1. Yan Ziling was born in Yaobei in the second year of Zhao Jian in the Western Han Dynasty (37 BC) and died in the seventeenth year of Jianwu in the Eastern Han Dynasty (42 AD), a famous figure in China traditional culture.
When Yan Ziling was young, he went abroad to study and became friends with Liu Xiu, a native of Nanyang. Later, Liu Xiu revived the Han Dynasty, established the Eastern Han regime and became Emperor Guangwu. Yan Ziling was afraid of being recruited as an official, so he changed his name and surname and could not live in seclusion. Liu Xiu sent people to inspect everywhere and finally took him from the fishing place to the capital. Yan Ziling refused to associate with the powerful people in Beijing, even if Emperor Guangwu visited him, it was not out of courtesy of the monarch and his subjects. Guangwudi asked him for advice on how to govern the country, and found that Yan Ziling's knowledge was really different, so he appointed Zi Ling as the remonstrance doctor, and he did not thank him. A few days later, he quietly left Beijing and returned to his farming and fishing life. Yan Ziling's ideological character, regardless of fame and fortune, is praised by later generations. Fan Zhongyan, a famous politician and writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, once praised Yan Ziling's lofty virtues with the poem "Clouds are grey, rivers and seas are boundless, gentlemen's winds are cold, mountains and waters are long".
After Yan Ziling's death, the mausoleum was built in Chen Shan, which is 10 miles east of Yuyao. It was repaired in the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties and has been destroyed. In memory of this sage, later generations renamed Chen Shan Kexingshan. There are two existing memorial buildings in Yuyao, one is the "High Wind and Eternal Age" stone tablet square built in Huangdongyan Village, Tang Di Town in the Ming Dynasty, and the other is the "Yan Ziling's Hometown Stone Tablet Pavilion" and "Zi Ling Pavilion" on Longquan Mountain.
2. Wang Yangming, whose real name is Shouren, whose real name is Bo 'an, was born in the northern city of Yuyao in the eighth year of Chenghua in Ming Xianzong (A.D. 1472) and died in the seventh year of Jiajing. He was a famous philosopher, educator and strategist in the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Yangming lives at the northern foot of Longquan Mountain in Yaocheng. When he was born, his grandmother dreamed of Xiangyun, a fairy driver, who brought him a man, so she called the house where he was born "Ruiyun Building". After his father Wang Hua won the highest prize, Wang Yangming went to Beijing with his father. Wang Yangming is a scholar at the age of twenty-eight. He has served as the minister of war, the secretariat of longchang Yicheng, the order of luling county, and the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in Jiangxi. He used to be a senior official of Nanjing Ministry of War, named "Xinjian Bo" and "Wencheng".
Wang Yangming's achievements are various, the most prominent of which is to summarize and improve the ideological system of mind since the Song and Ming Dynasties, and he is respected as a "master of mind" by academic circles. The characteristics of his philosophical thought are that he opposes regarding the Tao of Confucius and Mencius as an unchangeable commandment, opposes blindly obeying feudal ethics and morality, emphasizes personal initiative, and puts forward the philosophical proposition of "to conscience" and the methodology of "integration of knowledge and practice", which has the significance of demanding to break through the shackles of feudal thought and calling for ideological liberation and personality liberation. Wang Yangming widely accepted his disciples and publicized his thoughts, which was called "Yangming studies" in history. Because he was born in Yuyao, where there are many students, he is also called "Yaojiang School". His works include 38 volumes of The Complete Book of Wang Chengwen Palace. Academic evaluation is the earliest enlightenment philosophy in the late feudal medieval society of China.
Wang Yangming loved his hometown, went back to Yao Province many times to worship his ancestors and visit the grave, and gave lectures at Zhongtian Pavilion in Longquan Mountain in the city, which trained a group of outstanding talents such as Qian Dehong and left a lot of activities in Yuyao. The most well-preserved ancient buildings include Zhongtian Pavilion, the lecture hall of that year, the loyalty platform inscribed by him, the former residence of Neo-Confucianism, etc., and the memorial buildings include the hometown tablet pavilion and Yangming pavilion.
3. Mingyu, whose name is Lu Yu, is a smooth person. Ming Wanli was born in Yuyao in the 28th year (A.D. 1600) and died in the 21st year of Qing Emperor Kangxi (A.D. 1682). He was a famous scholar in the early Qing Dynasty and a pioneer of cultural exchange between China and Japan.
Zhu Shunshui was smart and studious since he was a child. When he was young, he had a deep study of the Four Books and Five Classics and history. However, he saw that the imperial court was dark and the bureaucrats were corrupt, so he always despised fame. After the Qing army went down to the south of the Yangtze River, it took an active part in the anti-Qing struggle, first following the corner to reject the king of Lu in Zhoushan, and then taking part in the Northern Expedition. In the 16th year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (AD 1659), seeing that the Qing regime was getting stronger and stronger, it was hopeless to see the sun again. In order to preserve national integrity, he resolutely left his hometown, abandoned his homeland and went into exile in Japan.
Zhu Shunshui stayed in Japan for more than 20 years, still wearing the clothes of the Ming Dynasty and thinking of his motherland. His knowledge and virtue are treated with courtesy and respect by Japanese scholars. Mito's owner, Tokugawa Hiroyuki, hired him to give lectures in Edo (present-day Tokyo) and held a ceremony to accept disciples. Many famous scholars come here to study. When giving lectures, Zhu Shunshui abandoned the empty preaching in Confucianism, carried forward the tradition of practical learning and combining with reality, and promoted the development of Japanese Confucianism. He also taught the Japanese people China's advanced agriculture, medicine, architecture and technology. The "Edo School" with the aim of "Shun Shui" has always influenced the Meiji Restoration and contributed to the prosperity and progress of Japan.
After Zhu Shunshui's death, the Japanese people followed his wishes and buried him under Ruilongshan Mountain in Ota Township, Changjiu County. His speeches and questions and answers were published as 28 volumes of Zhu Shunshui's collected works by Tokugawa Kwok-kook and his son. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Zhu Shunshui's death, the memorial meeting of Zhu Shunshui and the Japan-China Cultural Association built the "Monument to Mr. Zhu Shunshui" in his hometown-Longquan Mountain in Yuyao City, realizing his last wish of "China-Japan Millennium".
4. Huang Lizhou, whose real name is Zong Xi, whose word is Tai Chong, whose name is Nan Lei, is known as Mr. Lizhou in the world. Born in the thirty-eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 16 10) and died in the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1695), he was a famous thinker and historian in the early Qing Dynasty.
Huang Lizhou had great ambition to make contributions from an early age. His father, Huang Zunsu, was an upright official who was framed by eunuch Wei Zhongxian and died. Two years later, Huang Zunsu's unjust case was rehabilitated. Huang Lizhou, who was only 19 years old, went to Beijing to avenge his father and stabbed two murderers who harmed his father in court. Later, he worshipped Liu Weishi, a famous master of Confucianism at that time, studied hard and was determined to inherit his father's footsteps and make a career. After the Qing soldiers went south, Huang Lizhou sold his property and organized local youth, known as "Shizhongying" in history, to support Lu Wang in the anti-Qing struggle. It was not until the collapse of the Nanming regime that he returned to his hometown and wrote in seclusion. After experiencing the painful lesson of the country's destruction, Huang Lizhou deeply realized that the root of social darkness, corruption and turmoil was feudal autocracy. In his political work "Ming Yi to be Visited", he issued the cry that "the worst person in the world is king". In his later years, Huang Lizhou devoted himself to sorting out and studying the traditional culture of the motherland. His works * * * have more than 1300 volumes and tens of millions of words, covering history, politics, philosophy, classics, geography, astronomy, music, poetry and many other aspects, and he can be called a master of writing.
After his death, Huang Lizhou was buried in Hua 'an Mountain, a land port in Yaonan. The tomb is a provincial key cultural relics protection unit. His former residence has gone through many wars and no longer exists. Only the small stone bridge engraved with the words "Huangjiazhu Bridge" still stands at the eastern end of the village. There are memorial buildings "Hometown Monument Pavilion" and "Lizhou Pavilion" on Longquan Mountain in the city, and Zhongtian Pavilion also preserves most of his works and a "Bamboo Bridge Yellow Family Tree".