Farmers in Hunan Province Farming and Reading Family heirlooms

Farming can grow crops, enrich food, support the family and make a living. Through reading, you can learn poetry books, achieve both propriety and righteousness, cultivate self-cultivation, and thus establish noble morality. Therefore, farming and reading can not only learn to be a man, but also learn to make a living. Throughout the ages, there are not a few famous ministers who can govern the country and keep the country safe, but there are still a few who attach importance to agriculture and benefit the temple people.

Zuo is an important inheritor of China's traditional culture, and he can dialectically accept and learn from the excellent elements of western modern culture. In fact, Zuo's cultural thought of farming and reading is the result of the influence of China's traditional culture and modern western cultural concepts. Based on Confucianism, attaching importance to "practical learning", "taking agronomy as a long life" and calling themselves "Hunan farmers", the practical application of Huxiang culture is vividly reflected in Zuo.

"Xunzi Yu": "Reading and abandoning farming, hunger and cold; If you plow and waste your studies, etiquette will die. " Studying here, I read four books and five classics, but not to be an official, but to learn to be a man. Reading sage books without listening to things outside the window often makes students poor and have a hard life; However, if you are busy with life all day and don't study etiquette and philosophy, you will have to muddle along without a poem.

We often say that gold always shines. Indeed, after Zuo failed in the list, he was invited by Wu Rongguang, the governor of Hunan Province, to become the head of Lijiang Academy and preside over the educational affairs. By chance, he became attached to Tao Shu, the governor of Liangjiang, and was appreciated by Tao Shu, who married his children and in-laws.

Soon after, after Tao Shu died of illness, Hu Linyi, Tao Shu's eldest son-in-law, hired Zuo to Anhua, Tao Shu's hometown, to tutor Tao Shu's youngest son. In Taoism, Zuo enjoys a rich collection of ancient books left by Tao Shu, and has conducted in-depth research on water conservancy, famine relief, land tax and salt administration. Further strengthened the "body without half an acre, worrying about the world; Read through thousands of books and make friends with the ancients.

1843, Zuo used his teaching savings to set up 70 mu of land in Xiangyin County, and established a manor named Liu Zhuang. Zuo continued to teach Daoming in Tao Shu's home, and at the same time studied hard, delved into farming, conducted theoretical research on agronomy and wrote books. The left is agriculture-oriented, but "practical learning is rare", and there are very few agricultural books handed down from generation to generation. Farming is the first priority in life, so Zuo decided to write a book on farming himself.

"Zuo Nianpu" records: "Daoguang is twenty-five years old and he is thirty-four. That year, I read thousands of Confucian books, and I made a living as a farmer. I thought of it as a book and wrote a letter to the farm. " In order to write this agricultural book, I pay attention to it everywhere and am not ashamed to ask questions. He tirelessly collected information from practice and summed it up carefully. Sometimes, in order to prove the reliability of agricultural proverbs, he not only invited dozens of old farmers to farm, but also personally went to the fields to actually operate and experience the summary.

During his years as a teacher, Zuo took advantage of the opportunity to travel between Anhua and Xiangyin to visit the surrounding farmhouses, learn farming techniques, collect excellent grain seeds and bring them back to Liu Zhuang, Xiangyin, to supervise farming and teach his family.

Later, he wrote "Pu Cunge's Agricultural Book", which contained more than a dozen articles about farming, giving a detailed description of planting, harvesting, animal husbandry and water conservancy. Decades later, Zuo was appointed to supervise the military affairs in Shaanxi and Gansu. Not only did he put down the rebellion and reform the tea administration, but he also did not forget to teach soldiers to plant trees and dissuade them from plowing when marching and fighting. Zuo has never forgotten his identity as a "peasant in Hunan". When he recovered Xinjiang, he advocated reclaiming wasteland to build water conservancy projects, and reclaimed wasteland19,000 mu in Hami, which restored agricultural production in northwest China and strengthened the economic strength of the frontier.

"Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of China people in modern times." Looking back, Zuo, a great historical figure, deserves our reverence. We should inherit and carry forward this spirit of farming and reading, take history as a mirror, make the past serve the present, and let the spirit of Huxiang culture re-illuminate generations of social elites.