Tang Xianzu’s Story | Setting High Ambitions in Youth

Set lofty aspirations in youth.    

At fourteen, Tang Xianzu entered the county school. The county school was, in earlier times, the local institution where shengyuan studied. Students were admitted to the county school only after passing the preliminary tongshi examination, in order to prepare for higher-level exams. This was called 'advancing to study', 'entering the school', or 'entering the pan' (pan referring to a ceremonial threshold of official education). Candidates were called xiangsheng or shengyuan, commonly known as xiucai. A xiucai would sit for the juren examination, and a juren would compete for the jinshi degree. A year before entering the county school, Tang Xianzu had already begun studying under Mr. Xu Liangfu in Fuzhou and had won his regard.

Being admitted to the county school, Tang Xianzu was naturally overjoyed and devoted himself to his studies each day. Yet among his classmates were a few spoiled aristocrats—what we would call “second-generation officials” or “second-generation rich”—who, confident in their privileged family backgrounds, paid no heed to their studies at all. One day they went horseback riding; the next, they took their dogs for a stroll, merely passing the time at the county school. After all, during the spring or autumn imperial examinations, those with powerful connections could simply go through the motions and still be guaranteed success, ascending the golden list and embarking on a career of rapid advancement and bright prospects. Tang Xianzu found this deeply distasteful and often urged them to focus on their studies. But far from heeding his advice, they mocked him in every way.

A fellow named Zhang Sheng, who shared a dormitory with Tang Xianzu, came from a family with powerful connections in the capital; his father was one of the wealthiest men in the region, with pockets always bulging. From an early age, he had been accustomed to wielding authority and behaving carelessly, showing no ambition whatsoever—indeed, he had even secured his place at the county academy through patronage and by paying off the right people. One day, seeing Tang Xianzu, as usual, staying up late by candlelight to study, Zhang Sheng remarked: “What good is all this reading? My father never went to school, yet he’s now rich beyond measure; my relatives, too, never studied, and yet they hold high office at court. As for me, I haven’t much schooling either, but just stretch out my hand, and I can have whatever I want. You’d do well to keep on studying—you might even manage to pass the imperial examinations and become the top scholar some day!” With that, he burst into loud laughter. The other idle young gentlemen in the dormitory joined in, finding Tang Xianzu, still so young, rather absurdly earnest—and oddly endearing in his naivety.