Cultural Accumulation in Nigou Village

Nigou Village, Puning City, which is famous for its hometown of overseas Chinese and culture, is an ancient Ming village with a mixed population of many surnames, mainly Zhang, Xu and Chen, with a total population of more than 18,. Villagers of all surnames live in harmony, and with hard-working hands, they have created a civilization under the Hushan Mountain in the upper reaches of Lianjiang River, becoming a wonderful flower in the dazzling Chaoshan Cultural Garden. Nowadays, in addition to education, old-age care and other facilities, Nigou Township also has a painting and calligraphy room, a returning pavilion, a martyrs memorial cemetery and other places for spiritual and cultural activities, which are rare in ordinary villages. Nigou Village has a profound cultural heritage, and Nigou Lantern Riddle and Nigou singing and dancing are well-known at home and abroad. There are nearly 2 kinds of local works such as lantern riddles and folk customs.

There are more schools than "Mipu"

The former site of "Simultaneous School" is an old ancestral temple. It is the place where Zhang Bofeng has been running a school for 4 years. Zhang Bofeng was born at the end of Guangxu. He graduated from Weixin High School in his village at the age of 18, and his academic performance was excellent. He was highly valued by his elders and stayed in school to teach. In 1928, Zhang Bofeng's family moved to Thailand and returned to China two years later. He founded a "specialized school for simultaneous literature" in the village, personally taught literature classes and offered riddle classes. Zhang Bofeng also asked his eldest son, Zhang Zhongyan, to assist in school affairs. The father and son have been running schools for 4 years, bringing up a batch of outstanding talents, such as Lai Shaoqi, a famous Chinese painter and painter, Zhang Huayun, Mijiazhuang Xiaosheng and Zhang Bo, all of whom are early graduates of Simultaneous School. Zhang Bofeng's posthumous works include "Poems of Eruption" and "A Mystery".

Nigou Village has a civilized social fashion and is known as the hometown of culture. Promoting learning and cultivating talents has long been the knowledge of the villagers. In the 193s and 194s, there were four complete primary schools in the village, namely, mass, innovation, moral education and Migao. There are also civilian, Xinmin, Xinsheng, Jilu, Youde, Cuiying and other primary schools, special classes for Liqing literature, and field academies. It can be said that "schools are more than rice shops"! What's more, students have been studying and understanding, and they have embarked on the revolutionary road of resisting Japan and saving the country. Twenty-two of them died for the revolution. Mass schools were founded by underground parties and revolutionary intellectuals and funded by overseas Chinese in Thailand. They were one of the strongholds of Puning's anti-Japanese and national salvation movement.

In Nigou, the primary and secondary school buildings we saw were all very beautiful, and most of them were related to the word "overseas Chinese".

The former site of the Garden Reading Club

There is a unique small building next to the painting and calligraphy room in Nigou Village, which is the "Dongfang Villa" where Zhang Mingzhi, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, studied. During the Anti-Japanese War, a group of enthusiastic young people in the village formed a "garden reading club" here to read progressive books and carry out revolutionary activities such as anti-Japanese and national salvation propaganda.

The gate of the building faces south, and the word "Dongfang Villa" is molded on the lintel. There are three small buildings facing east in the yard, which are two-story buildings, with a larger one in the middle and a platform about 1.5 meters high in front. On the front wall, there is a sentence in Liu Yuxi's Humble Room Inscription: "Si is a Humble Room", showing the fragrance of books. In front of the building is a small garden, and in the east is a 4-meter-square dry pool. The railing has been destroyed, but the charm of the past is still faintly visible. The founder, Zhang Mingzhi, once went to Thailand to make a living, and after making a fortune, he settled in catalpa and built this small building as a place for leisure and study. According to Zhang's genealogy, Zhang Mingzhi was ordered to go to Henan for disaster relief during the Guangxu period. Because of his work, he was awarded the title of "Guangcha Ambassador" by the court, and he was awarded the "Enrong" plaque.

Talented people come forth in large numbers

There have been scholars in Nigou Village for generations, and talented people come forth in large numbers. In the Qing Dynasty, there were Zhang Keyan, a Tongzhi Guiyou Branch, Xu Xingrang, an Imperial Examiner in Qianlong Wuwu, Xu Huisheng, the third child test (Zeng Sheng) in Guangxu twenty-four years, and nearly 2 tribute students and scholars. Here, there are several scholars whose academic spirit is worth mentioning:

Xu Huisheng. After taking part in the children's test in Guangxu, he was sent to study in Japan and studied in the normal department of the museum of Hongwen College in Tokyo. After returning to China, he served as the principal of Sandu public higher primary school in Puning, and later founded Wushi town higher primary school. In the late 192s, he was suspected by the Kuomintang authorities for covering the revolutionary actions of students in Puning No.2 Middle School, and died while living in Shantou. The former residence "Danlu" has more than 1,3 books, and its posthumous works include essays, poems, couplets and other manuscripts. (There is a biography of Puning County Records)

Zhang Shengdian. The second son of "Ba Yuan" Zhang Keyan. Born in a city, he is an example of teaching students. He is knowledgeable and rigorous in teaching. He is a micro-calligrapher, and has a handwritten copy of Zhang's Notes, 11 works of 1.5 million words, which have been collected by Puning Literature and History Department. Another manuscript of Zhang Shengdian, Adjacent Anecdotes, is preserved in the Nigou Painting and Calligraphy Room. The whole book is about 2, words, all written vertically with extra fine wolf hair. It is extremely neat and beautiful, and each word is only 1/3 the size of sesame seeds. At first glance, it seems that there are straight lines arranged on the page.

Zhang huayun. Graduated from Guangzhou Sun Yat-sen University, he taught in Puning Normal School and other schools. After liberation, he served as the deputy mayor of Shantou City and the first president of Linghai Poetry Society. In 193s, influenced by Mr. Tao Xingzhi's pedagogy, he returned to his hometown to set up Xiaozhuang Normal Field Academy. He has extensive knowledge, can examine Chaoshan history and culture with a comparative eye, and has a high literary attainments. He has created 32 Chaozhou dramas, of which 8 comedies are excellent. His posthumous works include Zhang Huayun's Comedy Collection, Poetry Collection, Autumn Field Collection, and Prose Collection, Chaoshan Kung Fu Tea Road.

Zhang Zhongyi. Returned overseas Chinese teacher, who studied in Nigou Institute of Simultaneous Literature with his father Zhang Bofeng when he was a child, has been teaching in many schools in Puning since 1947 and is a first-class Chinese teacher in middle schools. Engaged in education all his life, and served as the director of Nigou painting and calligraphy room after retirement. Poetry and calligraphy, there are works such as Yishouyuan Poetry Collection, Lianwen Selected Collection and Lantern Enigma Collection.