One word was mistakenly written in the couplet written by Zhang Zhidong, and the meaning is very different.

Qingjia Hall of Guangya Academy, there is an original door couplet inscribed by Zhang Zhidong:

Pretending to be a window with greenery,

I want to recite the strings The answer is gurgling.

The couplets are collected from Zhu Xi’s poems. The original poem can be found in Zhu Zi's collection of works "Ci Yun Forty Uncle White Deer": Zhu Mao builds a house to think of the sages who have gone before, and their traces are still intact after thousands of years. Pretending to be a pavilion window with greenery, I want to recite the strings and make them gurgling. Zhuangzi has ambitions and must study hard, but I am incompetent but want to sleep. How many people are happy with the Ming teachings? Don’t talk about empty truth and don’t seek immortality.

However, the author found that when the Guangya Middle School magazine mentioned this couplet, the first couplet said "pretend to be a window to cover the green", and changed the original sentence "to cover the green" to "cover the green", and explained Said: "The first couplet uses the metaphor of the window 'covering the greenery' to advise students not to be distracted by external objects, concentrate on their studies, and study hard." In a special report on "Zhang Zhidong and Guangya Academy", a newspaper said According to "Guangya News", it also means "covering the green" and the same explanation.

Is it "covering the green" or "covering the green"?

It is necessary to compare. In Zhu Zi's original sentence, the word "cover" was clearly wrong, and the wrong interpretation was given based on the wrong text. Although some people pointed it out, it seems that they did not pay attention to it. A few years ago, the school reprinted the couplet, and this couplet still read "cover the greenery." ", continue to spread misinformation.

It is unknown what the basis is for changing "湌青emerd" to "covering the green". Many years ago, the author saw this couplet at Luogang Yuyan Academy, and also wrote "恌绿green". ". How come "covering the green" appears? Could it be that Zhang Zhidong deliberately changed it? Since the original traces have been lost, there is no way to verify it. It is logical to infer that it cannot be the case, because since it is a collection of Zhu Zhu's clauses, the original sentences of the predecessors should be respected; More importantly, "covering the green" goes against Zhang Zhidong's ideological style.

According to the literal meaning, "green" means to absorb and introduce. It is a beautiful thing. Why should we not absorb the good things from the outside but cover up and reject them? To "cover" harmful things such as pollution and haze, we need to be open, but to "cover" we need to be closed. Quite different. The word "cover" is changed to "湌", and the meaning of "cover the green" is much higher than "cover the green".

It is the opposite of "cover the green". The implication of "湌青青" is to encourage students to broaden their horizons and absorb knowledge broadly. The purpose of "pretending to be a window" is to "brace the green", to breathe fresh air, see new things, and absorb new information. Just think of Master Zhu. If we build a house with thatched roof and don’t use it as a window, wouldn’t it be boring and boring? Since we have a window but it is always closed, why bother building a window just to cover the greenery? The reason is far-fetched and the proposition is difficult to establish. "Covering the greenery" is suspected of encouraging and guiding people to study behind closed doors in order to gain fame by taking imperial examinations. It is understandable that some people studied behind closed doors and "did not peek into the garden for three years." However, as times have progressed, studying behind closed doors is no longer appropriate. Zhang Zhidong is a Westernizer who advocates "Chinese learning as the body and Western learning as the application" (using Western learning is "Yi"). He will not encourage students to study behind closed doors and reject new and useful things from outside, so he will not use "Western learning as the basis". "Cover the verdant" couplet.

"Cover the verdant" distorts Zhu Xi's original sentence and is not Zhang Zhidong's original couplet. It deviates from Zhang Zhidong's governing philosophy and educational thoughts, so it should be restored to "cover the green". ".