Reposted excellent article------The Number One Province in the World — Qingzhou

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Ji Lianhai, the renowned speaker from Qingzhou – known as the best in the country – used his unique style to recount the long-forgotten stories of Qingzhou’s thousand-year-old civilization. His delivery was sharp and humorous, with many surprising remarks. 　　I. The Foremost Prefecture under Heaven – Qingzhou
Qingzhou in Shandong is one of the ancient Nine Provinces and one of the oldest cradles of Chinese civilization. With a history spanning 7,000 years, it is hailed as “the foremost prefecture under heaven”. 　　Qingzhou is a region with a rich historical tradition. Its name dates back to ancient times; it is mentioned in the \"Book of Documents・Yu Gong\" as \"Hai Dai wei Qingzhou\". In ancient times, it was part of the Dongyi region, renowned as having \"three green mountains in harmony, with a city that resembled a painting.\" Starting with the world’s largest character for \"longevity\" located on Yunmen Mountain, five li south of Qingzhou City, Ji Lianhai explained in simple terms the history of Qingzhou from the Yellow Emperor to the present day, presenting his arguments in a logical and well-reasoned manner that is both thought-provoking. 　　The renowned broadcaster Ji Lianhai used his unique style to recount the long-forgotten stories of Qingzhou’s thousand-year-old civilization; his remarks were sharp and humorous, with many surprising statements. 　　Ji Lianhai said that the Book of Documents, in its section Yu Gong, mentions that Qingzhou is \"the region between the sea and the Tai Mountains\"; it explains what Qingzhou is first. What exactly is a \"state\"? A “zhou” is a place where people can live in water; thus, it is called a “zhou”. Who in China was the first to delineate provinces? Dayu. It is said that Yu gathered the people of the world together in nine elevated areas near water, where they lived, and thus the nine provinces of the world were formed. Later, after successfully controlling the floods, Dayu determined the boundaries of these nine regions, and then conducted a thorough examination of them. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, Dayu first inspected Jizhou, then Yanzhou, and thirdly he came to Qingzhou, where we are located. When he arrived here, he saw that, oh, it was truly a place where governance was effective and people lived in harmony, content and happy. However, what I mentioned just now was the \"Records of the Grand Historian.\" The \"Records of the Grand Historian\" contain such records. Besides this book, other texts also describe Yu’s journey on this inspection tour. In the \"Book of Documents·Yu Gong,\" there are two additional sentences compared to those in the \"Records of the Grand Historian.\" One of these sentences reads \"The regions of Hai and Dai belong to Qingzhou,\" and the other reads \"The routes through Wei and Zi.\" What does that mean? \"Sea\" refers to the East China Sea, and \"Dai\" refers to Mount Tai. “The Hai and Dai regions pertain to Qingzhou.” This sentence essentially defines the boundaries of our Qingzhou. At the transition between China’s primitive society and slave society, the territory of Qingzhou was by no means as small as it is today. At that time, to the east it reached the sea—the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea; to the west it extended to Mount Tai, as well as various rivers such as the Zi River and the Wei River. All these areas fell within the territory of Qingzhou. But having said that, a question naturally arises: why is our state called Qingzhou specifically? Why is it called Qingzhou and not Huangzhou? What’s the reason for that? 　　Qingzhou is in the east of China; the east represents movement. Everything is coming back to life; spring has just arrived. All things are reviving and stirring – where should we start? Where is the starting point of this cycle where everything begins and repeats over and over again? Of course, the starting point is the East—where does the sun rise first? East. Therefore, the starting point for everything is the east. So how do you know spring has arrived? The trees have turned green, the mountains are lush; the mountains are green and the waters are clear. This is our Qingzhou. 　　So to some extent, ladies and gentlemen, we should know that the number one province in the world is Qingzhou. The beginning of Kyushu must start with Qingzhou. 　　II. Notable Figures from Qingzhou First, Kou Zhun (961–1023), whose courtesy name was Pingzhong. A statesman and poet of the Northern Song Dynasty. 　　Ji Lianhai said that Kou Zhun had been in Qingzhou. You said that you also know a bit about Kou Zhun from movies and TV shows; you know that he was an extraordinary person who spoke out for what was right. How could he possibly avoid making enemies? As a result, they were sued. In the end, the emperor lost interest in him and exiled him to Qingzhou. For a year in Qingzhou, the emperor couldn’t do without him. Asking every day. How is Kou Zhun doing in Qingzhou? I miss him quite a bit. The ministers said, “You miss him. Didn’t you ask him if he misses you?” In Qingzhou, there are green mountains, clear waters, fine wine, and beautiful women. He’s long forgotten about you. When the emperor heard that he had forgotten about me? He leads a carefree life; no, have him brought back to me from Qingzhou. Let him stay with me; don’t stay with those beautiful women. Later, Kou Zhun stayed here for a year before leaving. 　　Second, Fu Bi (1004–1083), styled Yan Guo, was a minister of the Northern Song Dynasty. In 1047 AD, he was appointed as the governor of Qingzhou. 　　Ji Lianhai explained that this person is a truly famous individual. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a famous reform. Before Wang Anshi’s reforms, there was another notable reform known as the Qingli Reforms. Who led the Qingli Reforms? Led by Fan Zhongyan. Who is Fu Bi? Fu Bi was Fan Zhongyan’s very good friend. What was the outcome of the Qingli Reforms? It failed. They offended the high-ranking bureaucrats and large landowners, so they refused to do it. It failed. What happened to Fu Bi after his failure? I’ve been exiled. Where am I being exiled to? Qingzhou. Fu Bi then came to Qingzhou. How have you been since coming to Qingzhou? It happened to coincide with a time of chaos in the country; the Yellow River flooded, with breaches appearing here and there, leaving many displaced people without homes. As soon as they heard that Fu Bi had arrived in Qingzhou, they thought, no way – wherever Fu Bi goes, we will go too. Fu Bi is capable; we’ll follow him. As soon as Fu Bi arrived in Qingzhou, 600,000 troops followed. Six hundred thousand outsiders. What did Fu Bi say? Stop chasing me; I have nothing to eat either. Hurry up and make room for 100,000 residential houses. Allocate this 600,000 to form groups of six people each. Fu Bi thought, \"Hurry up and get them settled.\" At this point, we need to pay attention. There’s a problem here: Fu Bi brought 600,000 displaced people here. Isn’t this likely to offend people? If you manage to settle those 600,000 people well, your reputation will be even better. Do you still want to return to the capital? Don’t you know who you’ve offended? Fu Bi did not think so; he continued to provide shelter for the displaced people. Those who wished to return home were given 50 pounds of grain each, so they could carry it back with them and eat as they traveled. So, the following year, Fu Bi stayed in Qingzhou for two years. Heaven is truly kind to Qingzhou; it took care of Fu Bi, recognizing that he was a good man and not wanting him to suffer, and as a result there were bumper harvests for two consecutive years. The hungry people wrote letters to the emperor every day; during that time, they also wrote to him, with some even addressing their requests directly to the central authorities, praising Fu Bi as the greatest good person in the world. In the end, when the emperor took a look and saw that it was such a good person, he decided to send them back to Beijing after all. Fu Bi had better move back to Beijing. 　　Third, Fan Zhongyan (989–1052), courtesy name Xiwen. A statesman, writer, ** scholar, and educator of the Northern Song Dynasty. 　　Ji Lianhai said that Fan Zhongyan was the leader of the Qingli Reforms. As a leader, he was first exiled to Dengzhou, and later to Hangzhou. How old was Fan Zhongyan? He’s in his sixties or seventies now; an old man with poor health. So at this time, we need to pay attention: who will take Fu Bi’s place so that the talents in Qingzhou won’t cause trouble? Right? Upon a moment’s thought, it can only be Fan Zhongyan. As a result, Fan Zhongyan was transferred to Qingzhou to take over as the governor of Qingzhou from Fu Bi. When Fan Zhongyan arrived here, what problems did he still face? Still refugees. The refugees haven’t left yet; think about it, right? So, what is one of the things Fan Zhongyan also had to deal with? He is in charge of dealing with the issue of displaced people. During this period, Fan Zhongyan vacated a great many residential houses, and eventually ensured that these displaced people had a place to live and support in their old age. 　　What was another thing that Fan Zhongyan did during this period? We need to consider what these 600,000 common people left by Fu Bi will eat So grain prices here go up. What taxes were paid during the Song Dynasty? Hand in the grain. The price of grain in Qingzhou has already soared, and we still have to deliver grain to the court – won’t the price of grain there rise even further? What should I do? Moreover, the grain from Qingzhou must be taken to Liaocheng for delivery. Fan Zhongyan thought of making a change: sell all the grain to the hungry people, and after that give me the money that would have been used for taxes. What was the price last year? How much was one shi of grain last year? How much is one stone of grain in terms of taxes? Let’s do a discount; you give me the discount first. In Liaocheng, there is an abundance of grain – so much of it that it isn’t valuable. We can go there, buy the grain directly, and hand it over to **. What happens after paying the **? They also made a lot of money; after making that much money, they gave it back. Return it to the people. The common people are very happy. At that time, Qingzhou was facing an influx of refugees from other areas; these refugees did not pay attention to hygiene, and as a result Qingzhou suffered from a disease, an infectious disease known as pink eye. It’s real pink eye, not some kind of pink eye that makes one rich just by seeing others. It’s really pink eye. So what was Fan Zhongyan to do? Prepare the medicine quickly. Using the spring water from Qingzhou, Qingzhou Baiwan was formulated; after it was prepared and given to people to take, they recovered quickly. The common people are very happy. A courtyard was built for Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, and a few others to commemorate these outstanding figures. 　　Fourth, Zhao Bingzhong (1573–1626), styled Jiqing, was from Yidu County in Qingzhou Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty (present-day Qingzhou City, Shandong Province). He became the number one scholar in the 26th year of the Wanli era (1598) and reached the position of Minister of Rites. 　　According to Ji Lianhai, Zhao Bingzhong was from Qingzhou. When he passed the imperial examinations and became the number one candidate, he wrote an essay of 2,460 characters in the traditional eight-part format; it was written with great excellence and beauty, with each character being in the size of a tiny dot, about one inch square in size. In the end, the emperor saw that it was written excellently, and personally wrote on the scroll that it was the first prize in the first category. This exam paper is a top-tier cultural relic; it is the only intact exam paper of a top scorer in the whole country to have been preserved to this day. To date, there has only been one top-scoring exam paper in the whole country, and it was from Qingzhou. Later, in 1983, Zhao Bingzhong’s 13th-generation descendant presented this top-scorer’s paper to **. This scroll is now in the Qingzhou Museum. 　　III. Highlights of this issue: As for why people come to Qingzhou, I think they generally have two motivations: First, those from other places come to Qingzhou to see our city’s largest character for \"longevity\" in the world ； The second is to enter the city. What do you come to the city to see? You come to see many, many famous sights and historical sites. 　　Qingzhou is in the east of China; the east represents movement. Everything is coming back to life; spring has just arrived. All things are reviving and stirring – where should we start? Where is the starting point of this cycle where everything begins and repeats over and over again? Of course, the starting point is the East—where does the sun rise first? East. Therefore, the starting point for everything is the east. So how do you know spring has arrived? The trees have turned green, the mountains are lush; the mountains are green and the waters are clear. This is our Qingzhou. So to some extent, we should know that the best province in the world is Qingzhou. The beginning of Kyushu must start with Qingzhou. 　　Three hundred thousand Yellow Turban rebels and one million family members – from these 1.3 million people, 100,000 were selected to become Cao Cao’s troops in Qingzhou. All of these soldiers were under the command of just one person, who was in charge of leading and directing them. When Cao Cao becomes famous throughout the country and well-known to everyone, then who will fight those battles? It is always the soldiers from Qingzhou who win the battles. 　　In the history of the Song Dynasty, virtually no famous figure ever served as an official in Qingzhou – how could he then become famous? It’s unbelievable – you’ve never even been to Qingzhou, and yet you want to become a celebrity? 　　Whenever Li Qingzhao wanted to go somewhere, she would head to Qingzhou, where she stayed for twenty years. For twenty years, the couple loved each other dearly; the man studied epigraphy, while the woman wrote poems, describing how wonderful, handsome, and capable her husband was. She wrote so many tender verses – who gave her the inspiration? It was our Qingzhou that inspired her. ___________________________________________________________________________Transferred from Qilu Net