Tan Xian's academic vision is very broad, and he has dabbled in Confucian classics, history, philosophers and collating, and made some discoveries. Tan Xian's reputation in his life is only as high as that of a juren, and he failed to step into the threshold of Jinshi after several attempts. Later, he became a county-level official through "You Na" (popularly speaking, it means buying an official, but this is clearly marked by the court, not buying and selling privately). His official position is not high, but he has a wide range of contacts. Although there are no senior officials with him, there are indeed many celebrities who agree with Confucianism. This is related to Tan Xian's living environment (Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have been the nests of literati since the Song Dynasty) and his modesty, eagerness to learn and easy-going personality. That's why so many celebrities wrote with them and accumulated a lot of "notes".
The so-called "calligraphy" is a handwritten letter. The imperial examinations in Qing Dynasty attached great importance to calligraphy, and aspiring scholars spent a lot of time and energy practicing calligraphy, leaving a lot of clear handwriting. Save the letters exchanged between friends, put them into album pages, and read them at any time to recall friendship and appreciate calligraphy. Mr Huang Yanpei's letter is very beautiful. It is said that Chairman Mao often read Mr. Huang's early letters in bed in his later years.
Handwriting is a treasure house, from which different readers will find different things. Readers who like calligraphy can see that the scholars in the Qing Dynasty only wrote the words "Fang Da Yuan Guang" in the cabinet, not to cope with the imperial examination. Most of the letters are running script or cursive script, many of which are beautiful and refreshing to read. Readers who are interested in Confucian classics and Confucianism can also see Tan Xian's thinking in these aspects. From the letters, we can feel that the rise, spread and prosperity of literary schools in the late Qing Dynasty and today are all related to the spread of western learning to the east. The arrival of western learning did not destroy Confucianism, but inspired Confucianism to rise again during the period of great social change. Readers who care about the world and people's feelings may find something new in it. For example, the aforementioned "Nainuo" means "buying an official", but this is not the same thing as buying an official that readers are familiar with. This was a way out for the scribes at that time. It is an ancient practice to study and be an official. Some scholars are well-known, such as entering school, becoming a scholar, or becoming a higher-level tribute student, or even winning prizes. With these fame, you are generally not an official, and you can only be an official if you pass the examination again. But getting into the exam is easier said than done. Once every three years, there are 200 scholars in each subject 100, with an average of less than 100 students per year. According to this ratio, there are only a few scholars in a province every year. Many scholars have accomplished nothing in their lives.
In addition, in the late Qing Dynasty, there were frequent wars in the country and wars needed money. In the Qing dynasty, the annual income was only 30 to 40 million silver. If the first Opium War included the treaty of nanking reparations, it would cost more than 20 million taels. In the Qing Dynasty, the ancestral system was "never added". Where can we find the money? It is nothing more than increasing sources of income and reducing expenditure. One of the sources of income is to "collect" officials (those who have a good reputation are not selling, but rewarding those who have contributed to the imperial court), and the imperial court sets aside some official positions and sells them to certain people. This has become the way out for some scholars.
Tan Xian is an official, and the famous official Zhang is also an official. Gong Zizhen failed the exam for a long time because of her poor handwriting, and was also a scholar in the cabinet (later). In the late Qing Dynasty, there were two more ways for scholars to be officials, namely, "accepting" and "joining the army". Society does not discriminate against those who are "satisfied". The first letter in "Notes" was written by Yang Changfu, then Governor of Zhejiang Province. Tan Xian, 43, who failed to pass the examination in Tongzhi for thirteen years, is determined to be an official, but he doesn't have enough money. As the chief officer, Yang Changfu (a native of Hunan, whose fame is just a scholar, who once served as a high official with Zeng Guofan and others) heard that Tan Xian was in financial difficulties and sent two hundred and twenty pieces of silver and this letter. The letter called him "Zhong Xiuren's younger brother was the first step" and told him that officialdom was congested and human feelings were sinister, and he could not be an official by temperament. He left with the words "smart, bold and small" as a gift. His teacher, Xue, the magistrate of Hangzhou, is from Anhui, and Tan Xian also went to Anhui as a county magistrate. He also told him in his letter that Anhui was far less prosperous than Hangzhou, especially after the war, and daily life was lonely and boring, but things were cheap. He should be content with loneliness, do things seriously and stop beating around the bush in the "source" (formal and retirement). I hope he can do this officer well. From the exhortation and encouragement of these letters, we can see that the social atmosphere at that time also became a proper way for scholars to be officials.