In 1903, Wang Shoupeng was the top pick in high school, which aroused a lot of discussion from people at the time. At the beginning of the exam, many people were not optimistic about Wang Shoupeng, but he was able to win the top pick, and the following rumors started.
The first way to say it is that Wang Shoupeng has a good name. It is said that the next year (1904) was the 70th birthday of the Empress Dowager Cixi. The official who presided over the examination was interested in Cixi and wanted to have someone with the word "Shou" in his name as the number one scholar to celebrate. Since his name contained the character "Shou" and his calligraphy was black and round, he was designated as the number one scholar.
The second theory is that Wang Shoupeng's writing is mediocre, but his handwriting is very popular with scientific examiners. Because in the traditional imperial examinations of the Qing Dynasty, especially the last level of the imperial examinations, they were always rewritten and not rewritten, and the scientific examinations had special potential requirements for calligraphy, requiring correct fonts, " black large round light ”, known as “官体”. More than fifty years ago, Gong Zizhen, who was not good at calligraphy, failed many times in the Jinshi examination. Finally, he barely entered the top three and failed to get admission into the Imperial Academy, which made Gong Zizhen very dissatisfied with calligraphy. But Wang Shoupeng's handwriting is just right and looks very beautiful.
It is said that Wang Shoupeng first took the Shandong Provincial Examination. The examiner was not very satisfied after reading his paper, but someone nearby said that this candidate's handwriting would be very advantageous if he participated in the palace examination, and maybe you could accept a Hanlin disciple. The examiner was excited. Later, Wang Shoupeng succeeded in both the joint examination and the palace examination.
Wang Shoupeng, who won the first prize, was actually awarded the title of Hubei Education Envoy. After entering the Republic of China, the then president Yuan Shikai asked Wang Shoupeng to serve as the secretary of the presidential office because he was the number one scholar. He only wrote and drew pictures and inscribed plaques without any confidentiality. Therefore, some people ridiculed that Wang Shoupeng was a "book scholar". Not secret."
In his later years, Wang Shoupeng founded Shandong University with the support of Zhang Zongchang. However, because of his conservative thinking, he tried to restore the "Zhou Rites", which was criticized by students and colleagues, and he was later forced to resign.
In January of the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930), he died of illness in the Tianjin Concession at the age of 56. Several tabloids published relevant news about Wang's death, which shows that the world's understanding and memory of him are quite vague.
Wang Shoupeng, courtesy name Cixun, was the champion of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. He was a native of Southwest Pass in Weixian, Weifang, Shandong (now Weicheng District, ). He passed the imperial examination in 1901 (the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty) and passed the imperial examination in 1903 (the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu). One person will win the first prize. Entered the Hanlin Academy and served as editor. Later he became the first president of Shandong University.
The number one scholar in the 29th year of Guangxu’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1903). He was awarded the title of compilation by Hanlin Academy. The young man studied hard and became a scholar at the age of seventeen. He passed the national examination at the age of twenty-six and became the number one scholar at the age of twenty-seven. In the thirty-first year of Guangxu's reign, Wang Shoupeng was sent to Japan to inspect politics, education and industry. In Japan, he was hostile to the revolution led by Sun Yat-sen. After returning to China, he wrote "Inspection Records", advocating the improvement of education and industry. When he was a master of calligraphy, people were proud to get the scraps of paper and characters. At that time, "Shandong University"'s school brand was written by him.
Wang Shoupeng's plaque
Today's Weifang City Museum has an inscribed stone, that is, Chen Hengqing, a Jinshi in the late Qing Dynasty, wrote the postscript for Cao Hongxun's " Jiucheng Palace Liquan Ming", which was written by Wang Shoupeng.
