His influence goes far beyond this. In the 800 years after him, his family was full of geniuses. As the saying goes, "wealth is not three", why can Fan Zhongyan's family successfully avoid this "iron law" that ordinary people can't avoid and last for 800 years? What's the mystery?
Fan Zhongyan's family has a common cultural thought. By the Song Dynasty, the gate system had declined since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and people's patriarchal clan system gradually weakened. Many poor disciples, relying on the imperial examination system, can also get a part-time job and become a new upper class. Fan Zhongyan's official career began with a poor man passing the imperial examination.
Fan Zhongyan showed the excellent quality of being diligent and eager to learn from an early age. His story of "breaking a horseshoe and paddling porridge" has been passed down as an eternal story. Because of his poor family, Fan Zhongyan had only two liters of millet as food every day when he was a child. He cut two knives on the steamed rice and divided it into four parts, half in the morning and half in the evening. As there is no food, you can only chop up some minced ginger, garlic or leek, mix with vinegar and add a little salt to eat.
He lived like this for three years. Later, Fan Zhongyan went to Yingtian Academy to study, and once made a living by washing porridge with hot water. After years of hard study, Fan Zhongyan became a learned scholar, which also created conditions for him to enter the official career and the prosperity of the Fan family.
Fan Zhongyan not only insisted on self-study, but also often advised his sons and nephews to study hard. In his letters, well-meaning advice can be seen everywhere. Under the strict education of Fan Zhongyan, most of his descendants studied hard and were good at writing and painting.
There is a strong Confucian culture in Fan Zhongyan's blood. His thought of valuing Confucianism naturally left a mark on their descendants. The frugality, harmony, brotherhood, loyalty to the monarch and patriotism in Confucianism are vividly reflected in Fan Zhongyan and his descendants.
Fan Zhongyan is frugal and self-controlled, and also educates future generations. Fan Chunren, the son of the Prime Minister, is an immortal, but when he is trying to attract guests, he is just a poor man who only drinks a few cups. But everyone in the world thinks this is a sign of good character.
Within a clan, there must be differences in blood relationship. But in Fan Zhongyan's view, his wealth stems from the virtues accumulated by his ancestors. If he enjoys this achievement alone, it is disrespectful to his ancestors. So he treats his own people as his own.
Even in an important position, I often miss people in trouble in my family. It is this same lifestyle, the same family education, the same customs and habits, and the same cultural background that makes Fan's descendants form the same values, world outlook and aesthetic taste.
These commonalities enable Fan's family studies and writing style to continue. This is also one of the reasons why the Fan family can continue to grow and develop after thousands of years of inheritance.
The clan system is perfect, and Fanshiyi Village relieves students' worries. The rise of the Fan family is strongly supported by Fan Zhongyan's personal charm. However, if a family wants to prosper, it must have a set of perfect clan family laws to regulate and restrain its people.
Fan Zhongyan is very aware of the importance of patriarchal clan system in family management, and he will never tolerate violations of family rules. His daughter-in-law, Wang, grew up in a wealthy family and lived in luxury. When Fan Zhongyan heard that Wang wanted to take Luo Qi as the curtain, he severely criticized his son and even tried to practice family law.
There are more than 50 family rules of the Fan family, covering a wide range. Sacrifice, marriage and funeral, education, and the management of the righteous village are all planned step by step. There are severe punishments for illegal and criminal acts. These regulations have played a certain role in restraining family members, obeying laws and regulations and maintaining family prosperity.
In order to get a good education for children, Fan Zhongyan founded Yi Xue. He hired teachers at his own expense to teach Fan's children. Later, in order to avoid the worries of Fan's children, Yizhuang was founded.
Fan Zhongyan invested thousands of acres of land and then rented it to others for farming. According to the number of clans, rations are distributed every month, which ensures that people in clans are no longer threatened by hunger.
Attaching importance to education, there are many talented people in the Fan family, and the scale of Yizhuang is also growing. The Fan family attaches great importance to the imperial examination. In order to encourage family children to take part in the imperial examination, Yizhuang stipulates that children who take part in the triennial rural examination will be rewarded with ten yuan. If you don't pass the exam again, the reward will be halved. If you don't take the exam for no reason, you have to refund your money. Later, due to soaring prices, the reward also rose to 100. It is in this atmosphere that in just 40 years, five members of Fan Zhongyan's family have been admitted to Jinshi and Jinshi.
His descendants also inherited his philosophy and discipline, and constantly maintained and developed the scale of Fan Yizhuang. With this basic guarantee, Fan's children can study with peace of mind and make a name for themselves.
Although thousands of years have passed since Fan Zhongyan lived, Fan Zhongyan's spirit and family culture are still passed down from generation to generation by his descendants. "Worry about the world first, and enjoy the world later", this people-oriented thought also inspires generations of people with lofty ideals of the Chinese nation to do their best for the rise and fall of the country and the national interests. Fan Jia's practice of cultivating talents and uniting family forces is also a model for us to learn.