Source: Zhejiang Daily
On Xinqiao Street in the old town of Quzhou, the Kong Nanzong Family Temple stands quietly, and the red wall and black tiles are solemn and solemn.
In the Confucius Cultural Park across the street, a bronze statue of Confucius, about 9 meters high and weighing about 12 tons, with long hair hanging down to the chest, clothes fluttering, the look is "warm and strong, mighty but not fierce, respectful and peaceful", and the eyes travel through the millennium.
If the clock of history is set back to the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127), confucius's 48th eldest grandson and Kong Duanyou, who decided to lead his people to the south (traveling with the emperor), did not expect that he would never return to Qufu. The Jiangnan region, centered on Quzhou, has a deeper relationship with Confucianism because of the great migration of the Kong family.
In the time and space background of the Southern Song Dynasty, a cultural interweaving and integration slowly unfolded. The Southern Sect of Kong influenced the jiangnan scholars and people with its status as a saint and a large sect, and at the same time, the positive elements in the social culture of Jiangnan were continuously absorbed into the Confucian culture of the Kong family, constantly enriching and enhancing its connotation. The fusion of the two eventually formed a regional civilization inheritance system that keeps pace with the times, has distinctive characteristics, and takes Confucian culture as the core.
Taking the Nanzong Family Temple of kong as a starting point, we follow the footsteps of the Kong family after moving south, and search for the historical context of Confucianism from the temple to the folk, the prosperity of the city culture, and even the formation of regional "cultural genes".
Abide by loyalty and righteousness
"Since Tang Kaiyuan, Confucius Temples have been erected in Junyi... And for the Temple of Kong's House, only Qufu and Quzhou Er. "Li Zhifang, the Shangshu of the Qing Dynasty Soldiers, once made a commentary on the Confucius Temple in Quzhou at the beginning of the "Qing Kangxi Quzhou Reconstruction of the Confucius Family Temple Stele". Since the Tang Dynasty, counties and counties across the country have set up Confucius temples to worship confucius, the ancestor of the readers. But there are only two temples in the world for the descendants of Confucius: Qufu in the north and Quzhou in the south.
Over the years, Confucian culture has long been rooted in the humanistic heritage of this ancient city in western Zhejiang. When we walk in the streets and alleys of Quzhou, whether it is the publicity slogan of "Nankong Holy Land, Quzhou Has Etiquette" that can be seen everywhere, or the statue of Confucius in the local primary and secondary school campus, or the cartoon character "Grandpa Nankong" who appears in the streets and alleys in the form of cartoons and dolls, etc., they are showing people the most proud cultural symbols of the city.
"The history of Kong Nanzong's inheritance in Quzhou for more than 800 years can be said to be a legendary history of family struggle. The spiritual core of its development from the Southern Song Dynasty to Quzhou is the loyalty as one of the core values of Confucianism in Confucius and Meng. Standing under the ancient ginkgo tree planted in the front yard of the family temple 500 years ago by Kong Chengmei, the 60th grandson of Confucius and the doctor of the Five Classics of the Hanlin Academy of the Ming Dynasty, sheng Xiongsheng, director of the Nankong Cultural Development Center in Quzhou, seems to let us see the smoke of war on the battlefield of the Song Dynasty.
In the second year of Jianyan (1128), the Jin soldiers marched south in a big way, and Emperor Gaozong of Song rushed south. Confucius's 48th eldest grandson, Kong Duanyou, the Duke of Yansheng, protected the treasures of the town temple such as the statue of Confucius and his wife' Kaimu and the "Relics of the First Saint", and led the nearby tribesmen to cross the south. Because the Kong clan helped the Southern Song Dynasty win the cultural Zhengshuo and consolidate the power, the following year, Emperor Gaozong fixed the capital lin'an and gave Kong Duanyou Temple to live in Quzhou, which was for the "Southern Emperor of kong". After that, Kong Nanzong set up a special "Silu Pavilion" in the family temple, full of nostalgia.
Sheng Xiongsheng said that Kong Nanzong was not without the opportunity to return to his hometown. Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, ordered Confucius's 53rd grandson, Kong Su, the Duke of Yansheng, to move north from Quzhou and return to Qufu to worship. However, Kong Su was not killed by the Song Dynasty, and The Duke of De rang to the brother of the Kong clan in Qufu.
In the long years to come, no matter the rise and fall of honor and disgrace, the temples and lakes, generations of descendants of the Southern Sect of Kong clan have always adhered to loyalty and righteousness, and have inherited the holy way. Whether it was Kong Zhenyun, the first assistant who went on hunger strike due to the death of the Ming Dynasty, or the general Kong Yong, who was martyred in order to resist the Japanese invasion, the people of the Southern Sect of Kong took the lead in setting an example and being loyal to the State of Xu, showing the style of the family family.
"In 1993, Kong's Nanzong Family Temple was named 'Patriotic Education Base' by the Propaganda Department of the Provincial Party Committee, which is also deserved." Sheng Xiongsheng pulls our thoughts back to the present. A mother and son are in front of the stone sculpture of the history of The Southern Sect of Kong in the West Hall of the Confucius Temple, and the mother relays stories such as "Nandu" and "Gao Feng Renjue" into sentences that children can understand. The child frequently nodded, and in this small world, he was trying to "meet" a hundred thousand years ago.
Chongxue re-taught poetry and ritual heirlooms
We walked among the Confucius Temple buildings according to the three axes of the East and West, and from time to time we could find traces of the Chongxue re-teaching and poetry of the Southern Sect of Kong. After Emperor Nanzong of the Kong clan settled down in Quzhou, the patriarch Kong Chuan used the temple as a school, lecturing and teaching apprentices, with nearly a thousand disciples. After the establishment of the Linghu Family Temple in the late Southern Song Dynasty, the descendants of the Kong clan also set aside a special place for the clan to teach. Sheng Xiongsheng said that the private school of Kong Nanzong was indiscriminately coveted by the private school founded by Kong Chuan in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and transformed into a modern school in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, the number of academies in Quzhou ranked among the highest in the country. Among the 22 famous academies in the Southern Song Dynasty, Quzhou had two: Keshan Academy and Qingxian Academy. Among them, Confucius's 50th grandson Kong Yuanlong and the 53rd grandson Kong Yan served as the chief of Keshan Academy (the host of the academy), and there were many scholars. According to the research of Mr. Xu Shouchang, an expert in the study of Nankong culture, there are 8 colleges founded by the Kong Nan clan in Dongyang, Zhejiang, Jingjiang, Jiangsu, and Tong'an, Fujian.
After Kong Su was knighted, the Kong clan in Quzhou gradually declined, mixing with the commoners. A large number of learned people of the Southern Sect went out of their homes and took it as their duty to turn the people into customs, and their footprints spread throughout Zhejiang, Fujian, Gansu, Suzhou and other provinces. There were also many scholars among the famous sages of the Southern Sect of Confucius. The Wansong Academy in Hangzhou, after the establishment of the eleventh year of Ming Hongzhi (1498), hired descendants of The Southern Sect of Kong to manage and preside over the festivals of the academy for more than 450 years. The Qianlong Emperor went down to Jiangnan 6 times and wrote 6 poems about Wansong Academy. One of them reads: "Qi helps Hushan Zhong Yuanxiu, and Daozun Kong Meng has a true source." "True Source" refers to the Southern Sect of Kong.
"The greatest feature and contribution of Southern Clan Studies is to enable the vast number of ordinary disciples to obtain the opportunity to receive education." Professor Wu Xibiao, director of the Kong Nanzong Cultural Research Center of Quzhou College, who has studied Nankong culture for many years, analyzed that because of the loss of his knighthood, Kong Nanzong went from the temple to the people, or for the scholar, or for the mountain chief, or set up a school to teach reading, in various forms to promote the development of civilian education, but also to promote the development of modern school education in Quzhou. The concept of education and indoctrination of Kong Nanzong advocating ethics and passing on poetry and books has also objectively promoted the development of colleges and schools in Quzhou and even the southeast region, and optimized the regional humanistic environment, so that cultural figures have emerged continuously.
However, experts such as Wu Xibiao regret that many colleges and schools that have shined in historical records have long been difficult to trace because of many wars. We can only glimpse it in the pens of other literati scholars. For example, the Yangming scholar Zou Shouyi once recorded that during the Ming Jiajing period, after Emperor Nanzong of kong reopened his family school at the abandoned site of Dongyue in the south of the city, "more than forty children of the Kong clan sang the chapters of "Deer Ming" and "Logging", and suddenly they were like you Soo Si and Listen to silk bamboo. ”
To this day, the wind of studiousness spread by The Southern Sect of Kong over the years still moisturizes the people. Nankong Bookstore is all over Quzhou, and Nankong culture has become one of the spiritual ties that embodies the feelings of contemporary Quzhou primary and secondary school students. Every year, a series of Confucian cultural activities such as children's Bible reading classes, enlightenment ceremonies, and Confucian school dramas are held in the local area.
Under the guidance of Sheng Xiongsheng, we went to Quzhou No. 2 Middle School to feel the habits and confucian styles on campus. Entering the campus, the white jade statue of Confucius, Duzhi Lou, Siqi Lou, and Wendao Stone constantly passed in front of our eyes, and the sound of students reciting classics was next to our ears. "We have opened elective courses such as 'Nankong Culture' and 'Traditional Culture and Happy Life', and also compiled corresponding school-based textbooks. The student debaters of the Debate Club will select debate topics from the Analects. 'Gentlemen are not instrumental' and "sensitive to things and should not be advocated' are all questions that debaters often ponder. Pan Zhiqiang, secretary of the party committee of the school, said that the nourishment of the geopolitical culture of his hometown is accompanying Quzhou students to open the road of liberal arts in life.
Times
Open and inclusive
From the Southern Song Dynasty to the present, the spring and autumn of the millennium, the vicissitudes of the sea and mulberry fields. Why does Nankong culture last forever? Walking in the Chinese Confucian Museum, the historical picture unfolds head-on. We threw the questions that had been in our minds before this trip to Sheng Xiongsheng.
"In the long process of social evolution, Kong Nanzong has always pursued and practiced the innovative spirit of keeping pace with the times, openness and inclusiveness. Therefore, the educational ideas of Kong Nanzong coincide with the trajectory of the evolution of Confucianism. The evolution of Kong's Nanzong Family School also resonates with the reform and development of modern education. Sheng Xiongsheng used a few examples to tell the story.
After the abolition of the imperial examination in the spring of the twenty-ninth year of the Qing Dynasty (1903), Kong Qingyi, the seventy-third grandson of Confucius and the doctor of the Five Classics of the Hanlin Academy, lamented that "the old learning is not enough to survive and strive to restore the new.". After that, he rebuilt Kong Nanzong's "Chengqi Family School" into a modern school, initially "Kong's Middle School", and renamed it "Two-Class Elementary School" in the second year of Xuanun (1910). In the early years of the Republic of China, the "Second Class Primary School" was again renamed "Kong's Complete Primary School". For this reason, Kong Qingyi was praised by posterity as a new school figure who was "the first to open up the atmosphere".
In fact, "the first to open up the wind" is the internal driving force for the development of Kong's Southern Sect. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, many young talents of Kong's Nanzong were influenced by the modern educational trend, cut their hair and changed their clothes, and went abroad to study and learn new knowledge. These Kong youths, who are in line with modern Western education, lead the trend of restoration and set an example for the major transformation of modern society in Zhejiang and even Jiangnan.
In order to ensure that the statue of Confucius and his wife Kaimu was not plundered by the Japanese and died in a foreign land, Confucius's 74th eldest grandson and Nanzong's worship official Kong Fanhao graduated from the Normal Department of Waseda University in Japan. In 1938, Kong Fanhao, who was close to knowing his destiny, conformed to the educational reform of the time and rebuilt the "Kong's Complete Primary School" into "Quxian Nishan Primary School". This also means that the education of the Nanzong Kong family has gone to society. By 1945, Nishan Elementary School had 12 classes and more than 600 students, of which less than 10% were students surnamed Kong.
In 2004, Kong Xiangkai, the eldest grandson of Confucius's 75th concubine and the last "Nanzong Worship Official", restored the once-interrupted Confucius Ceremony of The Southern Sect of Kong, and first proposed the concept of "contemporary people sacrificing Kong", which was another bold innovation of the Kong Nanzong family. "The sacrifice of Confucius is a memorial and tribute to Confucius, the founder of Confucianism. We should inherit the ideas of Confucius, not the clothes and ornaments of the pilgrims of the dynasties. ”
In the video materials preserved by the Quzhou Nankong Cultural Development Center, we see the image of Kong Xiangkai's life: he is full of chinese hair and is telling the idea of sacrifice. Under his planning and design, the Nankong Sacrifice was simplified into four chapters: "Li Qi, Sacrifice Ceremony, Praise Ceremony, and Ritual Formation". The piano was moved to the front of the Dacheng Hall of the Confucius Temple, the "Offering of Tai Prison" (pigs, cattle, sheep and three animals) was replaced by the "sacrifice of five grains", and the devotees wore contemporary formal clothes and bowed. The whole ceremony takes less than 40 minutes.
The festival of Confucius, which keeps pace with the times, is understood, recognized and praised by more people. In 2011, the "Nankong Festival", which is positioned as "contemporary worship of Confucius", was included in the national intangible cultural heritage. There are also more and more foreign scholars who are willing to approach "Nankong" and share Confucianism.
In 2018, Quzhou released the "Nankong Holy Land • Quzhou Youli" city brand to the whole society, with the word "li" as the core, supporting the four beams and eight pillars of the entire city's character. Zhang Hongmin, deputy director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Provincial Academy of Social Sciences and deputy secretary-general of the Provincial Confucian Society, believes that in the inheritance of hundreds of years of keeping pace with the times, Nankong culture has long become the most iconic cultural element in Quzhou and has long been highly recognized by the people.
In Zhang Hongmin's expectation, the ancient charm and modern style of Nankong culture will also connect China and the world through the "Quzhou Youli" that contains the essence of Nankong culture, the international Chinese teacher training base set up in Quzhou, and the Confucian cultural experience center.