Putian, a place with a long history, is not very famous at present. When Putian is mentioned, people often think of some bad things. However, in ancient times, Putian was a treasure with a prosperous context. If the top scholars are all literary stars, then Putian is a place where stars gather.
The data show that from the early Tang Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, that is, during the existence of the imperial examination system, there were 2,485 scholars in Putian, of whom 2 1 was the champion. You know, ancient scholars were very powerful, and many people called them "masters". Even low-level juren and scholar are great than Jinshi. Even a scholar can see that the county magistrate doesn't kneel down and his own world doesn't pay taxes. Juren and Jinshi are even more powerful.
Among them, the champion stood at the top of the imperial examination. Since Wu Zetian initiated martial arts, the imperial examination has been divided into two different paths: literature and martial arts. Throughout the ages, there are only 883 top scholars with names, including 599 in China and 284 in Wushu. This is less than 1000 people, and Putian accounts for 2 1, which is very remarkable.
And these people who stood at the top of the imperial examination also recorded the name of their hometown in the history of China.
Wu has 12 number one scholar and prime minister, four in the Southern Song Dynasty, namely, Cai, Ye and Chen, three in the Ming Dynasty and five in the Qing Dynasty, namely, Wu Tailai, Kang, Huang Zhenbang, Zhou, which seems to be related to the context of agricultural development in China. Of course, the number one scholar in the Song Dynasty may also be related to the ethos of valuing literature over martial arts.
The number of literary champions is nine. Unlike the scholar Wu, the literary scholar was mainly concentrated in the Song Dynasty. There were five people in Song Dynasty, namely Xu Duo, Chen, Wu and Huang Gongdu, and two people in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, namely Lin in Yuan Dynasty, Lin Huan and Ke Qian in Ming Dynasty.
In fact, in addition to this 2 1 person, Xu Yin, also from Putian, also won the first prize. But at that time, Zhu Wen, Liang's great-grandfather, thought that the sentence "One emperor and five emperors don't die" in Geometry Shoufu was not well written, and it seemed to be an allusion to him, so he changed it. However, the arrogant Xu Yin would rather not be an official than revise his article.
Zhu Wen was so angry with him that he cut Xu Yin's reputation in a rage. Therefore, Xu Yin is not among the top scholars in Putian.
Compared with the number one scholar, the prime ministers of Putian mainly concentrated in the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, namely, Weng Gao in the Tang Dynasty, Weng Chengzan, Pan Chengyou, Xiao Xiang and Chen in the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries, and Liu Daodao, Huang, Huang, Cai Jing, Cai You and He Gong in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Many of them became both top scholars and prime ministers, which can be said to be the pinnacle of scholars, became extremely important officials and left their names in the history books.
Then, why can Putian produce so many "reading seeds"? Is it really because there are Wen Qu stars shining in the sky?
In fact, there are natural and geographical reasons behind all social phenomena. The reason why Putian can produce so many literati has a lot to do with the local special geological environment.
Generally speaking, the most important production and lifestyle of ancient people is farming. However, because most of Putian is mountainous and faces the sea, there are few places for farming. Therefore, if people want to live, they have to think of other ways. Besides going fishing or doing business, some rich people in their families choose to study.
Especially in the Song Dynasty, when the economy was developed and business activities were frequent, people had more money in their pockets, so they could afford books, pen and ink, teachers and even private schools in counties and villages. In this way, more children can read, and more children can naturally become useful. Therefore, the Song Dynasty was indeed the era with the largest number of top scholars and prime ministers in Putian.
The Ming and Qing governments implemented the policy of sea ban, which made it inconvenient to do business. With less money, they don't have so much money to develop education, so the number of scholars is not as good as that of Song Dynasty.
The famous Cai Jing, Chen and others also came from the Song Dynasty, where Putian developed well.
Therefore, to develop education, a region needs a certain economic foundation. Otherwise, if people have no money to study, schools will not run well. And if everyone can go to school without worrying about tuition fees, then local schools will develop better and better, forming a virtuous circle.