On December 8, 2020, Tianbaopi in Fuqing City, Fujian Province was successfully selected into the World Irrigation Engineering Heritage List (seventh batch). On February 27, 2021, the "People's Daily" published a full page with pictures and texts praising Fuqing Tianbaopi's thousand-year water control wisdom. On April 27, 2021, I made up my mind to write about the romantic relationship between my hometown Conghua and Fuqing Tianbaopi.

Fuqing and Conghua are thousands of miles apart. They are not connected by mountains and rivers, let alone distant cultural relatives. How can they be related to Conghua? This romantic relationship has to start with the county magistrate of Fuqing-Conghua Ouyang Jin.

Ouyang Jin, also known as Maojie (also known as Meizhou, also known as Maojie), was a native of Conghua in the Ming Dynasty. He was the eighth ancestor of Fengyuan Village, Yue Zhugong (Ouyang Yuguang, also known as Zhong). After Hui (named Yuezhu), his birth and death years are unknown. To be precise, he is the great-great-grandson of Zu Xuan (Ishida), the eldest son of Duke Yuezhu, and he belongs to the thirteenth generation of Fengyuan Ancient Village. In the 14th year of Wanli (AD 1586), Tong was granted a Jinshi status. According to the "Ming Dynasty Jinshi Enrollment Records", his results were ranked 118th in the third class (at that time, there were 70 first-class, second-class, and first-class students, and 281 third-class students. ).

There is still an Ouyang Jinggong famous archway and a stone tablet with an inscription in Fengyuan Yuezhugong Temple. The inscription records that he "first served as the county magistrate of Putian County, Fujian Province, and later served as the judge of Dali Temple. He accompanied the queen to the Nanhai Temple to worship the gods, and was awarded the title of imperial envoy." "Conghua County Chronicle" records that he was a Juren of Wanli Yimao (1579), Wanli Bingxu Jinshi, official commentator of Dali Temple. In fact, these two records contain errors or omissions. There are clear records in "Fuzhou Prefecture Chronicles" and "Fuqing County Chronicles" in "Guanzheng Chronicles", mentioning that Ouyang Jin, a native of Conghua, was once the magistrate of Fuqing County. There are also documents that record him as: "Eight in the Jimao Township Examination, 14 in the Bingxu Science Examination in the 14th year of Wanli (1586), and 118 in the top three. He was awarded the magistrate of Fuqing County." In short, throughout the dynasties, he was awarded the title of magistrate of Fuqing County. There is no record of his appointment in Putian in the literature. Perhaps later generations of the clan mistakenly regarded Fuqing County as Putian County. Because Fuqing is adjacent to Putian, the two counties are connected by mountains and rivers, and the distance is very close.

Since Ouyang Jin, a native of Conghuayi, once served as the magistrate of Fuqing County, he must have become associated with Tianbaopi, the largest water conservancy and irrigation project in the area. Ye Xianggao, minister of the Ming Dynasty (1559-1627), courtesy name Jinqing and nickname Taishan, was a native of Houye Village, Gangtou, Fuqing, Fujian. He served in the central government twice, serving as sole minister for seven years and as chief assistant for four years. He was the highest-ranking official in the history of Fuqing. He not only participated in the restoration work of Tianbaopei, but also wrote a famous article "Reconstruction of Tianbaopei" which was included in the "Fuqing County Chronicle". The article clearly mentions that during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Daxun and Zhou Wenlin, their father and son, were ordered by the county magistrates Ouyang Jin and Wang Mingqing respectively to rebuild Tianbaopi (Wang Mingqing, Wanli Kuichou Jinshi, Jinshi in 1613, now Huadong, Huadu District, Guangzhou A native of Zhenjiuhu Village). Among them, the part that mentions Ouyang Jin is detailed as follows: "My city is coastal, the soil and fields are barren, and there are fresh springs for irrigation. When the rain comes from time to time, the seedlings stand withered. But there is a mountain in the southwest, named Tianbao, and the water flows from the immortal It came from Qingyuan and Shanfu, and reached Xinfeng and Renshou, with thousands of hectares of fertile land. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Lang Gong built it, so it was also called Yuan Fupi. Then Zhou Daxun, a senior citizen, was ordered by the city magistrate Ouyang Hou to build a dike of more than 200 feet in the west of Chenshi, and the farmers have been relying on it for thirty years. "Does it mean Conghua Ouyang Jin?" We can verify this from the following aspects.

First of all, the article "Rebuilding Tianbaopei Ji" says that "Wanli Ji Chou", that is, in 1589, the then Fuqing magistrate's surname was Ouyang. This is consistent with Ouyang Jin's high school Jinshi in 1586. According to "History of the Ming Dynasty·Election Chronicles 3": "The six chiefs of the Beijing official department, Zhongshu, Xingren, Pingshi, and Ph.D., the foreign officials know the state, the magistrates, and the county magistrates are elected in the local election. The foreign officials recommend the officials, the county magistrates, and the academic officials. It can be seen that there are mainly two types of backgrounds for county magistrates: Jinshi and Gongsheng. "In the Wanli period, there was a rule that for state and county chief seal officials, the top and middle positions were for Jinshi vacancies, the middle and lower positions were for Juren vacancies, and the lowest vacancies were for Gongsheng students." "In this way, "Yi Ling Ouyang Hou" most likely refers to Ouyang Jin.

Secondly, on the stone roadside on the left side of Ruiyan Temple in Ruiyan Mountain Scenic Area, Fuqing County, with a width of about 120 cm and a height of about 136 cm, there is a Ming Dynasty stone running script with nine vertical lines of text, each word is about 12 cm, about 12 cm high (see the book "Fuqing Inscriptions" compiled and published by Lin Qiuming). This section of running script is a seven-character poem, which says: "There are many victorious events in the country, and the predecessor may be Vimalakirti. The gentle clouds are extremely cold at the beginning of the mountain, and the rain of wisdom is sparse and passes through the forest. At the end of the year, the clothes are empty, and the sky is frosty. The snow is speckled with Usnea. The whole field is full of sight, and the farmers in the field are singing drunkenly. "It is signed "Lingnan Ouyang Jin and Ye Taishi Ciyun." The signature mentions Ye Taishi, namely Ye Xianggao. As for "Lingnan Ouyang Jin", naturally 99% refers to Conghua Ouyang Jin.

Thirdly, we can also find some clues from the poetry documents of the Ming Dynasty. Liu Kezhi, a litterateur in the Ming Dynasty, composed a seven-character rhymed poem - "A Gift from Uncle Maojie of the Ming Dynasty in the Fuqing Department of Staying Sui Sui". The title refers directly to words such as "Uncle Maojie", "Mingfu", and "Fuqing Department". For hundreds of years, almost no one has figured out who the uncle "Maojie" is. In fact, it refers to Liu Kezhi's uncle - Ouyang Jin , with the courtesy name Maojie. We have also found confirmation of this in the genealogy of the Liu family in Yuancun, Conghua (Yuancun, formerly known as Yuancun, was affiliated with Chicao Administrative Village, Jiekou Street, Conghua District). The genealogy records: Liu Kezhi, Yuancun. The son of Liu Ge from the village was born in Gong during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. It is also recorded that "Liu Ge was married to Ouyang Jin's sister in Fengyuan, and was granted the title of Anren. He gave birth to five sons: Kezheng, Kexiu, Keqi, Kezhi and Keping. ”

In fact, it is understandable that almost no one has figured out who the uncle “Maojie” in this poem is for hundreds of years. This is because some documents from past dynasties have misled a large number of literary and historical research. Many documents, even local documents in Fuqing, only write Ouyang Jin's calligraphy as Meizhou, or Meizhou. Even Mr. Lin Qiuming, who edited and published "Fuqing Inscriptions", has not verified Ouyang Jin's calligraphy. It is written as "Zi Meizhou". In fact, we can solve the problem by studying Ouyang Jin's elder brother, Ouyang Xun. According to historical records: Ouyang Xun, whose name is Maozhong, was elected to Taixue in the Ming Dynasty. In the year of Si (1569), he was awarded the title of Gongju. He was the chief administrator of Guangze and was in charge of the documents of Nanchang Prefecture. The "Conghua County Chronicle" also records such deeds: Guo Yuxi, the magistrate of Conghua County during the Kangxi period, highly praised Ouyang Xun, the sage of Conghua Township. Officials are exemplary in their integrity.

Finally, we can also get inspiration from a legend about "Guoqiao Mountain" in Xincuo Town, Fuqing City. This folklore is very legendary and has been used in all dynasties. It has been recorded in the past dynasties, so it has been widely circulated. It mentioned that Cai Xueren, an official from Fuqing, had a classmate named Ouyang Jin, who was the magistrate of Fuqing County at the time. He had a son named Ouyang Ren who was talented in literature, so the Cai family and the Ouyang family decided. A marriage alliance was formed. The daughter of the Cai family gave birth to two sons to the Ouyang family, and the Ouyang family adopted one of the boys to the Cai family to continue the Cai family's legacy.

At this point, the truth is revealed and the evidence is revealed. Fully. Ouyang Jin was from Conghua, Guangdong. When he was the magistrate of Fuqing County, he presided over the restoration of the Tianbaopi water conservancy project in Fuqing and had a personal relationship with Ye Xianggao, a capital official from Fuqing. At the same time, he visited famous local attractions and wrote seven-character poems. One song. What’s even more interesting is that his nephew Liu Kezhi came to his government office in Fuqing to pay New Year’s greetings on New Year’s Eve!

In summary, in 1589 AD, Conghua County was founded. On the occasion of the anniversary, Ouyang Jin, a native of the city, was serving as a local official in Fuqing County in northeastern Fujian. He worked hard to govern, worked diligently and loved the people, built water conservancy projects, served the people, and wrote poems and inscriptions for the local rivers and mountains and farmers in the fields, which fully demonstrated the character of Conghua officials. Throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, it was a group of rural sages like Ouyang Jin that made Conghua, a small corner of Lingnan far away from the capital, continue to be famous throughout the world.

< p> Of course, Ouyang Jin may not have thought that the Fuqing Tianbaopi Water Conservancy Project he presided over the restoration in 1589 would be selected as a world irrigation engineering heritage hundreds of years later, known as the "Nobel Prize in Irrigation Engineering" . This is his romantic relationship with Fuqing, as well as the romantic relationship between Conghua and Fuqing, which eventually evolved into a romantic relationship between Conghua and the whole of China and the world.

Fuqing County Magistrate-Conghua Ouyang Jin. , worthy of commemoration by everyone.