Zhou Xingsi

Zhou Xingsi

Zhou Xingsi (469-537), whose name is Si Zuan, was born in Xiang county of Chen county. He has lived in the south of the Yangtze River (now Dangtu, Anhui). Minister of the Southern Dynasties, historian.

He is erudite and good at writing. Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty succeeded to the throne and worshipped an Cheng as the Minister of the kingdom. Every time the emperor ordered his descendants to write, such as "bronze inscription", "gate Tangjie", "Xi Wei Wen" and "the book of Wang Xizhi". Every time you say good, the official will give you something. He has written more than 100 volumes of emperor's record, Emperor's virtue record, daily life note, and professional instrument, and ten volumes of anthology, which has been passed down through the ages. Emperor Wu of Liang died on July 15, the third year of Datong. Liangshu and liangtangshuzhi were handed down to the world.

Life

fledgling

Zhou Xingsi, whose ancestral home is Xiangcheng, Chenjun, moved to Gushu (now Dangtu County, Anhui Province) in the south of the Yangtze River when his ancestors arrived in Yongjia of the Western Jin Dynasty. At the age of 13, he began to study in Jiankang (now Nanjing), the capital of Qi. More than ten years later, he was proficient in writing all kinds of chronicle articles. During his study tour, he once stayed in a hotel in Suzhou (now Suzhou, Jiangsu Province). At night, he heard someone say to him, "you are so talented that you will soon get to know a noble minister, and finally you will be valued by the emperor." But until the voice disappeared, he could not recognize the speaker.

In the first year of Longchang (494), Xie Kai was appointed the prefect of Wuxing (now Huzhou, Zhejiang). Xie Kai hated to associate with scholars, but liked to talk about the history of essays with Zhou Xingsi. At the end of his term of office, he strongly recommended Zhou Xingsi's talent and learning. Zhou Xingsi was promoted to be the prefect of Guiyang (now Guiyang County in Hunan Province). Wang Rong, the sheriff, usually appreciates Zhou's literary talent and treats him well.

rapidly go up in the world

In the first year of Tianjian (A.D. 502), Xiao Yandai Qi Jianliang, Zhou Xingsi played "Xiuping Fu". The article was very beautiful, and Xiao Yan paid attention to it. He hired him as the servant of "an Cheng kingdom" and was on duty in Hualin garden of Liangdu. In that year, he presented a horse that could dance with music. Xiao Yanming, Zhou Xingsi and Dai Zhao Zhang Li wrote a poem to praise it. After Fu Cheng, Xiao Yan rated Zhou Xingsi as the best, and promoted him to be the minister's servant.

In 508, the seventh year of Liang Tianjian, Emperor Liang Wu rebuilt his former residence in Sanqiao in Nanjing into guangzhai temple, and ordered Zhou Xingsi and Lu Chu to write a temple tablet. After the completion of the inscription, Emperor Liang Wu only used the works of Zhou Xingsi. Since then, Zhou Xingsi was the only one to complete the famous bronze inscription, gate Tangjie, Northern Expedition call, and a thousand words of Wang Xizhi. Every article will be praised and rewarded by Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty. In the ninth year (510), he served as the prefect of Xin'an. After the end of his term, he served as an important member of the local government to help compile the national history. In 513, he was promoted to Shizhong and continued to write manuscripts for the royal family.

Zhou Xingsi's hands were suffering from rheumatic gangrene (eczema) all the year round. After he was promoted to "geishizhong", he was infected with gonorrhea. This is an epidemic disease that is not easy to treat. As a result, he became blind in his left eye. Liang Wudi Xiao Yan touched his hand, sighed: "Si people, and there is Si disease also!" On the spot, he wrote a secret recipe for treating anthrax and gave it to Zhou Xingsi. It can be seen that Emperor Wu of Liang cherished Zhou Xingsi. Ren Fang, a member of "eight friends of Jingling" with Xiao Yan, was also fond of Zhou Xingsi's talent. He often said to others, "if Zhou Xingsi is not ill, he will become the prime minister in ten days.".

Zhou Xingsi died on July 15 (537) in the third year of Datong.

works

Works introduction

Zhou Xingsi has written more than 100 volumes of monographs such as the real record of the emperor, the record of emperor's virtue, the notes on daily life and the official instrument, and ten volumes of collected works have been handed down to the world. However, the most widely spread and the longest lasting one is the thousand character essay.

background of times

At that time, in order to educate his sons, Emperor Wu of Liang ordered Yin Tieshi to add a thousand words without repetition in the inscriptions written by Wang Xizhi for the princes to learn. However, because the words were isolated, not affiliated with each other, and hard to remember, he called Zhou Xingsi and asked him, "you have talent and thinking, and I rhyme it." It took Zhou Xingsi one night to make up for Emperor Wu. This is the thousand character essay that has been handed down to today. The full text is based on Confucian theory, interspersed with a lot of common sense, written in four character rhymes, which is very suitable for children to read, and later became the earliest and most successful enlightenment teaching material in the history of Chinese education. From the song and Ming Dynasties to the end of the Qing Dynasty, Qian Zi Wen, together with San Zi Jing and Bai Jia Xing, constituted the most basic "San, Bai, Qian" enlightenment reading materials for Chinese people. The old doggerel says: "students sit side by side in three or five years, and heaven and earth are mysterious and yellow for one year."! It is not only used as children's enlightenment teaching materials by Han nationality, but also used by some other ethnic groups, and even spread to Japan.

At the same time, QianZiWen also has a unique position in the history of Chinese culture. It is an important carrier for calligraphers of various schools to create calligraphy. After Sui and Tang Dynasties, all famous calligraphers have different styles of "thousand characters" works handed down.

Creative background

Emperor Liang Wu had been in power for 48 years, but he never forgot to study. He knew that those princes who "were born in the palace, were good at women's hands, and had no worries and fears" were indeed more stupid and evil, but less virtuous and good. In order to consolidate the country of Liang Dynasty, he hoped that his brothers and nephews would become learned men in the Taiping era of his rule, and become "outstanding and outstanding" figures after him. However, he suffered from the lack of a suitable enlightening book. Some popular books, such as Shangshu, Zuozhuan and the Analects of Confucius, are not convenient for beginners. At first, he ordered the literary servant Yin Tieshi to uncover a thousand different words from the tablet stone of Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher. Each word was taught to the princes word by word, but this teaching method was disorderly, inconvenient to remember, and had little effect. Emperor Wu of liang thought that it would be better to compile these 1000 different words into a smooth and charming article.

This special mission of course fell on Zhou Xingsi. Xingsi received the imperial edict and immediately returned home. Close the door, spread the thousand words on the table, put them on the ground, and recite them word by word. Until the dawn, suddenly enlightened, these 1000 different words, joined into a rich rhyme - "thousand characters" this work was born! It took Zhou Xingsi one night to make it up. He was so tired that his hair was white. Since then, this enlightenment textbook has a strong radiation force in both time and space. There are different annotation books, different typefaces and different reprints in all dynasties. With the appearance of other enlightenment books inherited and influenced by it, it has become popular. Together, it has formed a colorful world of children and nurtured Chinese children for more than 1400 years.

influence

The Thousand Character Classic

There are 250 sentences in the book. Every four words in a sentence, four sentences in a group, two groups in a rhyme, before and after through, do not repeat each other. Its contents include astronomy, geography, history, agriculture, horticulture, daily life, self-cultivation and feudal ethics. It is all inclusive and covers a wide range of subjects. Its greatest advantage is that it integrates knowledge, readability and edification. After reading it again, you will feel the literary grace, rhyme, catchy and easy to recite and remember. After reading it by Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, you will be very happy and excited. Immediately ordered to print, as "King" recitation textbooks, and published in the world, for beginners introductory teaching. From then on, not only did the imperial family of China have an enlightenment Book Integrating literacy, calligraphy and ideological content, but also there were the earliest, the longest spread and the most influential elementary school textbooks in the history of Chinese society and even the world education.

Qian Zi Wen is often referred to as Qian Wen by the ancients for short. Although it ranks last among the three hundred thousand books, it is the earliest one and the only one among the three hundred thousand books that knows exactly the time and the author of the book.

origin

According to historical records, QianZiWen was compiled during the reign of emperor Liang Wu of the Southern Dynasty (502-549). Its editor was the Minister of Sanqi in the Liang Dynasty and the successor of Zhouxing in the geishi period. In the history of Liang Dynasty, it is said that Wang Xizhi wrote a thousand words to make Xingsi rhyme as the text. Play it, call it good, and give it gold and silk. " The Tang Dynasty's "Shangshu Gushi" makes a further description of this matter. The book says: in order to teach the kings calligraphy, Emperor Liang Wu Xiao Yan asked Yin Tieshi to develop a thousand different characters from Wang Xizhi's works, each character on a piece of paper. Then he handed these unordered rubbings to Zhou Xingsi and asked him to compile them into meaningful verses. It took Zhou Xingsi one night to make it up. He was so tired that his hair was white. This event was recorded in many books in Tang and Song Dynasties, such as Liu Gong Jia Hua Lu, Taiping Guang Ji and so on, and its content is basically the same as Shangshu Gushi.

Every four words is a sentence, 250 sentences, one thousand words. There is a repeated word, namely "Jie", which appears twice in the text: "nvmu Zhenjie", "Wanfan Yuanjie". Some ancients tried to modify it, such as Wu Fang of Song Dynasty and Lang Ying of Ming Dynasty. There are seven rhyme numbers in thousand character essay.

Qian Zi Wen is fluent, majestic, gorgeous and rich in content. However, due to the long history, the content is not easy to understand. According to Wang Xiaoyin and sun Qianyi of the Qing Dynasty, this paper gives a general introduction to the content of QianZiWen.

The interpretation of QianZiWen, compiled by Wang Xiaoyin and annotated by sun Qianyi, divides QianZiWen into four parts, which they call four chapters. From the first sentence "heaven and earth xuanhuang" to the 36th sentence "Lai and Wanfang" as the first part; from the 37th sentence "Gai this body hair" to the 102nd sentence "Haojue Zimi" as the second part; from the 103rd sentence "capital Huaxia" to the

Chinese PinYin : Zhou Xing Si