The videos I watched became popular in ancient times

The Scholars, a famous representative work of Wu Jingzi in the Qing Dynasty, has a high status and influence in the history of literature.

Everyone has heard the story of Fan Jin passing the imperial examination, and the story of Fan Jin passing the imperial examination comes from the book The Scholars.

"The Scholars" is a novel with strong satirical significance. The stories told in it fully illustrate the warmth and coldness of human life and the fickleness of the world.

It exposes the harmful effects of the imperial examination system on the world in a profound way, and many characters are portrayed vividly.

Reading "The Scholars" is like someone using a spoon to cut open the gorgeous packaging of society and dig out the darkest flesh and blood inside.

Only after reading "The Scholars" can you understand the profoundness of Wu Jingzi.

Wu Jingzi tore off the emperor's new clothes, revealing the true appearance of the so-called prosperous age.

The words of sages are not necessarily false, but those who like to say the words of sages are mostly false.

The imperial examination system is not necessarily a bad thing, but most of the people under the system are bad.

Morality is not necessarily hypocritical, but people who like to talk about morality are mostly hypocritical.

"He wrote the first long satirical novel in China, The Scholars."

"And his life is far more legendary than fiction."

"He was born into a wealthy family and was born rich."

"But he was stabbed in the back by his relatives and failed in the imperial examinations one after another. He experienced all kinds of things in life."

"In the 40th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, a boy was born into the Wu family, the richest family in Anhui."

"The family named him Wu Jingzi, taking the line from the Book of Songs, 'Wei Sang and Zi, must be respectful and respectful', hoping that he would be respectful and filial to his parents."

"In order to maintain the dignity of the family, Wu Jingzi was adopted by his uncle Wu Linqi when he was born, which also laid the foundation for his entrapment in the family."

"In the generation of Wu Jingzi's great-grandfather, there were four Jinshi scholars."

"His grandfather's generation produced two Jinshi scholars."

"His father, Wu Linqi, was favored by the emperor because of his excellent writing skills."

"In ancient times, it was very difficult to pass the imperial examination."

"At that time, there was a poem used to describe the Wu family. Their family was the most dazzling star in the imperial examination."

"Since the founding of the country, the imperial examinations have been very important, and the most prosperous places are Quanjiao and Wu."

"Under such circumstances, Wu Jingzi, as the eldest grandson of the eldest son's family, was placed with high hopes by his family since he was a child."

"He entered a private school at the age of five and was proficient in poetry and songs."

"But when he was 13, his biological mother died."

"After his mother's death, his personal interest shifted to miscellaneous books, which laid the foundation for his later writing of novels and poems."

"When he was 17, his biological father died."

"When he was 18, he took the local exam and passed it."

"When everyone in the Wu family was optimistic that Wu Jingzi would be like his grandfather, passing the imperial examinations one after another and bringing honor to the family."

"Unexpectedly, fate seemed to have blinded him, and Wu Jingzi was getting further and further away from a career in government."

Hu Shi: The greatest sorrow of middle-aged people is to understand "The Scholars".

When I read the stories in "The Scholars" when I was young, I found them full of sarcasm, irony and ridicule.

Until later, after years of struggling in society.

After reading the whole book, I realized that the helplessness, sadness and desolation of the characters in the book are also reality.

Perhaps it is difficult for people to have deep feelings and understandings when they are young.

Only when you reach a certain age and have a certain amount of experience can you understand the warmth and sadness of it.

When Fan Jin was in his fifties, he was still just a student. His family was so poor that he couldn't even borrow money to take the imperial examination.

Before the results were announced, Fan Jin's mother was so hungry that her eyes were blurry.

As a last resort, Fan Jin was asked to take a laying hen from his home to the market to sell it, and buy a few liters of rice to cook porridge.

Later, after Fan Jin passed the imperial examination, his neighbors brought him eggs, some brought wine, some brought a bucket of rice, and some brought two chickens.

The greater the ups and downs a person experiences, the more clearly he can see the truth of the world.

Zhou Jin was already over sixty years old before he passed the imperial examination.

Zhou Jin once barely made a living by teaching, but was later ridiculed and ostracized by everyone.

As a last resort, he had to follow his brother-in-law who was a businessman to the provincial capital to do accounting and earn money.

When Zhou Jin passed the imperial examination, people in the county, even those who were not his relatives, came to recognize him as a relative.

Even strangers can be regarded as acquaintances.

People who once looked down on him also came to congratulate him in person.

Only by experiencing great joy and great sorrow can one feel the warmth and coldness and changes of the world.

Perhaps every adult has had this experience.

When you are at your lowest point, you are surrounded by indifference and cruelty.

Even if they are so poor that they can't afford to eat, no one is willing to give up their friendship.

When you are forced into a desperate situation, no one will give you a way out.

But when one is in a high position, one is surrounded by kindness and good intentions.

People who have nothing in common with you may become your relatives and friends.

People who were once strangers to you may become your friends.

When we are young, we don’t understand the fickleness of human nature and the vicissitudes of the world.

Now I understand that it is just human nature. There is no need to take it seriously, and there is no need to care about it.

Seeing clearly is an ability, while taking things lightly is greater wisdom.

When reading "The Scholars", one reads about the officialdom, the imperial examinations, and the stories of scholars.

Later I realized that what I was reading about were just the people and things right under my nose.

The essence of the book "The Scholars" is just six words: human heart, human feelings, and human nature.

When you truly understand this book, you will understand the real society.

"When Wu Jingzi was 23, his stepfather also passed away."

"Then a great battle for the family property began in the Wu family. The family dispute hung over his heart like a cloud."

"As a child born at the finish line, Wu Jingzi could have been a happy rich boy."

"But he was torn apart by the ruthless adults. Without his parents to hold him up as an umbrella, even his property that should have belonged to him was robbed and only one-third of it remained."

"Due to the dual stimulation of material and spiritual, he fell into the trough of life and then lived the life of a dandy boy."

"He indulged in singing, dancing and other sensual pleasures all year round, and was often generous in giving money to others."

"As a result, they had to sell off their ancestral property to make ends meet, and were constantly criticized and condemned by the Wu clan members and local scholars."

"Even more tragically, his wife also fell ill because of the family feud."

"Coupled with the increasing bullying from his family, he eventually died in anger."

"It was also in the same year that Wu Jingzi, who was alone and helpless, entered the provincial examination hall for the first time."

“But unfortunately, he failed the exam.”

"Three years later, he took the provincial examination for the second time. Unfortunately, he still failed."

"At the age of 29, he took part in the provincial examination for the third time."

"Before this provincial examination, he took a mock exam and his essay received the highest score at that time."

"But the chief examiner's comment on his essay was that the essay was very good but the author was very strange."

"It's no wonder, from the age of 23 to 29, it took six years."

"If you keep taking exams, even a normal person will become abnormal."

"Then, he failed the third provincial examination again."

"What's worse is that during this period, he squandered the little family property he got and there wasn't much left."

"When Wu Jingzi, who had accomplished nothing, returned to his hometown, all the old folks called him a prodigal son."

"They scolded him for being useless, and all his relatives excluded him, so he couldn't stay in his hometown anymore."

"He had no choice but to go to Nanjing, planning to change his place and start over."

Cao Xueqin: Wu Jingzi came from a family of officials, but ended up in poverty. Our fates are extremely similar.

Wu Jingzi, who came from a prominent family, embarked on a bumpy life.

In the end, he ended his life with a life of poverty in his later years.

In his opinion, there are three reasons why Wu Jingzi's fate was so tragic.

First, the division of the family failed. Wu Jingzi's father, Wu Linqi, was ill and could not stand the ugly phenomena in the officialdom.

So he resigned from his teaching position and returned to his hometown accompanied by his son Wu Jingzi.

Unexpectedly, Wu Linqi fell ill and died not long after.

After Wu Linqi passed away, his uncles and cousins ​​proposed to split the family.

Wu Jingzi's mother died early and he had no brothers or sisters, so he was left isolated and helpless.

In the end, he was defeated in the battle for division of the family property and got very little.

Wu Jingzi married Tao at the age of 16, who was frail and sickly.

Tao was greatly traumatized by this battle to divide the family, and soon fell seriously ill and died.

The departure of his wife was a great blow to Wu Jingzi, and it caused a major change in his outlook on life.

Later, when Wu Jingzi was writing "The Scholars", he used the story of Dr. Yu as a metaphor for his own experience.

In the novel, Mr. Tang first secretly sold Dr. Yu's house, and then shamelessly borrowed money from Dr. Yu to buy a few houses.

After receiving the money, Mr. Tang remained silent and didn't even say a word of thanks.

Mr. Tang's ugly face reflects the shameless behavior of Wu Jingzi's clansmen in reality.

Second, squandering the inheritance.

Even though Wu Jingzi failed in the fight for the family property, his father Wu Linqi still left him a generous inheritance of about 2 taels of silver.

The annual salary of a seventh-rank county magistrate was only 45 taels of silver, so 2 taels of silver was a huge sum of money.

If Wu Jingzi had spent his money frugally, he would have had enough to live a life of ease and comfort.

However, Wu Jingzi once followed his father to attend a gathering of local celebrities.

While gaining knowledge, he also developed a wasteful habit and developed a habit of spending money lavishly.

After his father passed away, Wu Jingzi had a huge fortune, but he did not know how to live a frugal life.

I call friends over every day to eat, drink and have fun.

When friends asked Wu Jingzi to borrow money, they were often generous and spent money lavishly.

In this way, Wu Jingzi gradually spent all his money and ate up all the inheritance left by his father.

When Wu Jingzi moved to Nanjing, he was already extremely poor and left a reputation as a prodigal son among his family.

I have to say that Wu Jingzi deserves the title of prodigal son.

Third, the examination room was unfavorable.

He failed in his fight for the family property and spent all the inheritance.

These are all major blows in life, but they cannot completely change a person's destiny.

If Wu Jingzi had been able to rely on his extraordinary talent to take the imperial examination, gain fame and obtain an official position, he would still be a winner in life.

Unfortunately, as if things weren't bad enough, Wu Jingzi's path to the imperial examination was quite difficult.

Because of his unruly words and actions, he left a bad impression on the examiner.

Wu Jingzi was ruthlessly eliminated when he took part in the provincial examination.

The failure in the provincial examination made Wu Jingzi disappointed with the imperial examination.

The governor of Anhui recommended Wu Jingzi to take part in the imperial examination, which was an excellent opportunity provided by the court to failed scholars.

Unexpectedly, Wu Jingzi was seriously ill and missed the exam, thus losing his last chance to take the imperial examination and become an official.

From then on, Wu Jingzi could only rely on writing poems and essays for wealthy families in exchange for writing fees to barely make a living.

Winter came, and Wu Jingzi's family could not afford charcoal for heating.

So I went running outside the city with my friends at night to keep warm.

In order to survive, Wu Jingzi once put aside his pride and sought help from officials and gentry, but was unsuccessful.

Eventually, Wu Jingzi had a lot of phlegm after getting drunk, which caused him to have difficulty breathing. He died before he could get medical treatment, ending his life in poverty.

"After moving to Nanjing, Wu Jingzi began to do what he wanted to do."

"I write poetry every day, occasionally chat with friends, and travel to other cities."

"Although there wasn't much property left, it was enough for the living standard at that time."

"If he plans it properly, it will be enough for him to live for hundreds of years."

"But he has no interest in money and no idea about it."

"I can't keep my wallet under control, and I often treat a bunch of friends to dinner."

"He was also very generous to his own cooks and craftsmen, and always donated money to the poor."

"In just a few years, he spent all the money his father left behind."

"After losing all his money, Wu Jingzi suddenly lost his source of income. He barely made ends meet by writing articles for others and relying on occasional small donations from friends."

"In the end, he couldn't even afford paper and pens to write articles for others."

"After the winter, he took off his and his second wife's cotton coats and sold them."

"After five or six years of struggling to make ends meet, 36-year-old Wu Jingzi finally got another chance in his life."

"At that time, Anhui Governor Zhao Guolin recommended him to participate in the imperial examination personally organized by Emperor Qianlong."

"Just recommend them for an interview, and then you can be directly admitted as an official."

"Wu Jingzi suddenly felt a ray of hope in his heart, and he passed the local selection test easily."

"But what a coincidence, it happened just before I was going to the capital to take part in the imperial examination."

"He was sick. He was so sick that he missed the exam."

"This blow was fatal to him and he began to reflect on himself."

"He felt that it had nothing to do with how hard he worked along the way."

"It's more likely that it's just not in your destiny, and forcing it is useless."

"So, after this incident, he vowed to completely break with the imperial examination!"

"From then on, he lived in the streets and began to concentrate on writing his "The Scholars" behind closed doors."

"Against such difficult circumstances, Wu Jingzi still insisted on completing the long satirical novel The Scholars."

Lu Xun: Wu Jingzi's literary achievements are actually higher than those of Wu Cheng'en, Luo Guanzhong and Shi Nai'an.

"The Scholars" has a very high status in Chinese literature and pioneered Chinese satirical novels.

Use ridiculous stories to satirize the harmful effect of the imperial examination system on people, to criticize the ignorance of feudal ethics, and to expose the darkness of the old feudal society and the ugliness of human nature.

This is Wu Jingzi's summary of life and also an extension of Wu Jingzi's life.

In The Scholars, Wu Jingzi created many images of intellectuals.

Without exception, they were all Confucian scholars poisoned by the eight-legged essay system, and the comedy story of Fan Jin passing the imperial examination was the most representative among them.

And Wu Jingzi himself is just like the characters in The Scholars he wrote.

His life was full of ups and downs, his ending was rough, and he ended up in poverty.

Wu Jingzi, 54, died suddenly in a small hotel in Yangzhou due to a mouthful of phlegm stuck in his throat due to excessive drinking.

After Wu Jingzi died, his family had no money to pay for his funeral, and in the end his friends raised money to bury him.

Wu Jingzi probably never imagined in his lifetime that he would go from a nobleman to a poor scholar who could not even afford to eat.

Wu Jingzi also did not expect that he had written "The Scholars" on straw paper.

Hundreds of years later, it became a classic that students must study, making him famous.

Just like the line in the opening words of "The Scholars", there are many crossroads in life, and even mortals have to be generals, ministers, and gods.

Wu Jingzi's life is a mixture of two lives.

He is both a literary general and a down-and-out mortal.

He is both a rich second-generation and a prodigal son.

He has seen the prosperity of the world, and he has also seen through the coldness of the world.

But what is valuable is that no matter what kind of life Wu Jingzi is in.

He always used a level perspective to watch the joys and sorrows of the world, and constructed a spiritual world for himself in the suffocating feudal cage.

It allows him to escape from the sufferings of reality and face the vicissitudes of fate calmly.

The reason why "The Scholars" has such a high status in literature is because this novel contains Wu Jingzi's thoughts on personal destiny.

It was precisely because Wu Jingzi took the blows that life had dealt him and sublimated them into a resistance to the imperial examination system.

Therefore, when Wu Jingzi was thinking about his personal destiny, he was reflecting the destiny of this era. (End of this chapter)