What do you mean by being excellent for an official is learning, and learning well is being an official?

Excellent study leads to being an official. Xia Zi said: Being an official is for learning, and learning well is for being an official. (Chapter 13 of Zhang Zi) Xia Zi said: If an official has spare capacity, he should study and study; if he has spare capacity, he should be an official. Xia Zi is a famous figure among Confucius students. His family name is, not Chinese characters. He was a patriot in the late Spring and Autumn Period, 44 years younger than Confucius. He is an official in the state of Lu, but his life is mainly academic and he is famous for his literature. After Confucius died, he opened the door to give lectures, and students became Confucian school. At the beginning of the Warring States Period, he gave lectures in Hexi of Wei State until his death. Today, the Qiachuan National Key Scenic Spot in Heyang County, Shaanxi Province still has the remains of "Xiazishi Room" and "Article Desk". He is proficient in The Book of Songs, The Spring and Autumn Annals, The Book of Changes and The Book of Rites. It is said that the Book of Songs, which is now circulating, was handed down by him, and his explanation of the Book of Songs is also recorded in the Preface to Poetry. In recent years, Confucius' Poetics, a sensational bamboo book of the Warring States Period, is considered by many scholars to be written by Xia Zi, at least there is a record of his talking about poetry.

"Official" is an official; "Excellent" means abundant and rich; "Learning" refers to reading, studying and researching knowledge (learning). Traditional annotations, such as The Analects of Confucius, Xing Ling Yi, Zhu Yu's Analects, Liu Baonan's Analects, etc., all note "Jing" as "Yu Li". There are two clauses in this sentence. The last clause refers to what an official said. Besides dealing with government affairs, there is still time and energy. Do you want to study or study? The next clause refers to the scholar who says that he can be an official if he is proficient in learning. The interpretation of The Analects of Confucius Today's Interpretation is more in-depth: "To be an official is to learn, and to test the gains and losses of political achievements with academic theory in order to gain practical wisdom. Learning to be excellent is to be an official, and the value of academic theory is tested by action to correct its point of view. Combine experience with learning. " It can also be said that learning after becoming an official can increase your working ability with your new knowledge; After learning, you can apply what you have learned realistically. The center of the whole sentence is to persuade people to learn, guide practice with academic theory, and test academic theory in practice.

I don't know when this sentence was deleted from the previous clause, leaving only five words: "Learning to be excellent is to be an official", and the word "excellent" was interpreted as "excellent" and "superior". Translate this sentence into "You can be an official after reading the book." After the May 4th Movement, especially in the so-called "Cultural Revolution", thousands of guns were fired, criticizing Confucius' theory of "learning for being an official", saying that Confucius advocated learning for being an official, and learning for being an official was to oppress the people for slave owners and feudal owners, so Confucius was extremely guilty.

This is an unjust case created by the rebel side for Confucius: first, the sentence "Learning to be excellent is an official" was not said by Confucius at all, but by the arrogant Xia Zi; Second, this is only Xia Zi's half sentence, not the original intention of being criticized. Xia Zi's original intention was also misinterpreted.

There is indeed a person who created "reading to be an official", but it is not Confucius, nor is it Xia Zi, a student of Confucius. The initiator of the theory of "being an official by reading" is not a modern person, but a feudal ruler in Ming and Qing Dynasties. They designed a big scam, vigorously promoted the stereotyped imperial examination system, extracted a sentence from the four books and five classics as a test question, wrote a composition according to the prescribed stereotyped writing, passed the government, provincial and general examinations, and was awarded an official position after being admitted to the imperial examination system. From the beginning of children's enlightenment, I instilled: "The son of heaven values heroes and heroes, and the article teaches two grasses. Everything is inferior, only reading is high. " Why do you study? (There is a question mark here) "Learn written martial arts and sell them to the royal family." The emperor publicly bribed the scholars there: "After ten years of hard work, you must be the best in the world." As long as you pass the exam, not to mention the top three: No.1 scholar, No.1 scholar and Tan Hua, you are an ordinary scholar, at least a county master and a "parent officer" of the county people.

"The book has its own Yan Ruyu, and the book has its own golden house." You have everything, money, beautiful women, real estate, honoring your ancestors and sealing your wife. This is the road paved by feudal emperors to "study and be an official". On this road, one by one reading books, one by one studying hard, one by one reciting dogmas, one by one thinking hard, one by one insincere eight-part essay, just to take the exam and be a grateful slave in the exam, crowded around on that exam-taking road. Most of them have been white-haired since they were teenagers, and they have fallen into Sun Shan again and again. Candidates must be corrupt officials; Those who fail will become "Kong Yiji". Of course, we insist on opposing such a theory of "being an official by studying", but this has nothing to do with Confucius!