jianning (168) of Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty, the imperial court issued an imperial edict to all prefectures and counties to investigate the party members. All the "party members" and their students, old officials, father and son, and brothers who are now in official positions were removed from their posts and imprisoned, resulting in the second "disaster of Party imprisonment". Zheng Xuan was a former official of Du MI. He was appreciated and promoted by Du MI, so he was also regarded as a member of the party. He was imprisoned in the fourth year of Jianning (171) and sun song of the same county.

Zheng Xuanqi first studied Jing Shi Yi and Gong Yang Chun Qiu from the fifth Yuan Dynasty, which belonged to the school of modern classics. Later, he studied Zhouguan, Zuoshi Chunqiu and guwenshangshu with Zhang gongzu, which belonged to the school of classical Chinese classics. He studied for many years under Ma Rong, who was a master of ancient Chinese classics.

On the whole, Zheng Xuan was inclined to the study of ancient classics. However, Zheng Xuan didn't abide by the rules of teachers and families in the study of Confucian classics at that time. With his profound knowledge, he annotated the ancient classics all over the world. In the annotation, he didn't use the interpretation of ancient scholars, but also used the interpretation of many modern scholars. That is to say, we should give priority to the ancient prose and adopt the modern prose to choose the right one.

Zheng Xuan was imprisoned at the age of 45 and was pardoned at the age of 58 for 14 years. During this period, he broke the family law of Confucian classics, annotated and wrote "several million words", founded "Zheng Xue", and made unparalleled contributions in the history of Chinese Confucian classics. "Zheng Xue" has gradually become the Confucianism of "the world". For example, Zheng Xuan's annotation of the book of changes was popular, but the book of changes of Shi, Meng and Liangqiu was abolished; Zheng's annotation of the book of changes of ancient texts was circulated, but the book of changes of Ouyang and the Marquis of Xia and Xiao was lost; Zheng Xuan annotated the book of changes of ancient texts, but the book of changes of Qi, Lu and Han was lost《

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