"The Joy of Reading in Four Seasons" is an old poem that praises the joy of reading and is a good poem to encourage students to study. The author Weng Sen, whose courtesy name is Xiuqing and whose nickname is Yipiao, is a native of Shuangmiao Village, Xianju County, Zhejiang Province. He is a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty. He was active from the late Southern Song Dynasty to the early Yuan Dynasty. His life story is unknown. Because he did not want to be an official in the Yuan Dynasty, he lived in seclusion in Xianju Township, Zhejiang Province. He opened an academy to teach apprentices. At its peak, there were 800 disciples.
After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, Weng Sen determined not to be an official anymore and to live in seclusion as a professor. During the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, Anzhou Academy was built in De Chongjiaoli (Weng's residence) twenty-five miles southeast of the county. It used Zhu Xi's Bailudong academic rules as its training and insisted on educating the villagers with Confucianism. There have been more than 800 scholars. The imperial examination was abolished in the Yuan Dynasty, and few people in the countryside studied. The academic atmosphere declined. The county was located in a remote area, and the culture was in particular decline. After Weng Sen's efforts, the trend of farming and studying became "Binbin and flourishing". Chen Gangzhong, a Hanlin scholar, once wrote the "Xue Ji of Anzhou Township" for him.
In the twenty-fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1287), the Taoist priest Weng Daoquan built Baozhen Academy thirty-five miles southeast of the county. Weng Sen wrote notes about it and wrote "Yi Lao Manuscript". The article "The Joy of Reading in Four Seasons" was so popular that it was selected and included in the Chinese textbooks of the early Republic of China. The tomb is in Xiawengshan, Xiazhi Village. In the 14th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1888), the scholar Wang Yu and Wang Henian rebuilt it, and Cheng Zhang wrote the inscription.
The establishment of Anzhou Academy
The scale of the academy
According to "Xing Di", Volume 4 of "Weng's Genealogy": "(Sen) Jianxiang" To learn from Shu and teach his children, he built a library with thirty couplets to teach students from near and far." This refers to his establishment of Anzhou Academy at his home twenty-five miles southeast of the county during the Zhiyuan Period (1271-1294). He took "Zhu Wengong (Zhu Xi)'s Bailudong School Rules as his training" to run the school and personally taught and taught apprentices. He has "more than 800 scholars".
He was knowledgeable, rigorous in scholarship, and well-organized. The Anzhou Academy he ran was beautiful in appearance, had a good academic style, was full of vitality, and had a good reading voice. His good friend Chen Gangzhong (from Linhai, waiting to be appointed to the Imperial Academy) came back from Xichuan as an envoy, visited his academy, and wrote the "Xue Ji of Anzhou Township", which has a true record of the operation of the academy: "Hei Qifan" , Its plants are in order, its writings are rising, its zithers are resonant, and its secrets are playing, and its seats are in order. Now all the fish are climbing up, wearing clothes and belts, lying down and folded, their faces are solemn, their Qi is full, and they are retreating. And the sound of string chanting is as faint as gold and stone."
Famous students
Many of the students in Anzhou Academy come from neighboring counties. There are evidence-based examples such as: Zhou Runzu (Linhai native, scholar, calligrapher), Yang Tongweng (Linhai native, scholar, poet, once awarded the title of Mountain Chief of Cihu Academy in Raozhou), Xiang Jiong (Linhai native, scholar, poet, Xiang Si tenth Third generation grandson), Tao Desheng (Linhai native, scholar, poet) and so on. These people are all knowledgeable, noble in character, and have a wide reputation in society. However, due to the influence of their teachers, many of them live in seclusion and do not serve in official positions.
Educated well
Weng Sen’s direct grandson Weng Fuji is the son of Weng’s eldest son Deyu. He was born when Weng Sen was 46 years old. He was a Gong Jinshi and took the imperial examination in the spring of the following year (the imperial examination was resumed in the second year of Emperor Renzong's reign in the Yuan Dynasty). He ranked first in the world in the Book of Songs examination and was later awarded the title of Huangyan Judge. Fu Ji was personally taught by his grandfather, studied his grandfather's poetry and prose, and became famous in his studies. His poetic style was very similar to his grandfather's.