Couplings and prophecies
Wang Yifu
January 22, 2024
Chen Weiying (1811-1869), a Taiwanese scholar, was the most famous couplet artist in Taiwan in modern times. His “Taikou Chao Lianji” collected many wonderful couplets, which are very interesting.
In 1855, Fujian held the Xianfeng Yimao Science and Technology Rural Examination. This year, Chen Weiying’s protégé Chen Xialin was 22 years old. He gave birth to a son in early September and was ranked 66th in the provincial examination results on September 15th. On the occasion of double happiness, Chen Weiying wrote a couplet to congratulate him, saying: “Both of them raised a son in the 33rd Festival, and Liuliu became famous in the 22nd year.” The first couplet records that he raised a son in the ninth month, and was awarded the title of “juzi” (a person), and the second couplet states: It is recorded that at the age of 22, he was ranked 66th in the National People’s Congress.
A recent reading of the “Fujian Rural Examination List of Yimaoke Titles in the Fifth Year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1855)” found that Chen Xialin ranked 66th on the list. It was also discovered that Huang Yuzhu, the Taiwanese candidate with the same ranking as Chen Xialin. Looking at it now, Chen Weiying’s couplet barely coincides with the incident of Huang Yuzhu’s eldest son and second son many years later. Huang Yuzhu’s eldest son was named Huang Zongding, also named Yanwei; his second son was named Zongjue, also named Yanhong. I have read the records of the Huang brothers. According to dental records, the birth dates of the two brothers are one year apart: the eldest son Huang Zongding (Yanwei) was born in Yichou, Tongzhi in 1865, and the second son Huang Zongjue (Yanhong) was born in Bingyin, Tongzhi in 1866; There is only one year difference: the second son Huang Zongjue (Yanhong)’s family year is Guangxu Wuzi, that is, 1888, and the eldest son Huang Zongding (Yanwei)’s family year is Guangxu Jichou, that is, 1889. Judging from the dental records, Huang Zongjue (Yanhong) was 22 years old when he passed the national examination in 1888. The following year, his brother Huang Zongding passed the national examination at the age of 24. From 1855, when Huang Yuzhu passed the exam, to 1888, when Huang Zongjue (Yan Hong) passed the exam, it was 33 years. Chen Weiying’s couplet “Both of them were elected in 33 festivals, and Liuliu became famous in 22 years” is close to 33 years after Huang Yuzhu was elected, the second son and the eldest son were both elected, and Huang Zongjue (Yan Hong), who was born in 1866, became famous in the imperial examination. At the age of 22. This is a “reluctant” joke that is “close” to historical facts, because in the old imperial examinations there was a custom of “filling in one year less when taking exams”, and the ancients also used to record their age in false terms. We should abide by the principle that we can laugh and talk without compromising the dissemination of correct historical knowledge.
[Editor in charge: Lu Jiashan]
