Fan Zhongyan originally lived in a family of officials. During the Five Dynasties period, his grandfather Fan Zan served as the secretary and supervisor of Wu Yue Kingdom. His father, Fan Yong, served as the Secretary of Jieduzhang of Wuning Army (Xuzhou). Fan Zhongyan was Fan Yong's third son born in Xuzhou. Sadly, his father passed away when Fan Zhongyan was just two years old. As the family declined, his mother, Xie, had to take him and remarry him to the Zhu family in Changshan County, Zizhou (now east of Zouping County, Shandong Province), and changed his surname to Zhu, and his surname was restored after he became a Jinshi. Fan Zhongyan was very ambitious when he was a child. He studied at Liquan Temple in Changbai Mountain (now south of Zouping County, Shandong Province). Because his family was poor, he could only cook one pot of thin porridge every day and divided it into four pieces. Eat two pieces in the morning and evening, cut a little shepherd's purse, add a little salt and eat it. I studied hard like this for three years. Later, when he learned about his family background, he was very sad. He cried and said goodbye to his mother, and went to study in a school in Nandu (now Shangqiu). He studied even harder at this time, working day and night, sometimes staying up all night, and did not take off his clothes to sleep for five years. Because of Fan Zhongyan's diligent study, he finally became a very knowledgeable person. Fan Zhongyan has had lofty ambitions since he was a child. When he was still a scholar, he "took the world and the country as his own responsibility." Later he became an admonisher and boldly exposed Lu Yijian's abuse of power and appointment of private individuals, and was demoted and punished. Later, he made great contributions in the war with Xixia, returned to the court as deputy prime minister, and actively implemented the New Deal. However, he was ostracized because he violated the interests of some powerful people. He returned to Shaanxi to defend the border, and the New Deal was abolished. The next year, his old friend Teng Zijing, who was an official in Yuezhou, built the Yueyang Tower, a local attraction, and asked Fan Zhongyan to write a commemorative article. Fan Zhongyan wrote the popular "Yueyang Tower". In this article, he proposed that a person with lofty ambitions should "worry about the world's worries first, and rejoice after the world's happiness." For more than a thousand years, this sentence has become an inspiration for the Chinese nation through the ages, and has served as a guide for people with lofty ideals. The aphorism of the country serving the people and the endless struggle. Fan Zhongyan lived a life of hardship and simplicity, and often distributed his salary to his fellow villagers, winning the support of the people. "On the day of his death, all who heard it in all directions sighed," and the people "wept like a father."
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