To the court

To the court

Zhigongtang was the main body of Gansu Gongyuan in the pre Qing Dynasty. Located in the second hospital of Lanzhou University in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, it has a deep relationship with Lanzhou University and is the earliest Library of Lanzhou University. Zhigong hall was founded in 1875, and its plaque "Zhigong hall" was inscribed by Zuo Zongtang himself. The couplets on both sides of the lintel are also written by Zuo Zongtang, which is still in use today.

To the public

To understand the court, we have to start with Gansu Ju Yuan.

In our country, the imperial examination system, which has experienced more than 1300 years, is a kind of examination system for selecting officials in feudal dynasties, and also a way for ancient scholars to enter the official career.

Gansu has been under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi since the Ming Dynasty. It was not until 1663, the second year of Kangxi, that Gansu was separated from Shaanxi and became an independent province. From the Ming Dynasty to the time when Zuo Zongtang was the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu (Zuo Zongtang was the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu in 1866), Gansu had no imperial examination place of its own. The imperial examination centers in Shaanxi and Gansu are located in Shaanxi. If Gansu students want to take the imperial examination for Ju Ren, they must go to the relevant examination centers in Shaanxi more than 1000 kilometers away. Before the reign of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, when there was a war in the northwest, Gansu had no scientific examination for ten years in a row, which undoubtedly led to the disappearance of many talents in Gansu and restricted the development of Gansu's culture and education.

Many scholars in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia could not report negative. In the Tongzhi period (1862-1874), Zuo Zongtang, the then governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, saw this situation and immediately wrote to the Qing court to request the establishment of a Gongyuan in Lanzhou. With the approval of the court, the Gongyuan in Gansu was completed in the first year of Guangxu (1875) and was located in the second courtyard of today's Lanzhou University. The imperial examination system began in the Sui Dynasty and was carried out in the Tang Dynasty. After that, the imperial examination system was still in use. The imperial examination system in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was gradually improved. It was not until 1902 that the imperial examination system was stopped. This kind of imperial examination mainly consists of three levels: the hospital examination, the local examination and the general examination. The second level is the local examination, which is held every three years. The examination period is generally in autumn, and the hometown examination is also called "Qiuwei". The examination place is always in the provincial capital, and the examinees in the local examination are called "Ju Ren". Therefore, the examination place of the local examination is called Ju Yuan. It is a place where students, Gongsheng, Jiansheng, Yinsheng and other scholars take part in the local examination and get Ju Ren. Before the reign of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty, the scholars of Gansu and Shaanxi went to Shaanxi Ju Yuan in Xi'an to take part in the rural examination. At that time, Gansu province governed today's Ningxia, Qinghai Hehuang area, Xinjiang Urumqi, Hami area, and today's Gansu Province. Due to the vast territory and long distance, the transportation was very inconvenient at that time. In addition, the examination cost was large, and most of the scholars were poor and couldn't take out their books. In this way, only 12 out of 10 taxis in Gansu Province are qualified to take part in the local examination, and they can spend a lot of money to take part in the local examination in Xi'an. The vast majority of scholars in Gansu Province, though they are rich and poor in classics and read poems and books, are still unable to take part in the rural examination. They can only live in the countryside and die with regret. This kind of situation was extremely unfair to Gansu scholars, which not only restricted their opportunities to become officials through the scientific examination, but also seriously affected the implementation of the Qing government's political strategy of recruiting talents in Gansu. Seeing this situation, Zuo Zongtang, as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu at that time, requested the approval of the Qing government for Gansu Provincial examination and Shaanxi Fenwei. In the first year of Guangxu (1875), Teng Jiong, the principal of the Ministry of punishment, and Cao Jiong of Daotai raised more than 510000 taels of silver from all over the province, and the Gansu imperial court was built in haijiatan (now the second courtyard of Lanzhou University) at the northwest corner of Lanzhou City.

After the completion of Gansu Gongyuan, the first rural examination in Gansu was held in August of that year. More than 3000 taxis participated in the examination, several times more than those who went to Shaanxi in the past. Zuo Zongtang not only invited the examiners, but also personally came to the Gongyuan as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu and sat down to supervise the examination. An Weijun, a candidate from Qin'an, won the first place in the local examination.

Later, Tan Zhonglin, who was governor of Shaanxi and Gansu in 1885, added Gansu Ju Yuan, which made it more convenient for Gansu scholars to take part in the local examination. Gansu Gongyuan covers an area of 140 feet in length and 90 feet in width, with a city wall outside and a Jiwei built inside. Jiwei is the examination hall, with "Zhigong hall" in the middle and a Mingyuan building in front of the hall. The north and South examination rooms are on the left and right sides of the building. The gate of the court is in the west of the city, and the four characters "seeking talents for the country" are written on the lintel.

Former site of Zhigong

Gansu Juyuan sits from east to west, about 300 meters from east to west and 467 meters from north to south. It is built with city walls outside and Jiwei inside. The gate of Gongyuan is opened in the southwest corner, and the gate is in the north. There are naming hall and searching hall on the left and right sides of the gate. From west to East, along the central axis, there are Longmen, mingyuanlou, Zhigong hall, Guancheng hall, Hengjian hall, yongmen and lubangsuo. The north and South rooms on both sides of Mingyuan building can accommodate 4000 examinees at a time. To the north and south of the court, there are the Governor General's office, the Department of transportation, the Department of supervision, the office of reading, the office of transcribing, the office of Mifeng and the office of taking charge. The corridor is behind the hall. The corridor is on both sides of the corridor. The middle corridor is next to the inner curtain door. The left side of the door is the internal control department, and the right side of the door is the internal inspection department. The left side of Guancheng hall is the North Hengwen department, and the right side is the South Hengwen department. In front of the hall are the North five rooms and the South five rooms. Behind the hall is a fence. There is a neutral archway. Inside the fence, there is the Deacon's Hall in the South and the reception center in the north. With reasonable layout, rigorous structure and magnificent momentum, Juyuan building complex can be regarded as a temporary cultural scenic spot in Lanzhou. Zhigong hall is actually the original reading room of Lanzhou University. Its history can be traced back to 1909. In 1913, it used Guancheng hall left by the Imperial Academy of the Qing Dynasty as the library and Zhigong hall as the reading room. After 1946, it built a two-story independent library named Jishi hall.

Zhigong hall is the central building of Gansu Juyuan. It is the office of the supervisor (with senior officials to supervise the affairs of the general inspection Hall) and the external curtain Officer (the officer who is responsible for the examination). The building system is thirteen purlins and five ridges hanging on the top of the mountain, with a width of 21.7 meters and a depth of 12 meters. It is made of green brick with five flower gables and glazed tube tile roof. Under the front eaves hang a huge green gold plaque, on which is the plaque of "zhigongtang" carved by Zuo Zongtang in regular script. The first section is engraved with "mengqiuyuejiri in the first year of Guangxu" and the small Yinwen seal of "eternal great article". The second section is engraved with "Zuo Zongtang, the first-class chief inspector of Shaanxi and Gansu, the first-class chief inspector of Taibao Dongge, the imperial minister, and the first-class light vehicle commander of kejing Boga". The second section is engraved with small Yinwen seal of "Zuo Zongtang" and Yangwen The two seals of "Donggong Taibao Ke Jingbo". In the golden pillar of the hall, Zuo Zongtang wrote: "enjoy more than ten thousand volumes of wonderful articles, pick up purple Ganoderma from afar, close to the bed of vermilion grass; search for the past 50 years, one climb osmanthus, three take advantage of Huang Huai." Couplets. Today, the couplets on the plaques and pillars of Zhigong hall are blurred by the wind and the sun. According to historical records, Mingyuan building is another landmark building of Juyuan. It is three stories high and full of wood structure. It is used for supervising, testing, and inspecting officials to climb the building and look at the situation inside and outside the examination hall. The humble inspectors have selfless communication with each other, and the executors have the disadvantages of passing on the pass. In 1919, Liu Erxin moved the Mingyuan building to Wuquan mountain and renamed it Wanyuan Pavilion. Now it has become a scene of Wuquan park.

The most outstanding person

The establishment of the Shaanxi Gansu Branch of the Qing Dynasty and the Gansu examination institute selected a large number of excellent talents for the imperial court at that time, promoted the imperial examination in Lanzhou and even Gansu, opened up the culture of Gansu, and played a positive role in promoting the cultural and educational undertakings of Gansu. In the autumn of the first year of Guangxu (1875), the first rural examination after the separation of Shaanxi and Gansu was conducted in the newly built Gansu Gongyuan. There were 3000 examinees, including a young talent, an Weijun, and a Jinshi in the sixth year of Guangxu (1880). In 1876, Zuo Zongtang admitted that the Qing government allowed Gansu to add 10 Juren to each subject. Since then, Gansu could get 40 Juren to each subject. Since then, from 1880 to 1903, a total of 646 people were selected by Gansu Ju Yuan to take part in the joint examination in Beijing, and 116 of them were successful in the examination. Among them, 31 of them were successful in Lanzhou area. In particular, four of them were from renchenke in the 18th year of Guangxu, including chaipu, sun Shangren, Wang Shuzhong, Liu Jiyi, Bingzi Enke in the 2nd year of Guangxu, dingchouke in the 3rd year of Guangxu, and liujiyi in the 6th year of Guangxu In each of the above subjects, three Lanzhou Jinshi were listed as the emperor, which is rare in the whole country. It is not easy for Lanzhou, which is located in the west of China, to make such achievements. Among them, there are not only Yan Lvjing, who resisted foreign enemies and sacrificed his life for his country, Wu readen, the imperial censor who admonished him with his death, an Weijun, an iron man in Gansu, Shuizi, a famous teacher in Gansu, Zhang Guochang, a literary champion, Qin Linxi, a famous doctor, Liu Erxin, a native of Lanzhou Hanlin and Wuquan mountain, but also Wang Shixiang, who actively participated in "Gongche Shangshu", Other famous people in Gansu Province who came out of the court were Liu Guangzu, the head of the ancient academy, and Deng long, the founder of industry. In the turbulent times, the students here are also calling for the rise and fall of the country, and there are 61 candidates in Gansu Province. After the establishment of Shaanxi Gansu Fenwei and Gansu examination institute, a large number of Lanzhou imperial examination figures have made great achievements in the collation and research of ancient books, literary creation, academic exchange and dissemination, and made positive contributions to the promotion of Gansu excellent traditional culture. Because in ancient times, the imperial examination system decided everything. If a person wants to realize his great ambition, he must realize it through the imperial examination. Whether you get promoted or get rich, it's the time for scholars to enter

Chinese PinYin : Zhi Gong Tang