On August 24, 1926, the entire Nantong City was deserted, and almost all the people in the city walked out of their homes and rushed to see off a 74-year-old man for the last journey.
It is this old man who gave the people of Nantong a job and children a lesson in the war era.
It is this old man who has leaped Nantong from a remote and backward small city to " China's first modern city " in modern China in a turbulent modern China.
He is Zhang Jian .
01
Zhang Jian was born in an ordinary peasant family in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province.
His father attached great importance to his children's learning and hoped that the children could follow the path of academic examinations and entry into the government. Unfortunately, the family was too poor. After weighing the pros and cons, my father decided to focus on cultivating the best-school Zhang Jian.
Zhang Jian is also very committed to being smart and studious since childhood. He was able to recite " Thousand Character Text " completely at the age of five, and was outstanding in his youth.
However, there was an unwritten rule for local scientific examinations at that time: children from "cold-recorded" families were not qualified to take the imperial examinations. "Cold Book" means that no one in the family has been an official or passed the exam for fame and fortune in three generations.
Unfortunately, Zhang Jian’s family belongs to such a “cold book”. Therefore, if Zhang Jian wanted to take the scientific examination, he didn't even have the opportunity to register.
Later, under the arrangement of his father and teacher, Zhang Jian pretended to be a child of the Zhang family in Rugao County, and was able to obtain a registered office and register for the scientific examination. So later some people called him the "fake No. 1 pick".
After being selected at the county, prefecture and college level three levels, Zhang Jian passed the scholar's examination in 1869 and became a student. He was only sixteen years old this year, and he was simply a teenage genius.
However, just when his family thought he had cheated on his scientific examination, Zhang Jian suffered a "five consecutive defeats" in the subsequent provincial examination.
The former young genius no longer had the energy he had at the beginning. Instead, he was distracted from everything and even doubted his talents and IQ.
But at this time, the Zhang family in Rugao began to threaten Zhang Jian and his family with the impersonation.
Rugao Zhang family first kept extorting money and property, but later they went directly to the government to report on the "fake" incident. Zhang Jian was also detained by the government for a period of time. After several years of lawsuits, Zhang Jian not only suffered a loss of reputation, but his family also became even worse.
At this time, fortunately, I met the noble people Peng Jiuyu and Sun Yunjin to help. Peng Jiuyu was the chief examiner of the examination in the college of Jiangsu Province at that time. After he learned about this, he felt very sympathetic to Zhang Jian and ordered Sun Yunjin, the governor of Tongzhou, to investigate the matter thoroughly.
After Sun Yunjin investigated the truth, he also cherished Zhang Jian's talent very much and did not want this young genius to be buried. So he asked Peng Jiuyu to report to the court, change Zhang Jian's hometown, and impeached officials who colluded with the Zhang family in Rugao.
With the help of Peng Jiuyu and Sun Yunjin, this matter was finally properly resolved. It was not until Zhang Jian was twenty that he was able to restore his hometown and retain his fame and reputation as a scholar.
The "fake" incident touched the young Zhang Jian a lot. This incident not only subtly had a certain impact on his tenacious character, but also made his fame and fortune a lot weaker. He was even more grateful for the righteous help of Peng Jiuyu and Sun Yunjin.
1885, 33-year-old Zhang Jian took the provincial examination and was admitted to the high school "Nanyuan" and finally passed the imperial examination.
God seems to be interested in getting along with Zhang Jian. After the "Southern Yuan" in high school, Zhang Jian suffered a "four consecutive defeats" in the imperial examination.
1894, the imperial court added an encore. This year, Zhang Jian was forty-one years old. When he is middle-aged, he has no intention of taking the scientific exam. But at the request of his old father, Zhang Jian agreed to go to Beijing to take the exam again.
Unexpectedly, not only did Zhang Jian pass the imperial examination successfully, but also ranked first in high school with the recommendation of the imperial teacher Weng Tonghe and was awarded the Hanlin Academy.
The more than 20 years of imperial examinations and life experience not only allowed Zhang Jian to experience the warmth and coldness of the world, but also trained his outstanding talent in the world.
02
Because the road to the imperial examination is too long, the Zhang family does not have the ability to make him prepare for the exam with peace of mind. Therefore, Zhang Jian did not simply study.He began his career as an aide since he was 23 years old, mainly following Sun Yunjin and Wu Changqing.
1876 (the second year of Guangxu), after Zhang Jian defected to Sun Yunjin, he soon went to the Qing army camp of the Huai Army to work as a clerk. He met with Yuan Shikai , who later defected to Wu Changqing. He became an important core figure in Qingjun as Wu Changqing's civil and military aides.
1882, the Qing army was ordered to go to North Korea to help suppress the rebellion and prevent Japan from expanding. Zhang Jian and Yuan Shikai also accompanied the army.
In this military operation to fight abroad, Zhang Jian advocated a tough policy. He actively provided advice for the Qing army, drafted various documents and published political articles, showing his outstanding professionalism and was appreciated by Qingliu people such as Pan Zuyin and Weng Tonghe.
Wu Changqing unfortunately died of illness after returning to China. In 1887, Zhang Jian followed Sun Yunjin again, assisted him in handling people's livelihood affairs such as river management and disaster relief, and also presided over the work of many famous academies.
During his time as an aide, Zhang Jian was trained and grown in all aspects, laying a solid foundation for him to engage in "industrial saving the country" and "education saving the country" in the future.
But Zhang Jian's career was not smooth.
When he was the top scorer in high school in 1894, Zhang Jian no longer had the excitement he was when he was young. Moreover, in this year, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 broke out, and the imperial party, which was in charge of war and the rear party, which was in charge of peace, broke out in the court in a fierce struggle.
The Imperial Party was headed by Weng Tonghe, who was both emperors. Weng Tonghe was also Zhang Jian's mentor, and they had similar political views. Therefore, Zhang Jian naturally joined the Imperial Party and became a core figure.
Once, the new top scholar Zhang Jian and the imperial court officials knelt in the heavy rain together to welcome Empress Dowager Cixi back to the palace. However, when the imperial carriage passed by, Empress Dowager Cixi didn't even look at the ministers who had been kneeling in the rain for a long time. She didn't even open the curtains of the sedan chair and left.
This incident stimulated Zhang Jian a lot. His ambitions were like a basin of cold water poured on his head, completely waking him up. He didn't want to be humiliated and enslaved in the court for the rest of his life, and just wanted to do something practical for the country and the people.
Soon after, Zhang Jian's father passed away. Zhang Jian took leave and returned to his hometown to observe the system for three years. Zhang Jian returned to his hometown and did not have an idle job at home. Zhang Zhidong twice requested the court to send Zhang Jian out to do things.
In early 1895, in order to prevent the Japanese army from moving south, Zhang Jian was sent to establish a Tonghai delegation training. Later, due to the defeat in , 1895, , the matter was left unresolved.
Then, Zhang Zhidong sent Zhang Jian to establish Dasheng Cotton Mill . Until he returned to Beijing to sell holidays in 1898, Zhang Jian had been working hard to prepare for a yarn mill.
In 1898, Zhang Jian, who returned to Beijing to take leave, happened to be dismissed from office by the court and was transferred back to his original hometown. After sending off his mentor, Zhang Jian completely saw through the sinisterness of the officialdom and the incompetence of the court. So he asked for leave again to return to Nantong and continued to take the path of "industrial saving the country".
03
1895, when the preparations for the Dasheng Spinning Mill began, they encountered financial difficulties. In order to solve the urgent problem, Zhang Jian found the Governor of Liangjiang Liu Kunyi for support.
Liu Kun priced a batch of shelved imported official machines at a price of 500,000 taels and invested in Dasheng Spinning Factory. Official stocks do not participate in the operation of the yarn mill, and only receive dividends and dividends and . Dasheng Spin Mill has thus become a "gentleman and commercial office".
Later, Sheng Xuanhuai divided half of this batch of machines, and Dasheng Spinning Mill needs to raise the other half of its capital. However, Zhang Jian was very difficult to raise shares at that time, and few people were willing to cooperate with him.
When Zhang Jian launched a stock in Shanghai, he was so difficult that he didn't even have travel expenses to return to Tongzhou.
There was no way, so Zhang Jian had to advertise in the newspaper and set up a small stall on Sima Road. Under the name of "the top scholar", he wrote couplets, fan books, steles, etc. for others to earn travel expenses. Three days later, Zhang Jian counted the money in his hand, almost enough to return to Tongzhou, and then turned around and left.
Five years after the construction, Dasheng Spinning Mill was finally completed and put into production in Tangjiazha, Tongzhou.
But at this time, Dasheng Spin Mill had no money again and the company was in a state of suspension. Zhang Jian raised funds from many sources, but the results were minimal.
Faced with this situation, Zhang Jian was helpless and decided to take a gamble.
On August 24, 1926, the entire Nantong City was deserted, and almost all the people in the city walked out of their homes and rushed to see off a 74-year-old man for the last journey.
It is this old man who gave the people of Nantong a job and children a lesson in the war era.
It is this old man who has leaped Nantong from a remote and backward small city to " China's first modern city " in modern China in a turbulent modern China.
He is Zhang Jian .
01
Zhang Jian was born in an ordinary peasant family in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province.
His father attached great importance to his children's learning and hoped that the children could follow the path of academic examinations and entry into the government. Unfortunately, the family was too poor. After weighing the pros and cons, my father decided to focus on cultivating the best-school Zhang Jian.
Zhang Jian is also very committed to being smart and studious since childhood. He was able to recite " Thousand Character Text " completely at the age of five, and was outstanding in his youth.
However, there was an unwritten rule for local scientific examinations at that time: children from "cold-recorded" families were not qualified to take the imperial examinations. "Cold Book" means that no one in the family has been an official or passed the exam for fame and fortune in three generations.
Unfortunately, Zhang Jian’s family belongs to such a “cold book”. Therefore, if Zhang Jian wanted to take the scientific examination, he didn't even have the opportunity to register.
Later, under the arrangement of his father and teacher, Zhang Jian pretended to be a child of the Zhang family in Rugao County, and was able to obtain a registered office and register for the scientific examination. So later some people called him the "fake No. 1 pick".
After being selected at the county, prefecture and college level three levels, Zhang Jian passed the scholar's examination in 1869 and became a student. He was only sixteen years old this year, and he was simply a teenage genius.
However, just when his family thought he had cheated on his scientific examination, Zhang Jian suffered a "five consecutive defeats" in the subsequent provincial examination.
The former young genius no longer had the energy he had at the beginning. Instead, he was distracted from everything and even doubted his talents and IQ.
But at this time, the Zhang family in Rugao began to threaten Zhang Jian and his family with the impersonation.
Rugao Zhang family first kept extorting money and property, but later they went directly to the government to report on the "fake" incident. Zhang Jian was also detained by the government for a period of time. After several years of lawsuits, Zhang Jian not only suffered a loss of reputation, but his family also became even worse.
At this time, fortunately, I met the noble people Peng Jiuyu and Sun Yunjin to help. Peng Jiuyu was the chief examiner of the examination in the college of Jiangsu Province at that time. After he learned about this, he felt very sympathetic to Zhang Jian and ordered Sun Yunjin, the governor of Tongzhou, to investigate the matter thoroughly.
After Sun Yunjin investigated the truth, he also cherished Zhang Jian's talent very much and did not want this young genius to be buried. So he asked Peng Jiuyu to report to the court, change Zhang Jian's hometown, and impeached officials who colluded with the Zhang family in Rugao.
With the help of Peng Jiuyu and Sun Yunjin, this matter was finally properly resolved. It was not until Zhang Jian was twenty that he was able to restore his hometown and retain his fame and reputation as a scholar.
The "fake" incident touched the young Zhang Jian a lot. This incident not only subtly had a certain impact on his tenacious character, but also made his fame and fortune a lot weaker. He was even more grateful for the righteous help of Peng Jiuyu and Sun Yunjin.
1885, 33-year-old Zhang Jian took the provincial examination and was admitted to the high school "Nanyuan" and finally passed the imperial examination.
God seems to be interested in getting along with Zhang Jian. After the "Southern Yuan" in high school, Zhang Jian suffered a "four consecutive defeats" in the imperial examination.
1894, the imperial court added an encore. This year, Zhang Jian was forty-one years old. When he is middle-aged, he has no intention of taking the scientific exam. But at the request of his old father, Zhang Jian agreed to go to Beijing to take the exam again.
Unexpectedly, not only did Zhang Jian pass the imperial examination successfully, but also ranked first in high school with the recommendation of the imperial teacher Weng Tonghe and was awarded the Hanlin Academy.
The more than 20 years of imperial examinations and life experience not only allowed Zhang Jian to experience the warmth and coldness of the world, but also trained his outstanding talent in the world.
02
Because the road to the imperial examination is too long, the Zhang family does not have the ability to make him prepare for the exam with peace of mind. Therefore, Zhang Jian did not simply study.He began his career as an aide since he was 23 years old, mainly following Sun Yunjin and Wu Changqing.
1876 (the second year of Guangxu), after Zhang Jian defected to Sun Yunjin, he soon went to the Qing army camp of the Huai Army to work as a clerk. He met with Yuan Shikai , who later defected to Wu Changqing. He became an important core figure in Qingjun as Wu Changqing's civil and military aides.
1882, the Qing army was ordered to go to North Korea to help suppress the rebellion and prevent Japan from expanding. Zhang Jian and Yuan Shikai also accompanied the army.
In this military operation to fight abroad, Zhang Jian advocated a tough policy. He actively provided advice for the Qing army, drafted various documents and published political articles, showing his outstanding professionalism and was appreciated by Qingliu people such as Pan Zuyin and Weng Tonghe.
Wu Changqing unfortunately died of illness after returning to China. In 1887, Zhang Jian followed Sun Yunjin again, assisted him in handling people's livelihood affairs such as river management and disaster relief, and also presided over the work of many famous academies.
During his time as an aide, Zhang Jian was trained and grown in all aspects, laying a solid foundation for him to engage in "industrial saving the country" and "education saving the country" in the future.
But Zhang Jian's career was not smooth.
When he was the top scorer in high school in 1894, Zhang Jian no longer had the excitement he was when he was young. Moreover, in this year, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 broke out, and the imperial party, which was in charge of war and the rear party, which was in charge of peace, broke out in the court in a fierce struggle.
The Imperial Party was headed by Weng Tonghe, who was both emperors. Weng Tonghe was also Zhang Jian's mentor, and they had similar political views. Therefore, Zhang Jian naturally joined the Imperial Party and became a core figure.
Once, the new top scholar Zhang Jian and the imperial court officials knelt in the heavy rain together to welcome Empress Dowager Cixi back to the palace. However, when the imperial carriage passed by, Empress Dowager Cixi didn't even look at the ministers who had been kneeling in the rain for a long time. She didn't even open the curtains of the sedan chair and left.
This incident stimulated Zhang Jian a lot. His ambitions were like a basin of cold water poured on his head, completely waking him up. He didn't want to be humiliated and enslaved in the court for the rest of his life, and just wanted to do something practical for the country and the people.
Soon after, Zhang Jian's father passed away. Zhang Jian took leave and returned to his hometown to observe the system for three years. Zhang Jian returned to his hometown and did not have an idle job at home. Zhang Zhidong twice requested the court to send Zhang Jian out to do things.
In early 1895, in order to prevent the Japanese army from moving south, Zhang Jian was sent to establish a Tonghai delegation training. Later, due to the defeat in , 1895, , the matter was left unresolved.
Then, Zhang Zhidong sent Zhang Jian to establish Dasheng Cotton Mill . Until he returned to Beijing to sell holidays in 1898, Zhang Jian had been working hard to prepare for a yarn mill.
In 1898, Zhang Jian, who returned to Beijing to take leave, happened to be dismissed from office by the court and was transferred back to his original hometown. After sending off his mentor, Zhang Jian completely saw through the sinisterness of the officialdom and the incompetence of the court. So he asked for leave again to return to Nantong and continued to take the path of "industrial saving the country".
03
1895, when the preparations for the Dasheng Spinning Mill began, they encountered financial difficulties. In order to solve the urgent problem, Zhang Jian found the Governor of Liangjiang Liu Kunyi for support.
Liu Kun priced a batch of shelved imported official machines at a price of 500,000 taels and invested in Dasheng Spinning Factory. Official stocks do not participate in the operation of the yarn mill, and only receive dividends and dividends and . Dasheng Spin Mill has thus become a "gentleman and commercial office".
Later, Sheng Xuanhuai divided half of this batch of machines, and Dasheng Spinning Mill needs to raise the other half of its capital. However, Zhang Jian was very difficult to raise shares at that time, and few people were willing to cooperate with him.
When Zhang Jian launched a stock in Shanghai, he was so difficult that he didn't even have travel expenses to return to Tongzhou.
There was no way, so Zhang Jian had to advertise in the newspaper and set up a small stall on Sima Road. Under the name of "the top scholar", he wrote couplets, fan books, steles, etc. for others to earn travel expenses. Three days later, Zhang Jian counted the money in his hand, almost enough to return to Tongzhou, and then turned around and left.
Five years after the construction, Dasheng Spinning Mill was finally completed and put into production in Tangjiazha, Tongzhou.
But at this time, Dasheng Spin Mill had no money again and the company was in a state of suspension. Zhang Jian raised funds from many sources, but the results were minimal.
Faced with this situation, Zhang Jian was helpless and decided to take a gamble.Dasheng Spinning Mill has started to fully produce existing cotton. While producing and selling cotton yarn, it uses the money from selling cotton yarn to maintain normal production.
Nantong’s local textile industry has a good foundation. Moreover, it was World War I, and the market demand for cotton yarn was very high, and the price of cotton yarn was also rising. In addition, the cotton yarn of Dasheng Cotton Mill is of good quality and fair price, and is very popular in the market.
Dasheng Shing Mill made a lot of profit after selling cotton yarn, and the company survived with luck.
After years of careful management, Dasheng Spin Mill's products have gradually moved across the country and are constantly developing steadily. By 1921, Dasheng Spinning Mill had a net profit of about 20 million taels. The stocks of the yarn mills also performed well in the securities market.
While Dasheng Spinning Mill continues to grow, Zhang Jian also founded dozens of supporting factories and people's livelihood enterprises, gradually forming the Tangzha Town Industrial Zone and is well-known at home and abroad.
Among all types of enterprises, the largest scale is Tonghai Kenting and Animal Husbandry Company. Nearly a hundred animal husbandry companies here alone support millions of people.
1901, with the support of Liu Kunyi, Zhang Jian purchased more than 100,000 acres of seaside wasteland saline and alkali beach at the junction of Tongzhou and Haimen , established Tonghai Reclamation and Animal Husbandry Company, and established the Dasheng Cotton Base.
Zhang Jian was born as a farmer and knew the hardships of the lives of the nearby farmers at that time. The original intention of the establishment of Tonghai Reclamation and Animal Husbandry Company was to find a better way for millions of farmers nearby.
I heard that Zhang Jian’s company organized a large number of manpower to reclaim wastelands by the sea, and poor people near Haimen, Chongming , etc. left their hometowns to join us.
Most of these people have promoted all their belongings and brought their families together to join the army of reclamation and maids. Many families even dug out the bones of their ancestors and carried them together.
After going through a lot of hardships, Tonghai Reclamation and Animal Husbandry Company gradually developed and developed.
Zhang Jian took Dasheng Group as the core and Nantong as the base to form the largest private capital group in China at that time. He not only built the industrial system in Nantong and its surrounding areas at that time, but also benefited the country and supported millions of people. Zhang Jian also became a true industrial king.
Zhang Jian has advanced ideas and long-term vision. For example, when establishing an industry, he set up a modern enterprise system forward-lookingly. Almost all the companies founded by Zhang Jian adopt the form of shareholding. This modern enterprise system was only implemented in China in the 1990s.
is also this kind of enterprise form that saved Dasheng when Dasheng Spinning Mill was on the verge of bankruptcy in the later period.
04
In addition to saving the country through industry, Zhang Jian’s other ideal is to save the country through education.
He believes that education is the foundation of a strong country. "Father's education, mother's industry" is the core of his thoughts, and education must even be put before it. He also embarked on the road of starting businesses and running schools.
In 1902, Zhang Jian decided to establish a normal school in Tongzhou, which is also the first professional normal education school in China.
However, as soon as this school started construction, it encountered a big and small trouble.
Because the school was rebuilt from a temple, when the Buddha statue was demolished, the workers were afraid of offending the Bodhisattva and were reluctant to take action. Zhang Jian said to the workers: "The Bodhisattva is merciful and knows that we are building a school, so we will definitely not blame us."
, but the workers still dare not demolish it. When Zhang Jian saw that the workers would not be moved, he simply did it himself and asked the Buddhas to move. It is said that the largest image of Tathagata Buddha cannot be pulled by others, but Zhang Jian pulled it three times before he invited the Buddha from the throne.
After the school was completed, Zhang Jian invited many famous teachers such as Wang Guowei , Chen Shizeng to teach. With his many years of calligraphy skills, he often teaches calligraphy classes to students and teaches calligraphy knowledge.
In addition to Tongzhou Normal University, Zhang Jian also founded and participated in the establishment of more than 370 schools of various types. Zhang Jian is behind famous schools such as Fudan University , Tongji University , etc.
In the early spring of 1906, Zhang Jian once took a carriage to Tonghai Reclamation and Animal Husbandry Company. Due to the rain for days, the roads are muddy and difficult to walk. At this time, Zhang Jian suddenly realized that when setting up a school, he did not consider the difficulties of the children on the way to school.
After he returned, he immediately adjusted his education plan and changed a primary school every 25 square miles (a square miles refers to the area of one mile each length and width) to 16 square miles, and later it was changed to 9 square miles.
In addition, Zhang Jian also vigorously launched public welfare undertakings, and successively established libraries, blind schools, Nantong Museum, Meteorological Observatory, etc., so that the people of Nantong will become spiritually prosperous while eating and wearing well.
With Zhang Jian's efforts, Nantong miraculously developed into a modern city in that troubled times, creating countless number ones in China. Nantong is also known as "the first modern city in China" and is well-known at home and abroad.
1926, on the day of Zhang Jian’s funeral, there were thousands of people in Nantong City, from the octogenarians to the ages of children, people rushed to bid farewell to this old man who created peace for them in the war years.
After Zhang Jian's death, Sun Yat-sen highly praised Zhang Jian, saying that he was busy, and Zhang Jian achieved practical results in Nantong.
To this day, the marks left by the Zhang Jian era in Nantong can be seen everywhere.
One person, a city. Nantong and Zhang Jian are still closely linked a hundred years later.
Dasheng Spinning Mill eventually declined due to internal and external troubles. However, the career that Zhang Jian started in his life was too great, so Hu Shi called Zhang Jian a "very great failed hero."
Author: Tiangao Yundan
Editor: He Ye Wumeng
References:
CCTV Documentary Channel Six-episode documentary "Zhang Jian"
Xinhuanet "Stories told by Xi Jinping--"Top Scholar" Industrialist"
"Theoretical Observation" 2022 Issue 02 "Exploration of the Influence of Zhang Jian's Agricultural Education Thoughts" Zhang Shuduo Liu Dayong
After he returned, he immediately adjusted his education plan and changed a primary school every 25 square miles (a square miles refers to the area of one mile each length and width) to 16 square miles, and later it was changed to 9 square miles.
In addition, Zhang Jian also vigorously launched public welfare undertakings, and successively established libraries, blind schools, Nantong Museum, Meteorological Observatory, etc., so that the people of Nantong will become spiritually prosperous while eating and wearing well.
With Zhang Jian's efforts, Nantong miraculously developed into a modern city in that troubled times, creating countless number ones in China. Nantong is also known as "the first modern city in China" and is well-known at home and abroad.
1926, on the day of Zhang Jian’s funeral, there were thousands of people in Nantong City, from the octogenarians to the ages of children, people rushed to bid farewell to this old man who created peace for them in the war years.
After Zhang Jian's death, Sun Yat-sen highly praised Zhang Jian, saying that he was busy, and Zhang Jian achieved practical results in Nantong.
To this day, the marks left by the Zhang Jian era in Nantong can be seen everywhere.
One person, a city. Nantong and Zhang Jian are still closely linked a hundred years later.
Dasheng Spinning Mill eventually declined due to internal and external troubles. However, the career that Zhang Jian started in his life was too great, so Hu Shi called Zhang Jian a "very great failed hero."
Author: Tiangao Yundan
Editor: He Ye Wumeng
References:
CCTV Documentary Channel Six-episode documentary "Zhang Jian"
Xinhuanet "Stories told by Xi Jinping--"Top Scholar" Industrialist"
"Theoretical Observation" 2022 Issue 02 "Exploration of the Influence of Zhang Jian's Agricultural Education Thoughts" Zhang Shuduo Liu Dayong
