The Diligence and Integrity Chapter of Linchuan Culture | Tang Xianzu and Xu Wen Establish a Confucian Academy

While serving as a local magistrate in Xuwén, Guangdong, under exile, Tang Xianzu, moved by the local customs—where people were prone to brawling and valued life lightly—composed an essay titled “On the Guisheng Academy.” Later, the people of Xuwén had it inscribed on a stone stele and erected within the Guisheng Academy, where it has been preserved to this day. In 1962, during his visit to Xuwén, the renowned dramatist Tian Han carefully read the inscription on the surviving stele, deeply moved, and composed a poem:
A county assistant exiled to the far reaches of the realm—how could my frail body endure the sweltering miasmas?
Even in times of worry, there lingers a dream of Jiangnan; teaching is like passing on the lamp from the sea.
I should have seen the first rays of dawn, once I had climbed to the very top of the Tang Tower.
The relic stele of Guisheng Academy still stands, and through the ages, Xuwen’s people continue to feel its profound sense of righteousness.
In the nineteenth year of the Wanli era (1591), the year of Xinyou, Tang Xianzu was demoted after submitting his memorial “On the Grand Secretaries and Censorial Officials,” and thus departed from the secondary capital, Nanjing. At the end of May, he first returned to his hometown of Linchuan; by early September, he bade farewell to his family and set out for his place of exile in Xuwén. “The setting sun slants over the golden embankment, while the evening breeze swirls along the Yao River. My traveler’s dream has barely shifted my pillow, when a laboring song already strikes the gunwale… The Xu–Gan rivers link the gorges, yet the Lei–Qiong seas divide us from the sky; who among us can smile at these turbulent waves, while at the crossroads tears well up?” This is the poem “First Departure from Yaohu, Overnight at Guangxi,” composed by Tang Xianzu as he left Linchuan for Xuwén. The verse brims with deep affection for his native land; though his fate hangs like a fragile leaf, he still hopes for “a fortunate encounter in a distant realm,” singing with noble spirit and heartfelt emotion. The Lingnan region boasts picturesque scenery and numerous celebrated mountains and historic sites; for Tang Xianzu, this chance to pass through was itself a kind of providential opportunity. Along the way, he composed many poems and rhapsodies. While stationed at Changshawei in Kaiping County—its name echoing that of Changsha in Hunan—he could not help but feel moved by the scene, likening himself to Jia Yi: “The trees mourn, the river clouds are damp, the mist shrouds the sea as the sun sets. Let this message reach Grand Tutor Jia: today I am in Changsha” (“A Quatrain on Crossing the Xianjiang into Changsha in Guangnan”). And when, out at sea, he beheld the swift terns battling the waves, his heart surged with emotion. In a miscellaneous poem, he penned lines such as “The higher it flies, the swifter it goes; its plaintive cry pierces the heavens,” and “How can Hainan be so remarkable, able to emulate General Li?”—expressing his own lofty aspirations. It was with such sentiments that, after a long journey, Tang Xianzu finally arrived in Xuwén County that winter.

“Xuwen swallows and spits out the vast sea; even in broad daylight, the sky remains dim, shrouded by crimson mists. There are gibbons and baboons, short‑tailed foxes and ferocious crocodiles; they cry amid the smoke and howl in the rain, leaping over waves and playing with the rising tides.” (Zou Diguang, “Biography of Master Tang of Linchuan”). Such was the local geography, and as for the people’s customs, they lacked propriety and righteousness—life was held lightly, and strife was rife. When Tang Xianzu first arrived, he found the atmosphere both peculiar and deeply distressing. Yet his fame had already spread throughout Lingnan; though Xuwen lay remote and obscure, every scholar there knew of him. In the official residence where he lodged, visitors seeking his counsel crowded in day after day, quickly lifting his spirits from gloom and solitude and prompting him to wonder: why not establish a private academy here, one that would both meet the needs of scholars and promote civility, thereby transforming local mores? At that time, the magistrate of Xuwen County, Xiong Min, a native of Xinchang in Jiangxi (now Yifeng), had taken office a year before Tang Xianzu. A man of unassuming warmth and sincerity, upon learning of Tang’s plan, he offered his immediate support. After deliberation, it was decided to select a pleasant, open site north of the county seat as the academy’s location—though the necessary funds would have to be raised separately.
After passing the imperial examination as a jinshi in the third month of the tenth year of the Wanli era (1583), Tang Xianzu was appointed to observe administrative affairs at the Ministry of Rites in Beijing. Refusing to accept the overtures of the chief ministers Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing, he petitioned the following year to be transferred to the post of doctoral scholar at the Imperial Academy in Nanjing. During his more than eight years in official service, even while holding the position of chief clerk in the Ministry of Rites, he sometimes worried about making ends meet; in years of drought, he sighed, “Water now costs a hundred cash a day, yet the Huai and Qing rivers stretch wide. In another life I would often suffer from hunger; in this one, I am left only with the anguish of thirst.” Fortunately, when he was demoted, his close friend Liu Shihe—whose given name was Yingqiu, a native of Jishui in Jiangxi and a fellow jinshi of Tang Xianzu’s class—was serving as vice‑director at the National Academy in Nanjing. He not only made meticulous arrangements for Tang’s journey to his place of exile in Xunwen but also secured a modest stipend. Though this meager allowance could have been used to purchase everyday necessities, Tang Xianzu chose instead to live frugally and simply, donating the entire sum to help establish a new academy.
The winter in Lingnan is mild; for Tang Xianzu, who had lived in Nanjing for many years, it was almost imperceptible. He once sailed the seas, touring Wuzhishan, Baichi Tower, and Baisha Fishing Harbor, and he also ventured into Li‑ethnic areas to gain a firsthand understanding of local conditions. Most of his time, however, was spent among the local people—lecturing on Confucian principles, engaging in philosophical discourse, and overseeing the construction of the academy. Though his stay was brief, he had already grown accustomed to life on this land and come to cherish its landscapes, customs, and way of life. With the arrival of spring in the Renchen year, the imperial court reassigned Tang Xianzu to serve as magistrate of Suichuan in Zhejiang. This transfer came as quite a surprise to him, and what weighed most heavily on his mind was that the Guisheng Academy remained unfinished.


Xiong Min hosted a grand farewell banquet for Tang Xianzu, raising his cup to offer him blessings. As Tang Xianzu prepared to depart upon completing his term, in order to further exhort the local people to cherish life and reform their customs, he carefully composed “A Discourse on the Guisheng Academy” and left behind a poem:
Who is more precious, heaven or earth? The universe and the cosmos are but this one life.
The sea waves surge all day long—who knows the preciousness of life’s emotions?
Even after assuming his new post, he could not stop thinking about the matter, feeling that he had failed to see it through and thus let down the expectations of many. When he took his leave of Xuwén and returned to Lincuan, he soon received a letter announcing the completion of Guisheng Academy. Overjoyed, he promptly penned a reply titled “Reply to the Local Notables of Xuwén,” in which he wrote: “I have heard that Guisheng Academy has been completed, and I am truly delighted for your region.” He also warmly advised the local notables of Xuwén to be sure to recruit capable teachers—those who possess both virtue and talent—in order to nurture outstanding students.
Tang Xianzu’s noble undertaking in founding Guisheng Academy strengthened cultural exchanges between the north and south of China, exerting a profound influence on the prosperity of Xuwen County, the broader Lingnan region, and the culture of Qiong Island.