Wang Chong, whose name is Zhong Ren, was born in Shangyu, Huiji. His ancestors migrated from Yuancheng, Wei County to Yuancheng. Wang Chong became an orphan when he was young, and everyone in the village praised him for his filial piety. Later, I came to Beijing to study in the Imperial College (the highest institution in the central government), and I took Ban Biao, a native of Fufeng (place name), as my teacher. I like reading extensively, but I don't memorize chapters. There are no books at home, so I often go to the bookstore in Luoyang market, read the books sold there, and I can recite them once, so I am proficient in the words of a hundred schools of thought. Later, I returned to my hometown and lived at home to teach. Huiji County recruited him as a Gongcao (official name), and resigned because he argued with his superiors many times and disagreed with them.
Wang Chong is good at arguing. At first, it seems strange, but at last, it comes to a real conclusion. He thinks that most vulgar scholars have lost the essence of Confucianism, so they think behind closed doors and refuse all ceremonies such as celebration and mourning. Knives and pens are placed on windows and walls. He wrote eighty-five articles of Lun Heng, with more than 2, words, explaining the similarities and differences of all things and correcting people's doubts at that time.
Dong Qin, the secretariat (official name), recruited him to be engaged in (official name), changed to Zhizhong (official name), and resigned himself and went home. His friend and Xie Yiwu, a county magistrate, wrote to recommend Wang Chong to be talented, and Han Suzong specially sent a letter to send a bus (the court recruited a specific horse and carriage for sages) to recruit him because he was ill. At that time, he was nearly seventy years old, and his physical and mental strength were weak, so he wrote sixteen books on nourishing nature, advocating abstinence from desire and keeping the original god. Yongyuan (the year of Han and Emperor) died of illness at home.
Wang Chong was an outstanding thinker in the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the whole 2 years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were only three thinkers: Wang Chong, Wang Fu and Zhong Changtong. Wang Fu (AD 85-162), a byte letter, wrote "On the Latent Husband", which attacked all kinds of social diseases in the early Eastern Han Dynasty. His comments were open and reasonable, gentle and sincere; Zhong Changtong (18-22 AD), with an axiom, wrote Changyan, and analyzed all social diseases in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. His views were alarming and aroused people's ears. Wang Chong wrote Lun Heng, which criticized many academic problems of the society at that time, especially the decadent social customs, and many viewpoints broke through the ground. Fan Ye's "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty" established the three men as a joint biography, and later scholars even praised them as the three outstanding men of the Han Dynasty. Among the three schools, Wang Chong has the longest generation and the earliest works. In many viewpoints, Wang Chong's influence on the latter two schools is very obvious. Wang Chong is the most outstanding and influential thinker among the three schools.
However, in his book, Wang Chong criticized the traditional Confucianism, especially the Confucian Classics in Han Dynasty, and sometimes even doubted the ancient classics, asking Confucius and Mencius, and wrote such special articles as Confucian Zeng, Book Xu, Asking Confucius and Prizing Mencius, openly challenging the sacred classics and attacking the sages of Confucius and Mencius, which was a great scandal in the world, and was therefore regarded as a famous man. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty issued a royal decree: Wang Chong "stabbed Meng and asked Confucius" and "there is no punishment for the immorality!" Although other scholars can't cure their "non-saintly impossibility" crime, they are also full of enthusiasm and criticism. Liu Zhiji, a great historian, who is known for his dangerous words, said that Wang Chong was a "real sinner of 3," because the book Lun Heng recorded the disgraceful behavior of Wang Chong's father and father who ran rampant in the village, which did not conform to the principle that the son was the father's hermit! Zhang Xuecheng also questioned Wang Chong's criticism of Confucianism and his Confucian identity.
Since Sui Shu Jing Ji Zhi, Wang Chong's Lun Heng has been classified as a "miscellaneous scholar" in all previous catalogue books. Liu Shipei, a master of modern Confucian classics, also said that Wang Chong was "the tribe of southern Mohists". After entering the 197s, it was once said that Wang Chong was an opponent of Confucianism and an anti-Confucius Depth Charge in China academic circles ... and so on. Naturally, we don't have to dwell on the gratitude and resentment of the ancients for these praises and criticisms with strong political prejudice today. However, from an academic point of view, we think that we can't judge his academic faction only by the superficial phenomena of "asking Confucius, stabbing Mencius and being non-Confucian", but should regard the specific content of what he asked, stabbed and did not. According to Wang Chong's overall thought, the author thinks that Wang Chong is not only a Confucian, but also a learned and curious Confucian. Wang Chong has been a Confucian all his life, and his career has been uneven. He has only served as a member of several counties and counties, and he has been frustrated. Judging from his deeds, he has neither made a sad and generous trip nor made an earth-shattering career. Therefore, whether it is his own long autobiography or Fan Ye's official biography for him, his deeds are very few, which is really fascinating.
Wang Chong claims to be from a "solitary family", but there are various indications that the Wangs are still relatively beautiful. "Lun Heng Zi Ji pian" (the book is quoted below, only the title of the article is noted): Wang Chongzhe, who is also a native of Shangyu, is also known as Zhong Ren. His first name was Yuan City, Wei County, and his last name was Sun Yi. After several generations of service, he was awarded the Yang Pavilion. At the age of one, I rushed to the country because of my family. Take farming and mulberry as a profession. Sai-jo was brave enough to be angry, but he was not tolerant (forgiving) of others. Years old, fierce, crossing the road, killing, and hating many. When the world was disturbed, I was afraid that I would be captured by my enemies. My grandfather took care of the family during the flood season, so he kept money in Tangxian County and took merchants as his business.
Yuancheng, an old county, is in the northeast of daming county, Hebei province. It is quite confusing to say that it is "a surname of Sun Yi" first, and the commentator suspects that there is a mistake. According to the context, the word "Wang" should be taken off after the word "one". Wang means that his ancestors "have a surname of Sun and a surname of Wang". Two surnames of the same ancestor must be the differentiation of one surname. It is quite doubtful that Wang Chong's ancestors belonged to Wang Sun's family, and after a certain working family in the pre-Qin period, they were later divided into two surnames: Wang and Sun. From this point of view, Wang Chong's lineage was once very noble.
In the Han Dynasty, Wang Chong's ancestors were awarded the Yang Pavilion for their merits. Tinghou was one of the military titles in Han Dynasty. Han system, meritorious military service, according to the size of military service can eat in the county, township, pavilion. Ten miles and one pavilion, ten pavilions and one township, and above the township is the county. The size of the pavilion is about equivalent to the castle or village of later generations. The level is not high, but he can eat his taxes. He is a small and medium-sized landlord. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. One year, Wang Chongjia lost his title and position in an unexpected incident. There is no peerage to continue, and it is difficult to return home. Wang Chong's ancestors had to settle down nearby, farming and weaving, and farming and mulberry became the people of Huiji County.
Wang Chong, who lost his knighthood, lived up to his ancestors, and all of them were brave and angry. As a result, many people complained. In the event of a natural disaster, Wang Chong's ancestors did some highway robbery, killing people and stealing goods, which made them blame. In the hands of Wang Chong's grandfather, Wang Xun, the world was in turmoil and chaos at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Wang Xun was worried that he would be kidnapped by his enemies in the chaos, so he packed up his clothes, "shouldered the burden with his family", or took a car, left Yangting, moved to Huiji (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province), and finally stayed in Qiantang County, where he made a living by reselling and selling. It can be seen that Wang Chong's family background, from the pre-Qin Wang Sun, to the Western Han Dynasty, and then to the farmer Sangjia, is really declining, and the generation is not as good as the generation.
Wang Chong's parents were Wang Meng and Wang Yong. Wang Yong is Wang Chong's father. Wang Chong's ancestors used to be brave and arrogant, and Wang Meng and Wang Yong were even worse. Finally, they forged a deep hatred with the local strongman Ding Bo's family, and Qiantang could not stay any longer, so he moved his family to Shangyu.
This is really a ruined family. By the time Wang Chong was born, he was already "poor without an acre of shelter", "humble without the rank of fighting stones", and "ancestors without the virtue of Shu Yi". It is indeed a family of "solitary people" (Zi Ji). In this family, Wang Chong was greeted not only with no property or reputation, but also with a heavy burden that his ancestors had no virtue and no deeds. So that after Wang Chong became famous, some people used it to ridicule him. Wang Chong recorded these family situations in detail in Lun Heng Zi Ji Pian, which is quite true. In this regard, Liu Zhiji did not agree, saying: "Wang Chongzhi's" Self-discipline "also stated that his father and ancestors were corrupt and despised by the state", "It is necessary to teach them by name, and there are actually 3, sinners!" ("Shi Tong Preface") is really not a theory of understanding. Although the Wang family is not a big local family, it has not reached the point where it is impossible to uncover the pot. Tian Changwu's "A Review of Wang Chong" said that "his family is a family that has been repeatedly excluded and will fall into the ranks of poor working people." (Biography of Famous Ancient Philosophers in China, Volume II) This estimate is realistic. Although Wang Zuzong was a rogue in the society and was brave and quarrelsome, he still loved Wang Chong very much and paid great attention to training him. The legend of "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty" says: "Being lonely is called filial piety in the village." It seems that he either lost his father's love or lacked his mother's kindness since he was a child. This is not realistic. Wang Chong's "Self-discipline" said: Chong Shao "has the ambition of a giant (a gentleman), and his father has never answered, and his mother has never been wrong, and Yan Li has never given up (condemned)." It can be seen that both parents are present, and they are very loving and have never seen each other. When Wang Chong was young, he didn't like boring games such as gambling, playing insults and so on. Other children like to hide birds and catch cicadas, play with money and climb trees. Wang Chong never takes part in it, showing a lonely, dignified and strict temperament. This attracted the attention of Wang Yong, who taught him to read and write at the age of six and entered primary school at the age of eight. More than 1 students in the library were all punished by their teachers for their negligence and poor handwriting. Only Wang Chong's calligraphy improved day by day, and he was not at fault or blamed. Learning to write, Wang Chong bid farewell to the library and began to study Confucian classics and practice Confucian morality.
Zi Ji said: The calligraphy is accomplished, so I resigned as a teacher, and I was satirized by The Analects of Confucius and The Book of History. After mingde, he thanked the teacher and was specialized, and he was amazed by the pen.
It can be seen that the formal education received by Wang Chong is still Confucian ethics, and the systematic teaching materials used are still Confucian classics, The Analects of Confucius and Shangshu, which are no different from ordinary people. After studying in the countryside, Wang Chong traveled thousands of miles to study in Luoyang, Kyoto. In Luoyang, Wang Chong entered the Imperial College, visited famous Confucian scholars, read hundreds of books and watched gifts, which greatly broadened his horizons and increased his knowledge, and initially formed his broad and realistic academic style. The capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty was in Luoyang, which was then the political, economic and cultural center of the whole country. Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was originally a scholar in Nanyang. After winning the world, he paid special attention to elegance, especially Confucianism. History says that he "visited Confucianism before he got off the bus", collected ancient books, and recruited hermits. "So he is a bachelor from all directions, and he wants to be buried in a grave, and the cloud will meet the capital." In order to appease this group of knowledgeable people, Emperor Guangwu set up Imperial College and set up doctors to teach students and cultivate talents. Imperial College was not only the highest institution of learning in China at that time, but also the most authoritative academic activity center in China. Therefore, all counties and counties in Sifang selected outstanding young people to enter the business school for further study, and Wang Chong was also sent to the business school for his excellent performance.
Wang Chong arrived at the Imperial College in the 2th year of Jianwu (AD 44), and Xie Cheng's Book of the Later Han Dynasty said, "When Ban Gu was 13 years old, Wang Chong met him, caressed him and said to Ban Biao,' This son must remember the history of Han Dynasty.' "Xie Chengshu has been lost, this article can be found in Fan Ye's" The Biography of Later Han Dynasties and Ban Yinzhuan "Li Xian's Note. Ban Yin was born in Jianwu eight years ago, five years younger than Wang Chong, and Ban Gu was 13 years old. When Wang Chong arrived in the capital, he was 18 years old, just as Han Guangwu was twenty years old. In the prime of life, it is a good opportunity to learn knowledge and gain insight. However, at that time, the Imperial College was influenced by the study of Confucian classics, and the study of chapters and sentences prevailed. Classics pay attention to the inheritance of family law, and gentlemen write down the legacy of the former teacher. The chapter has a chapter purport and a sentence has a sentence solution, which is called "chapter sentence". Disciples recite it repeatedly, and it tastes like chewing wax; Abide by the teacher's training and dare not cross the line. In addition, Emperor Guangwu was addicted to Wei Shu's divination, and everything was decided by divination and theological superstition, which filled the academic circles. Imperial college education is not only rigid in method, but also empty in content. Fortunately, at this time, Wang Chong's predecessors, such as She Lin, Zheng Zhong, Huan Tan, Ban Biao and others, were all in the capital. They were all scholars of ancient Chinese classics, and they were well-read and known as great scholars. Among several schools, Wang Chong admired Huan Tan and Ban Biao most and was deeply influenced by them.