The imperial examination system in ancient China was founded in the second year of the Great cause of Sui Dynasty (606) and ended in the thirty-first year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1904), which lasted more than 1300 years. During this period, * * * produced millions of juren and more than 100,000 scholars. As the "pyramid tip" of this huge intellectual group, the top scholar is the elite of the elite, the essence of the essence (for example, there are 400,000 candidates in each exam in the Song Dynasty, and only one top scholar can be produced among 400,000 people). According to textual research, from the first scholar in Wude five years (622) to the last scholar in Guangxu thirty years of Qing Dynasty (1904), during this period 1283, the number of candidates was 745, and * * * produced 592 champions, plus other short-lived regimes and champions selected by various generations. Someone once wrote that most of the top scholars in ancient times were unknown, and at this time, they seemed to be mostly goods. It was really narrow-minded. Because all the champions were imperial examiners, except a few who met with irresponsible bad kings and got the reputation of champions, most of them were brilliant and handsome at that time. They are not "goods" with high scores and low abilities as people think. According to statistics, there are newspaper reporters in the twenty-five history, including 34 people such as Wang Wei, the top scholar in the Tang Dynasty, 56 people such as wang pu from the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, 9 people such as Zheng Ziyong from Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, 36 people such as Wu Bozong in the Ming Dynasty, and 56 people such as Liu Zizhuang in the Qing Dynasty. Book of New Tang Dynasty, History of New Five Dynasties, History of Song Dynasty, History of Liao Dynasty, History of Jin Dynasty, History of Yuan Dynasty, History of Ming Dynasty, Draft of Qing Dynasty, Complete Tang Poetry, Wenyuan Huaying, Biography of Talented Persons in Tang Dynasty and Record of Song Like's Number One Scholar. Most of the poems in the Tang Dynasty are single poems, and since the Song Dynasty, most of them are collections of poems, anthologies and monographs.
Later generations also believe that there are too few real talents and scholars because the Jinshi exam only pays attention to official documents such as poetry and eight-part essay. In fact, this understanding is also extremely one-sided. There are not only a large number of writers, artists, thinkers, but also many politicians among the top scholars in past dynasties.
Among the top scholars in the past-
The highest achievement in poetry and painting was Wang Wei, the champion of Xin Weike in the 19th year of Tang Kaiyuan (73 1). He is a representative of the pastoral school of landscape poetry in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and his poetic art is praised as "from Li (Bai) to Du (Fu), which should be the first". His paintings are known as "the ancestor of painting in the Southern Song Dynasty". Su Dongpo, a famous writer, praised Wang Wei for "painting in poetry and poetry in painting", while Dong Qichang, a famous painter in Ming Dynasty, said that "literati painting began in Wang Youcheng (Wang Wei)".
The highest achievement in calligraphy was Liu Gongquan, the fifth scholar in Tang Yuanhe three years (808). He is good at regular script and cursive script, and is also called "Yan Liu" with Yan Zhenqing, another great calligrapher in Tang Dynasty. Historically, he, Yan Zhenqing and Zhao Mengfu were called "four masters of regular script". His book monuments are the Xuanta Monument, the Diamond Sutra and the Shence Army Monument, and his book trace is the Postscript of Sending Pears, which has a great influence on later generations.
Zhang, the top scholar in Yuanhe Nine Years (8 14) in Tang Dynasty, made the greatest contribution to the study of tea ceremony in China. He wrote The Book of brew tea and commented on the advantages and disadvantages of various kinds of spring tea frying. It is another important research work on tea ceremony in China after Lu Yu's Tea Classic. He was also an imperial examination wizard who won the first prize in three big exams, namely, Xie Yuan, Huiyuan and Champion. In history, only 17 people have won "Lian Yuan".
The highest achievement in historiography was wang pu, the first scholar in the second year of the Five Dynasties (949). He compiled 100 volume of Tang Yaohui and 30 volumes of Five Dynasties Conference. These two sets of books are not only rich in historical materials, but also formally establish the style and method of text classification and compilation, which is followed by future generations. This contribution is called "great achievement" by the summary of Siku.
Zhang Xiaoxiang, the top scholar in JOE in the 24th year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1 154), was the most accomplished poet in the field of ci. His style of ci follows Su Shi's, which is vigorous and full of patriotism. Together with Zhang, he was known as a double-edged poet in the early Southern Song Dynasty, which had a great influence on the great patriotic poet Xin Qiji.
The most famous thinker is Chen Liang, who was the number one scholar in the fourth year of Shao Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty (1 193). He put forward the proposition that "those who benefit the universe have nothing, and there is nothing between daily use", and had many debates with Zhu on the relationship between justice and benefit. His theory is self-contained and he is the founder of Yongkang School. At the same time, he is a famous writer.
The national hero most admired by later generations is Wen Tianxiang, the champion of Chen Bing in the fourth year of Baodu in the Southern Song Dynasty (1256). 2 1 year-old won the top prize in the exam and later became the prime minister. With his lofty patriotism and national integrity, he is known as the "top scholar among the top scholars". His masterpieces include Song Zhengqi, Zero Crossing and Ding Yang. His poem "Who has never died since ancient times, keeping the heart of a pure child as a mirror in the history of history" is the highest rate among ancient poems and has inspired generations.
The most prolific writer is Yang Shen, the champion of New Vic in the sixth year of Zheng De Ming Dynasty (15 1 1 year). He is not only engaged in poetry creation, but also writes, writes songs and composes music, and attaches importance to folk literature. He is an accomplished writer and a famous scholar. There are more than 400 kinds of works in his life. Although many of them have been lost, there are still more than 100 kinds left. There are about 2,300 existing poems with rich works, and tomorrow is the first.
The highest achievement in botany was Wu Qizhuo (18 17), the top scholar of Ding Chou in the 22nd year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty. He served as the governor of many provinces all his life. During his tenure, he attached great importance to the relationship between property and people's livelihood. According to what he saw and heard, as well as sorting out the documents about plants in ancient books, he wrote two most important botanical monographs in China19th century: Textual Research on Plant Names and Facts and Textual Research on Plant Names and Facts.
Weng Tonghe was the top scholar in Chen Bing in the sixth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1856), which had a great influence on the political situation in China. He has been an ancient adviser twice in his life. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he actively supported Kang Youwei's idea of political reform, and finally contributed to the "Reform Movement of 1898", which greatly changed the political situation at that time.
The greatest diplomatic achievement was Hong Jun, the champion of Chen Wu in the seventh year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1868). In the 13th year of Guangxu (1887), he was sent to Russia, Germany, Holland and Austria for three years. He also wrote A Supplement to the Translation of Yuan History with Western Language Materials, which initiated a new era of studying Yuan history with western language works and materials.
The greatest contribution to the national economy was Zhang Jian, the top science scholar in Wu Jia in the 20th year of Guangxu reign (1894). He was engaged in industrial activities in and the following year (1895), and successively founded dozens of enterprises and a large number of social undertakings, with remarkable achievements all over the country, and was praised as "a great educator and industrialist in China".
The first scholar in the past dynasties was the only one who rose from the champion of Wu to the prime minister. He experienced four dynasties: Xuanzong, Suzong, Daizong and Dezong, and served as prime minister twice. At the same time, he is also the most outstanding martial arts master of all ages. He saved the day and put down the "Anshi Rebellion", and made great contributions. The emperor praised him for "recreating the Tang Dynasty". In addition, Song Yao, Zhang Jiucheng, Wang E, Yang Shen, Ma Shijun, Dai Youqi, Wang Yi, Weng Tonghe and other top literati in the Song Dynasty are all leading figures in the literary world. Liu Zhang in Song Dynasty, Yang in Jin Dynasty, Patten in Ming Dynasty, Luo Hongxian in Qing Dynasty, Lu Kentang, Pan Shien and Bi Yuan were all important figures in the ancient academic history of China. Sun, the champion of the Tang Dynasty, and Sun, the champion of the Song Dynasty, were both important ministers of the Tang Dynasty. They are honest and honest, dare to speak and dare to remonstrate, and have the wind of Zheng Wei. Lv Mengzheng, in particular, got married three times during the period of Song Taizong and Zhenzong. He knew Fu Bi at a young age and recommended Lv Yijian to Zhenzong, all of whom were famous figures later.