Zeng Guofan, a legendary figure in modern Chinese history, achieved his own life through reading. The following are sample essays about his reading thoughts collected and compiled by the editor for everyone to read. . Zeng Guofan (1811-1872), a native of Xiangxiang, Hunan, was a military and political minister in the late Qing Dynasty, a pioneer of the Westernization Movement, a leader of the Hunan Army, and the founder of the Xiangxiang Ancient Literature School. He was known as the "First Famous Minister of the ZTE" in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. He achieved his own success through reading and became the last spiritual idol of China's feudal society. He is a legendary figure in modern Chinese history.
1. Be ambitious and read a lot of books since childhood
In traditional Chinese feudal society, reading is a way for individuals to gain financial status, realize the value of life, and enjoy glory and wealth. The best or even the only way for a family to show off one's family name and honor one's ancestors. Therefore, ordinary people from all walks of life, as long as they can cope with life a little, send their children to private schools, hoping to "become famous in one fell swoop after ten years of hard work" and achieve a prosperous family.
Zeng Guofan was born in a remote mountain village, and his family had been farming for generations. Zeng Guofan's grandfather, Zeng Yuping, abandoned school in his early years and had a low level of education.
Zeng Guofan's father, Zeng Linshu, was of average talent and spent most of his life only passing the exam to become a scholar. The whole family pinned their hopes for a bright future on Zeng Guofan's brothers.
When Zeng Guofan was six years old, Zeng Yuping hired a gentleman to teach him how to read and write. Zeng Guofan started reading "The Thousand Character Essay" and completed the Four Books and Five Classics before he was ten years old. Then I started to study eight-part essay in preparation for taking the exam. Within a few years, Zeng Guofan was able to compose an eight-rhyme poem, and his craftsmanship was also complete. At this time, his interest in studying was not very high. He was entirely in order to cope with the imperial examination. This was Zeng Guofan's original intention of studying.
In the spring of the sixth year of Daoguang (1826), 16-year-old Zeng Guofan went to Changsha to take part in the Tongzi Mansion Examination and ranked seventh. Zeng Yuping and his son were overjoyed when his talent first appeared. Considering the child's future and career, Zeng Yuping and his son decided to send Zeng Guofan to the Tang Family School set up by Mr. Wang Jue'an in Hengyang. Firstly, it can change the environment to give Zeng Guofan a sense of freshness and generate new thirst for knowledge; secondly, it can be exposed to some teaching methods to more closely connect reading and writing eight-part essays.
Wang Jue'an trained Dis scholars. In addition to the four calligraphy lessons as usual, he also gave some eight-legged essays to the students to recite and explain in detail. After more than a year of study, Zeng Guofan's eight-part essay is not inferior to Wang Jue'an's.
In order to break away from the confinement of private schools early and pursue greater all-round development, one year later, Zeng Yuping and his son sent Zeng Guofan to Lianbin Academy to study.
Here are not only knowledgeable teachers and a rich collection of books, but also ambitious and energetic senior students from the county. Here, Zeng Guofan stopped socializing and spent all day studying in the academy. In order to clarify his ambition, he also changed his name to "Disheng", aiming to get rid of old habits and take on a new life.
In the winter of the eleventh year of Daoguang (1831), Zeng Guofan studied at Lianbin Academy. At that time, he was young and vigorous, eager to achieve fame, and his biggest concern was to rush for the imperial examination. In the autumn of the thirteenth year of Daoguang's reign (1833), 23-year-old Zeng Guofan took part in the Xiangxiang County Examination and was lucky enough to be selected as a scholar. He then continued to work towards the next goal on the imperial examination road. Less than a year after enrolling in Yuelu Academy, he took part in the provincial examination and passed the examination.
However, in the Qing Dynasty, the imperial examinations were governed by the Ming system, and the official recruitment system was also governed by the Ming system. In the Ming Dynasty, Jinshi was highly valued. Jinshi were born in the A family, and candidates were born in the B family. If you fail the examination, you can apply to be admitted to the prison as a prisoner, or you can be recommended or selected to become an official. Zhao Yi pointed out in the "Kai Yu Cong Kao": "In the Ming Dynasty, Jinshi was always the most important thing. No one could hold any important official position in the capital... Those who were appointed as county magistrates in Jia Ke were recommended by the emperor. The appointment of a minister must be first and foremost, and within a few years, he will be promoted to the position of censor, minister, etc., while the Yi Branch will be reduced to a foreign minister, but it will only be transferred regularly. There is a huge difference from Jinshi.
Zeng Guofan studied hard for more than ten years and had great ambitions. Naturally, he was not willing to stop others. He wanted to rely on the spring breeze of passing the exam to climb toads and pick laurels in the capital. But his career didn't seem so smooth after that. He took the exam three times before he got the Jinshi.
Before taking the metropolitan examination, Zeng Guofan had never left Hunan.
At that time, as he himself said, "I lived with mediocre people every day and heard nothing about it."[2] Studying was centered on taking exams in the exam hall. The so-called "learning for exams" meant just doing some things every day. People who practice eight-legged writing in order to gain fame can only be described as a humble scholar in a remote mountainous area. After Zeng Guofan entered the Hanlin Academy, he was determined to get rid of his old habits and become a loyal minister of the feudal country. He often expressed his emotions and ambitions in poems, diaries, and letters. In a letter to his brothers, he said, "A gentleman's ambition must be measured by the people and things, and he must be a saint within and a king outside. Then he will not disobey his parents." "You are worthy of being a perfect man in the world"[3]. In short, you should study in accordance with the goals of self-cultivation, ordering the family, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world, so as to realize the ambition of "clarifying the aspirations of the world" and do a great cause.
2. The reading thought of advancing with the times and being practical in the world
Before Zeng Guofan became a Jinshi, his reading centered on the imperial examination, and the scope was relatively narrow. After entering Beijing, I learned that there were other studies such as Confucian classics and Neo-Confucianism. Under the influence of famous Neo-Confucianists Tang Jian, Wo Ren and others, Zeng Guofan's reading became more systematic and academic, and his knowledge continued to expand.
When he first entered the Hanlin Academy, Zeng Guofan mainly relied on self-study, which was very blind. He loves ancient prose, and is especially devoted to studying the works of Yao Nai, an ancient litterateur in the Qing Dynasty, hoping to make achievements in the field of ancient prose. However, in his interactions with scholars and celebrities in the capital, Zeng Guofan found that Mei Zengliang and He Shaoji were far ahead of him at that time, and it was difficult for him to surpass his peers in the field of ancient prose. Therefore, we can only make a difference by finding another way to study and study. Later, Zeng Guofan explained this change: "When I first served as an official in the capital, I traveled with many famous people. At that time, Mei Boyan was famous for his ancient prose, and He Zizhen was famous for his scholarly calligraphy. They both had great reputations. I always felt that they were accomplished, but I was unwilling to give up. , I thought I had nothing to save, and wanted to read more, thinking that in the future I would not be as good as a second brother." [4] So, I read the works of famous people, and gradually turned to the path of management.
Zeng Guofan's study of governance first began by reading "The Complete Works of Zhu Xi". But how to study this book well, Zeng Guofan had no idea how to start, so he had to ask his fellow countryman Tang Jian for advice. Tang Jian "studied Xingdao latently and taught Minluo" [5]. He was known as the master of Neo-Confucianism and was quite famous among the scholars in the capital. Tang Jian's words made Zeng Guofan "as enlightened as he heard them" [6], and he focused on Neo-Confucianism and ancient Chinese literature. After a period of study and practice, Zeng Guofan found that the Neo-Confucian method of reading and self-cultivation was not suitable for him, so he changed his mind and limited his goal of studying Neo-Confucianism to understanding its spiritual essence. "Da Ru" [7], and changed the reading content to focus on ancient Chinese literature, as well as governance. At the same time, his study of governance was no longer limited to reading the works of Cheng and Zhu. Instead, he went back and came into contact with the books of Zhang Zai and Zhou Dunyi, and developed a strong interest in them.
In the process of reading, as time and environment change, Zeng Guofan's attitude towards different schools of thought will also change. At the beginning of the 23rd year of Daoguang's reign (1843), Zeng Guofan still held a contemptuous attitude towards the textual criticism that had been formed since the Qianjia period, treating it as a trivial matter, and made it clear that "I have no hope of learning textual criticism"[7]. But since Daoguang, Beginning in the twenty-sixth year (1846), Zeng Guofan began to study the study of text exegesis again. He read a large number of works on text exegesis, and thus began to come into contact with textual criticism, which further broadened his horizons.
Zeng Guofan’s reading always centered on Neo-Confucianism and history books. He was not satisfied with just being a learned and versatile Confucian scholar or an able official. Instead, he wanted to put into practice what he had read in his life and revive the crumbling of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, there were six ministries in charge of the country's civil affairs. In addition to the Ministry of Household Affairs, Zeng Guofan successively served as the minister of the five ministries of Rites, Officials, Bing, Punishment, and Work. While he was an official, he concentrated on reading "Tongdian" and "Zi Zhi" according to the characteristics of each ministry. "Tongjian", which gave an insight into the political pros and cons, officialdom customs, mountain and river situation, and people's livelihood hardships in the Qing Dynasty.
Emperor Xianfeng succeeded to the throne and was forced by the crisis to issue an edict asking for advice. Zeng Guofan mustered up the courage to write one after another, pouring out the plans for saving the world and governing the country that he had been holding back for a long time.
The first one is "Yingzhao Chenyanshu", which talks about the issue of talents. He points out that "in today's world, the rules are broken, which can be said to be extremely bad. The management of officials is getting worse day by day, and the people's hearts are getting worse every day." Zeng Guofan put forward his own views on talents and changing officialdom. Then, there are "Shutting on Matters in Tiaochen Ri", "Shutting on the Elimination of Soldiers", "Shutting on People's Sufferings", "Shutting on the Price of Pingyin", etc., which respectively analyze the political, military, social and economic issues at that time. Bring your own unique perspective to the question.
Among them, the one with the greatest political influence is "Respecting Chen Shengde's Three Principles of Preventing Abuse and Abuse". Zeng Guofan pointed out that to restore the official atmosphere, it all depends on the emperor's personal attitude. It is said that after Emperor Xianfeng read it, he became angry at first, threw the original text to the ground, and wanted to punish Zeng Guofan severely. Fortunately, Qi Junzao, a military scholar, gave repeated explanations. After careful consideration, Emperor Xianfeng was finally moved by Zeng Guofan's loyal and patriotic intentions and praised Zeng. Several pieces of advice also helped Zeng Guofan win a good reputation both inside and outside the court for "dare to give direct advice and be loyal to the country".
In the tense military life, Zeng Guofan still insisted on reading every day, and read purposefully in combination with military struggles and political struggles. "[8]
While organizing regiment training in Hunan, he focused on reading the "Dynasty Classics" and historical records on the experience of managing war and chaos. After reading military books, I found that Qi Jiguang's "Military Training Records" of the Ming Dynasty was very suitable for his current use in establishing the Hunan Army. Qi Jiguang's establishment of a team as the basic unit is very reasonable, "When setting up a camp, ten teams are composed of ten teams and eight teams are sentry posts. The team and the sentry have lengths...four sentries form a camp" [9]. So he adopted this method into the Hunan Army. From a combat perspective, this organization is indeed highly adaptable and easy to manage in peacetime. Zeng Guofan also implemented major reforms in the military system of the late Qing Dynasty based on Qi Jiguang's Art of War, changing the old system in which the army was directly allocated by the court and temporarily commanded by generals.
In the years when wars were raging and many things were involved, Zeng Guofan especially loved studying Wang Chuanshan's works, hoping to get inspiration from them and find ways to defeat the enemy. Under his influence, many important figures in the Hunan Army also carefully studied Chuanshan's works, forming a strong trend of advocating Chuanshan's studies and studying Chuanshan's books from top to bottom. By studying Chuanshan's writings, Zeng Guofan's thought of "managing the world for practical purposes" has been perfected. In this way, Chuanshan became the embodiment of wisdom like Zhuge Liang in the minds of scholars at that time, and Zeng Guofan became a role model for young scholars to govern the world.
Zeng Guofan was born in the last days of feudal society, which was plagued by internal and external troubles. If he wanted to maintain the status of the feudal ruling class, it was not enough to rely solely on traditional Chinese culture. He should break through the boundaries of "Yi and Xia", look at the world, and learn from foreign cultures. Advanced technology. As the supreme commander of the Hunan Army, Zeng Guofan experienced the power of Western artillery. In this regard, he not only carefully read books on ancient Chinese skills such as "Kaogong Ji", but also began to read the "New Theory" written by the Japanese and Western science and technology and craft manufacturing works, thus making a decision to get rid of An avoidance reaction for the purpose of crisis---the creation of the Westernization Movement for the purpose of self-improvement, which gradually put China on the road to modernization.
3. The way of reading and its influence on later generations
Zeng Guofan is not only the official "model" most respected by politicians, but also the "model" of reading respected by scholars. Zeng Guofan's His whole life is a career of reading, and he has his own unique method of reading. Zeng Guofan believed that "reading, reading and writing" are indispensable. He said: "It is better to seek for speed in living books, if you don't read them often, they will be too crude; it is better to familiarize yourself with old books, if you don't memorize them, they will be easy to forget; it is better to practice calligraphy with perseverance, but if you are not good at it, it will be like a body without sorrow and a mountain without trees; writing should be painstaking. Thinking, if you are not good at writing, you are like a dumb person who cannot speak, or a lame horse who cannot walk. "[10]
It is inevitable to read with the eyes and the heart, but with the hands. , word of mouth is more important. He uses pen to highlight and comment on the books he reads every day, and writes down the thoughts and experiences that pop into his mind at any time. The "Complete Works of Zeng Guofan", which contains several million words, records a large number of his reading notes, which makes later generations of students sigh. Hu Shi believed that this was "a very important method" [11]. Chen Guofu once commented on Zeng Guofan's method. He believed that Zeng Guofan was not a genius, but his strengths lay in his perseverance and patience in reading and his ability to Take notes at any time, so you progress quickly. Zeng Guofan advocated that reading is based on tone, that is, in the process of reading aloud, one can deeply understand the connotation of the author's writing, which is convenient for deepening memory and understanding. "If you don't sing like this, you can't control its profound rhyme." "[12].
Zeng Guofan paid attention to "convention, expertise, and patience" in his reading. "Content" means that reading should be "less but more precise", grasp the key points, and study hard until you understand and understand it thoroughly. A person's life energy is limited. Instead of casting a net everywhere and gaining little, it is better to study in depth in one area and make achievements. Only by grasping a central issue and grasping its essence can other secondary issues be solved by analogy. Therefore, Zeng Guofan only studied more than ten kinds of books in his life.
"Specialization" means "reading without difficulty". The direction of study has been determined, so one should take it one step at a time, understand every problem in a down-to-earth manner, and only by concentrating one's energy can one achieve success step by step. "Brothers, you must always strive to be professional... If you want to abide by the classics, you must abide by one; if you want to make meanings, you must read the manuscripts of one family; if you want to write ancient prose, you must read the collections of one family. You must not do Jingwu at the same time. "[13] "Patience" means reading based on words and names. If you don't understand one sentence, you can't read the next sentence. If you don't understand it today, you won't be able to read it tomorrow. Keep reading. In short, never give up until you understand. Don't aim too high and win quickly. "Seeking quick results will only help, not only will it be useless, but it will also harm it. As long as it accumulates over time, like a foolish old man moving a mountain, there will eventually be a sudden breakthrough."[14]
For Zeng Guofan, there is no need. Delicious food, fine clothes, and beautiful houses, but he cannot live without books. Reading has become an indispensable part of his life. He never loved money or accumulated money throughout his life, but he loved books, loved reading, and loved collecting books. A large number of books became the most precious wealth in his life. Therefore, Zeng Guofan was deeply imprinted with "learning" throughout his life as an official. He was like a Confucian when he was in office and conducted affairs. He rushed to the army without neglecting literary affairs. He read history books in a dangerous city until he was seriously ill in his later years and lost all his books. His reading style infected countless descendants.
The first thing that affected him was his children. It can be clearly seen from the "Zeng Guofan Family Letter" with more than 1.2 million words that Zeng Guofan really spent a lot of effort in teaching his children to read. "If I can teach my brothers to advance one point of virtue, then I am filial. If I can teach my brothers to advance ten points, then I will be ten points of filial piety. If I cannot teach my brothers to become famous, then I am extremely unfilial!"[14]
Consider urging your brothers to improve their morals and careers as a way of fulfilling your filial piety. Taiwanese scholar Hou Wangyu commented that Zeng Guofan used the word "Han Yong" as one of the reading methods to teach his children. This method does have its benefits. Under his influence, not only the men of the Zeng family were knowledgeable and talented, but also the women were well-educated and courteous. Under his guidance, Zeng Guofan, the ninth brother of Zeng Guofan, transformed from a warrior eager for quick success to a man of insight; Zeng Guofan's son Zeng Jize inherited his father's legacy, studied foreign languages ??and became a famous diplomat in modern China; Zeng Guofan's second son Zeng Jihong specialized in mathematics , astronomy, and also made achievements; Zeng Guofan's great-grandson Zeng Baosun was a famous female educator in China and founded a girls' school that combined Chinese and Western methods. Zeng's grandchildren and great-grandchildren are all talented people, which must be said to be influenced by Zeng Guofan's reading style.
The influence of Zeng Guofan’s reading methods on the scholar-bureaucrats in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China and even the entire modern China cannot be underestimated. His direct disciples Li Hongzhang, Xue Fucheng, Zhang Yuzhao, Li Shuchang, Wu Rulun and others all followed his master. Li Hongzhang mainly served in the army and politics, and his academic achievements were not very outstanding. However, since he followed Zeng Guofan, he has been deeply influenced by his experience. He often warned his disciples: "Anyone who has difficulty in reading a book does not need to ask for an explanation. If there is a word that cannot be reported, there is no need to suffer. If you want to remember well, just read a few articles today and a few tomorrow, which will be beneficial for a long time. But for those who have read it a few times, I will make a few comments and comment on it. "[15] This is obviously a study of Zeng Guofan. The retelling and promotion of the reading methods of "You have perseverance" and "Specialize in one profession, specialize in one study". Others, such as Zhang, Wu, Xue and Li, under the guidance of Zeng Guofan, after years of hard study, eventually became famous scholars in the late Qing Dynasty.
Zeng Guofan’s reading methods are still of considerable reference significance to today’s readers. Modern science and technology are highly developed and are much superior to the feudal era in which Zeng Guofan lived in terms of collecting information and processing data. However, no one can use machines to read and think for themselves. We need to use our hands, eyes, mouth, and brains. There are more opportunities, so the indispensable reading method of "reading, reading and writing" proposed by Zeng Guofan is of extremely practical significance.
Excerpted from Baidu netizen, thank you.