People with status are willing to show people in words, on the one hand, to prove their talents, on the other hand, to express their evaluation and encouragement to others. The calligraphy presented by Emperor Wanli to Shen Shixing has two meanings.
It is easy to become a habit for people with status to show people in words. Emperor Wanli, who was studying in Wenhua Hall at that time, also gave a painting to Zhang. After Zhang knelt down and thanked him, he locked his eyebrows. The expression on Zhang's face, naturally, Wanli won't care. He still wrote cheerfully and gave it to other courtiers.
Imagine the symbolic meaning of the emperor's words hanging at home, passed down from generation to generation, regardless of economic value, and its political influence can not be replaced by anything. Emperor Wanli never imagined that Zhang Hui would say it when he got a bargain. The next day, Zhang wrote to the emperor and wrote his love for Wanli calligraphy into his own suggestions. What he means is: First, calligraphy is a secondary skill. Since the emperor's calligraphy is fully mature, it is naturally unnecessary to spend more time writing on the spot; Second, the emperor ruled the country by virtue, and the cultivation of art does not need to be profound, but it must be understood; Third, emperors with profound artistic accomplishment have a low historical evaluation. For example, Emperor Han Chengdi, Liang,,, and others are all great musicians, painters, calligraphers and poets. However, they were addicted to art and failed to practice state affairs, which led to the defeat of the nation.
In a word, historical experience is worth noting.
It is not known whether the comments made by Emperor Wanli on Zhang's recitation were recorded in The Story of the Gods, but it is true that Zhang's exhortation in The Story of the Gods told Emperor Wanli to give up paying attention to some luxury goods. Zhang said that the emperor is the master, and what he should care about is the food and clothing of his subjects all over the world. Those who like pearls and jade, can't eat when they are hungry, and can't put on clothes when they are cold, certainly don't deserve the emperor's close attention.
From then on, I don't know whether Emperor Wanli lost interest in Zhu Yu's literary play, but one thing is certain. After 1578, Emperor Wanli only talked about classics every day, and the calligraphy class was cut off.
Emperor Wanli is a handsome man with a magnetic and relaxed voice, which is quite attractive to men. As a precocious monarch, Emperor Wanli began to read the history of classics at the age of three or four. As an emperor, he is naturally superior to others. However, in his eyes, Zhang, a business teacher, is a person who needs respect and deserves respect. Therefore, he was convinced and accepted Zhang's suggestion.
For the emperor, people who can be persuaded to accept it are of course people with high standards. Zhang's height is that he expressed his insights to the emperor for the country.
His insight shattered the dream of calligraphy of Emperor Wanli.
But in my opinion, it is correct for Zhang to disillusion the calligraphy of Emperor Wanli. The emperor is the king of a country. Instead of putting the cart before the horse, he should have put family and country affairs first, and spent all day with ladies-in-waiting and eunuchs, singing, writing, drawing and going to the theatre. Being an emperor is like being an emperor, and being a minister is also a minister. Doing nothing every day, not crying in front of the ancestral grave and howling with a rotten tree are not good for the country and the people.
Zhang's three suggestions to Emperor Wanli are of practical significance. Now almost all leading cadres have become professional calligraphers. They know nothing about their jobs, but they are very good at writing. They keep holding individual calligraphy exhibitions, going to colleges and universities as visiting professors, and swaggering and selling words, which is incredible. The investment of the state in training a leading cadre is far greater than that in training a calligrapher. As a leading cadre, he doesn't care about social reality, but is addicted to calligraphy. Didn't you disappoint the country? On the one hand, idle leading cadres fill their lives with writing, and they are scrambling to become calligraphers. It is a serious phenomenon that the party and government organs are overstaffed. At the same time, it also warns us that the pace of political restructuring should be accelerated.