History can't bear to look at the complete collection

chapter 107
The No. [-] Scholar is a local specialty of Suzhou

Suzhou is a famous city since ancient times, and it was called Gusu in ancient times.There are many special products in Gusu City, the most famous ones are Biluochun tea, Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs, Dongshan loquats, Shengze silk, Suzhou embroidery, beautiful sandalwood fans and so on.

And there is another most famous native product, which is the "top leader" in the imperial examination army.The phenomenon that the number one scholar always comes from Suzhou has made Suzhou nicknamed the birthplace of the number one scholar.The number of champions in Suzhou is the highest in China.Qian Yong, a native of the Qing Dynasty, also briefly mentioned this matter in "Lu Yuan Cong Hua". He said: "In the Qing Dynasty, there was no such thing as a prefecture in Suzhou, and the number one scholar was more than that of the list and Tan."

In the Shunzhi Dynasty there were champions Sun Chengen and Xu Yuanwen; in the Kangxi Dynasty there were champions Miao Tong, Han Su, Peng Dingqiu, Gui Yunsu, Lu Kentang, Wang Yi, Wang Shichen, Xu Taozhang, and Wang Yingquan; in the Yongzheng Dynasty there were champions Peng Qifeng; in the Qianlong Dynasty there were champions Zhang Shuxun and Chen Chuzhe , Qian Qi, Shi Yunyu, Pan Shien, the Jiaqing Dynasty had the number one scholar Wu Tingchen and Wu Xinzhong, and the Daoguang Dynasty had the number one scholar Wu Zhongjun.

These twenty champions were all from Suzhou. In the six dynasties of the Qing Dynasty, there were not many champions, but it is a miracle that there are so many champions in a single prefecture in Suzhou.What's even more interesting is that in Suzhou, a considerable number of top picks, second places, and top picks come from one school, and the whole family can succeed in the exam. Such things are not uncommon in Suzhou.

The imperial examinations in Suzhou are so developed that they are truly the best in the world, which can be regarded as a major feature of geo-culture. There are probably two reasons why Suzhou, a place in the south of the Yangtze River, is rich in number one scholars.

In the ancient imperial examination era when "everything is inferior, only reading is high", no matter whether you are a famous family or a poor scholar, you regard studying as an official and obtaining fame as a great career in your life.During the period of feudal rule, they were divided into four classes: scholars, peasants, workers, and merchants. If you want to stand out, stay rich forever, and be blessed with the gospel, you must take the imperial examination and enter the official career.

Wang Shixing during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty analyzed the situation in which people in ancient times took part in the imperial examinations in "Guang Zhi Yi": "The family of the gentry is not the first in the world, and it is difficult to keep rich and honored." Reading, being an official , Getting rich is a one-stop interest relationship. Only by studying and passing the scientific examination can we maintain wealth for a long time.Those famous families hope to preserve their wealth and honor for a long time, so they regard studying as an official and obtaining fame as the way of family development.

Scholars all hope to enter the power center of the country through the imperial examination, that is, the imperial court, so as to achieve a double harvest of status, fame and fortune.This is one of the main reasons to stimulate scholars. As the center of economic development in Jiangnan, Suzhou, as a commercially developed area, naturally has many famous families. For the benefit of the family, they naturally encourage their children and grandchildren to study hard and become the first in the imperial examination. Therefore, Suzhou's imperial examinations are outstanding, and there are many champions, which is also understandable.

Another reason why Suzhou is rich in champions lies in Suzhou's geo-cultural advantages.Located in the center of the Jiangnan area, Suzhou has a rich traditional Central Plains culture, and a well-integrated and integrated culture was formed during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It not only has a profound cultural heritage, but also has the impact of fresh culture.In such a place, there is naturally a strong academic style, eager to learn, and education is relatively common.

In the Qing Dynasty, there was a common saying that expressed the cultural differences between the north and the south of China at that time: "Northern officials marry minors, and southern officials engrave manuscripts." This shows the hard work and diligence of scholars in Jiangnan, especially in Suzhou. There are cultural families all over the domain, and these cultural families are usually imperial examination families and official families.

Chen Kangqi, a Jinshi during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, made statistics on the champions of the Qing Dynasty and those on the list in "Lang Qian Jiwen". From his statistics, it can be seen that there were 13 champions from the third year of Shunzhi to the 93th year of Tongzhi, among which Suzhou was the most The main Jiangnan province accounted for 45 people, among which Weng Tonghe and Weng Zengyuan's uncle and nephew won the first prize twice in eight years.

It can be seen that Suzhou is not only rich in champions, but also has a large number of candidates nominated in the imperial examinations with good quality. These champions not only promoted quickly after they entered the official career, but also gathered a lot of power wings to form a huge group.During the Qing Dynasty, the majority of Han scholars were from Jiangnan, and most of them were from the Suzhou area.

And high-ranking officials who were born as champions would preside over the scientific examinations. For the champions who were born in Suzhou, they would naturally prefer candidates from the same region. With such factors, it would be difficult for Suzhou not to produce champions.There may be more than these two reasons why Suzhou is rich in champions, but further research and exploration are needed before a conclusion can be drawn.

(End of this chapter)