This sentence comes from the famous article "Yueyang Tower" written by Fan Zhongyan in the Northern Song Dynasty. The original sentence is: It must be said: "Be worried about the world's worries first, and be happy after the world's happiness." It means to advise people to put the interests of the country and the nation first and worry about the future and development of the motherland. At the same time, it also encourages future generations to study hard and serve the motherland. So what caused Fan Zhongyan to write such a sentence? There are three reasons:

Praising his friend Teng Zijing for being diligent and serving the people both in government and in public affairs

This sentence comes from "The Story of Yueyang Tower", and what is the background of the creation of "The Story of Yueyang Tower"? The first paragraph at the beginning of the article explains:

In the spring of the fourth year of Qingli, Teng Zijing was relegated to Baling County. In the next year, the government will be harmonious and people will be harmonious, and everything will be prosperous. Then the Yueyang Tower was rebuilt, its old structure was added, and poems by Tang Xian and modern people were engraved on it. It belongs to me to write down to record it.

This article was written by the author at the invitation of Teng Zijing, the governor of Baling, for the renovated Yueyang Tower. So who is Teng Zijing, and why did Fan Zhongyan accept his invitation to write an essay?

According to historical records, Teng Zijing and Fan Zhongyan were Jinshi in the same discipline. They were upright people who put the country first and the people first. In the early days of Renzong of Song Dynasty, Empress Dowager Liu listened to politics behind the curtain, and she handled all military and state affairs. A group of officials such as Teng Zijing and Fan Zhongyan were demoted precisely because they petitioned the Queen Mother to return power to Renzong. After being demoted, Teng Zijing was not very frustrated and lonely, and gave up on himself. After he took office, he worked hard to serve the people. The school was expanded, the flood control embankment was built, and the Yueyang Tower was rebuilt. Two years later, Baling County's government was harmonious and everything was prosperous.

Fan Zhongyan’s words are a tribute to his friend Teng Zijing who cared about the country and the people both in government and in public.

The failure of the Qingli New Deal and accusations of treacherous ministers wielding power in the court

In the third year of Qingli (1043), Emperor Renzong worshiped Fan Zhongyan as a political advisor, and presided over the New Deal with Fu Bi and others . However, as the breadth and depth of the New Deal increased, the interests of the court's dignitaries and ministers were harmed and their favor decreased, so they all opposed the New Deal and attacked Fan Zhongyan and others as cronies.

In the fifth year of Qingli (1045), Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi and other core ministers of the New Deal left Beijing one after another. The New Deal was gradually abolished, and the "Qingli New Deal" that lasted for more than a year failed.

Fan Zhongyan's Yueyang Tower was written in the sixth year of Qingli (1046). The sentence "Be worried about the world's worries first, and be happy after the world's happiness" is an accusation that some ministers in the imperial court only care about their own interests and do not care about their own interests. Regardless of the danger of the country. He also called on more officials and people of insight to take the world as their own responsibility regardless of personal honor or disgrace.

Fan Zhongyan's personal ethics and quality

Fan Zhongyan's ability to write such statements that are concerned about the country and the people is closely related to his personal ethics and quality.

Fan Zhongyan was born into a famous family, and his ancestor was Fan Lubing, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. However, his father died when he was young and his mother remarried, which made the young Fan Zhongyan immerse himself in studying and became a student of Qi Tongwen, a great scholar at that time. After several years of poverty, Fan Zhongyan had mastered Confucian classics, became a well-educated man, and developed a sentiment of benefiting the world.

In the fifth year of Tiansheng (1027), Fan Zhongyan, who became a Jinshi, lived in Nanjing because his mother was in mourning. Yan Shu, who was the prefect of Yingtian at the time, invited Fan Zhongyan to take up the post of Yingtian Academy