In the eighteenth year of Kangxi, the Qing government decided to formally compile the History of Ming Dynasty, and invited Huang Zongxi to Beijing to revise the history. On second thought, he refused to go to Beijing to take part in the compilation of history, but agreed to help through letters. At the same time, he motioned for Wan Sitong, his favorite pupil and historian, to accept the invitation in his personal capacity and go to Beijing.
1679, when Wan Sitong left his hometown in the south to go to Beijing, Huang Zongxi saw him off at Hua 'an Double Waterfall and presented him with relevant materials taught by his father. The poem expresses his concern about this work, praises the students' erudition, puts forward the expectation that "the price of the four parties will return to Mingshui, and a generation of sages will sell their clothes", and warns him to avoid further cooperation with others.
Sure enough, Wan Sitong, who has lived in Beijing for 24 years, turned down all the salaries and positions offered by the government in order to compile the Ming history, and finally completed this huge project with a piece of cloth. A fascinating command of what is happening in the world drives ancient books.
This couplet is actually a compliment to Wanjia. Speaking of Baiyun Village, we have to say that there are ten thousand families in harmony, and "ten thousand families and eight dragons".
Wan ZaiSiming's ancestral home is Dingyuan, Anhui, and his ancestor is Wan Bin, a general of Mingyuan. Wan Binzi attacked Jue Fu for ten thousand minutes, made contributions and defended Ningbo, and sealed Ningbo's major events. Since then, his descendants have settled in Ningbo, and they are in charge of affairs. By the seventh bid, the Wan family had begun to show their talents by Confucianism, and his sons Dafu and grandson Bangfu were all literary talents. In the 10th Wan Tai, Siming Shiwan abandoned martial arts and joined the literature. Famous figures in the early Qing Dynasty had eight sons, namely Nian, Cheng, Zhen, Chang, Xuan, Bei and Wan Sitong. They are all good at learning and have high attainments in philosophy, Confucian classics, literature and history, and calligraphy, so they are called the Eight Dragons in Shiwan. Among them, historian Wan Sitong is the most famous.