Yan Xingbang

Yan Xingbang

Yan Xingbang (1635 ~ 1698), with the name of taozhong and the name of Meigong, was born in Xuanhua (now Xuanhua District, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province) of Zhili in the Qing Dynasty. His ancestral home is Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, and belongs to the yellow flag of the Han army.

In the second year of Kangxi (1663), he was appointed governor of Henan and governor of Guizhou.

Personal experience

The second year of Kangxi (1663). Kangxi five years (1666), awarded Guangxi Maping county magistrate. Ding you. Kangxi nine years (1670), supplement Zhili county magistrate. The new town is located on the main road in the south of the capital. There are a lot of traffic, especially the post horses who send mail. When the post horses are sick or can't catch up, the officials have to pull the common people's livestock to use, which makes the common people miserable. After Yan Xingbang took office, he took out his own money to buy hundreds of horses and raised them among the people. When they were used by the government, they were used by the people. When they were not used, they were controlled by the people, either at home or making money, which was very popular among the people. Some villains pretended to be officials and royal families, monopolized business and oppressed the common people in the market. Yan Xingbang rode his horse to visit the places where there was a market. When the villains heard about it, the market became prosperous again.

Kangxi ten years (1671), moved to TongZhou Zhizhou. During his term of office, he built bridges and leveled roads and did a lot of good things.

In the 16th year of Kangxi (1677), he became a member of the Ministry of work. When Yan Xingbang reported to Emperor Kangxi after inspecting the river regulation project with his bachelor, he pointed to the map and reported the situation of the river in great detail, which was appreciated by Emperor Kangxi.

Kangxi 21 years (1682), moved to the censor. He moved to hongluqing and Guanglu temple.

In the 27th year of Kangxi (1688), he moved to shuntianfu. In June, he was promoted to governor of Henan Province.

In December of 1692, he was transferred to governor of Guizhou. This is a remote place with complicated ethnic relations. Some people advised him not to take up his post. Yan Xingbang said, "it belongs to the territory of the imperial court. Why is it so remote?" After he took office, he put the improvement of ethnic relations in the first place, and strictly urged his subordinates not to invade the Miao people. In view of the fact that Guiyang was narrow and the people were few, he proposed to the imperial court to merge the counties. In view of the difficulties of garrison, he asked for the advance allocation of food and pay. Most commendably, he asked the imperial court to increase the number of rural examination places in Guizhou and other border minority areas, and got the permission of the imperial court to increase the number of "Shilin Dezhi". In recognition of Yan Xingbang's achievements in governing Guizhou, the emperor granted him the title of "Guanglu doctor" as a civilian official.

In 1698, Yan Xingbang died in office.

Governing Henan

In 1689, the 28th year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, there was a rebellion in Huguang area. Emperor Kangxi thought that Zhongzhou (Henan) and Chu (Hubei) should be bordered by important officials, so he thought of Yan Xingbang. Kangxi personally met Yan Xingbang in the Jinluan hall, granted him the saddle horse and the post of governor of Henan Province.

Yan Xingbang suffered from the grace of heaven and did not dare to delay, so he went to Henan governor overnight to take office. When he arrived in Kaifeng, he immediately began to inquire about the sufferings of the people, carefully investigated the gains and losses of officials, and timely reported the situation of Henan to the imperial court. He not only won the support of the imperial court, but also won the trust of the people, and won the reputation of "a father like a mother for thousands of miles around the two rivers".

Yan Xingbang attached great importance to the construction of culture and water conservancy in Henan Province

First, actively organize the reconstruction of Kaifeng Drum Tower. In 1689, the 28th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, Yan Xingbang, governor of Henan Province, soon arrived in Kaifeng. Seeing that the drum tower was in disrepair for a long time, he personally organized a fund-raising and took six months to renovate it. On the spacious high platform of the rebuilt Drum Tower, there are three palace style pavilions with cornices, brackets and carved columns. The first floor is for scholars to meet and talk about the past and the present; the second floor is for tourists to look far away and think about the past; the third floor is suspended with a big drum, which is made of cow hide, to beat the drum to tell the time. Gaotaimendong, where cars and horses can pass freely, has become the center of Kaifeng's commerce, culture and transportation.

After the repair of the drum tower, Yan Xingbang hung two plaques on the East and west sides of the tower, each with a square of about 1 meter. They were regular script, which was very good at calligraphy. On the plaque facing the west, there is also a inscription, the first inscription reads "spring auspicious day of Emperor Kangxi's 28th year", and the second inscription reads "Yan xingbangli, governor of Henan and other places, who is also in charge of military affairs and the right deputy capital of the Henan capital inspection yuan".

Second, we should vigorously carry out the compilation of local chronicles. Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty attached great importance to the local cultural construction and the compilation of local records. In 1685, that is, in the 24th year of Kangxi, he issued an edict to the provinces, governments, prefectures and counties to compile local records. Yan Xingbang, as the governor of Henan Province, actively carried out the imperial edict of the Qing Dynasty, and seriously carried out the local cultural construction and historical records compilation activities in Henan Province. In 1691, the 30th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, when he xijue, the governor of Zhengzhou, took office, he received an early order from Yan Xingbang, the governor of Henan Province, to "renew the local records with a view to conquering the sun" and began to prepare for the compilation of the local records of Zhengzhou. Two years later, in 1693, the 32nd year of Kangxi, the task of compiling Zhengzhou annals was completed as scheduled.

During his stay in Henan, Yan Xingbang restored Songyang Academy in Dengfeng, expanded its scale and improved its facilities, which made Songyang academy develop rapidly and take on a new look. Up to now, there are four five character poems written by Yan Xingbang in the fifty second year of Qianlong in the annals of Dengfeng County. One of them is: "who is the first-class? If you can surpass your deeds, you will be like sages. The Han cypress is a thousand years old, and the Tang stele is a hundred generations old. Not because of Xu Hao's pen, Yan Yue's name remains. "

In 1691, the 30th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Yan Xingbang, the governor of Henan Province, donated his salary to help Nanyang rebuild Zhuge Academy. He also built a lecture hall and a studio in the Academy, and a "Sangu Temple" behind the Academy.

Third, we should attach importance to water conservancy construction to benefit the people of Kaifeng. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Kaifeng was a flood prone area in the Yellow River Basin. However, during Yan Xingbang's reign in Henan, heaven helped others and Kaifeng did not suffer from serious floods for many years. Yan Xingbang was not negligent because of this. While actively harnessing the Yellow River, in 1691, that is, in the 30th year of Kangxi, he managed the area of Huilong Temple in Tieniu village, which is the most vulnerable area of the Yellow River to burst. He changed the "Huilong Temple" to "Tiexi Zhenhe Temple". There are three entrances in the temple. The front courtyard is dedicated to the four kings of Jinlong, the God of the river, and the back courtyard is equipped with Tiexi, which faces north to the river. Yan Xingbang also wrote an article in person, setting up the stele of "Tiexi Zhenhe Temple" and "Tiexi Ming". The full text of the stele is as follows: "in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the river was fierce but not original; in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the river was built and suppressed; Feng Yishun, a water monster, was hidden and stung; in the past two hundred years, there was no old business; I came to Yutu, Huang liushuxi; the son of heaven, the Holy Spirit, was gathered; ER Zhai, er Tian, not Si, not ye; not only the appearance of the temple, but also the pavilion and stele; Xi, Zheng, the iron; to defend the gold dike In order to enrich the jade grains, and in order to make a name for it, we should use Shao's former philosophers. "

Since then, until 1841, the 21st year of Daoguang, when the Yellow River burst in Zhangwan, Kaifeng, Tiexi temple was turned into ruins in the flood, but the two steles of Tiexi and Yan Xingbang were preserved. Yan Xingbang's harnessing of the Yellow River has kept Kaifeng peaceful for 150 years.

Yan KaiBang's contribution to the construction of water conservancy, especially to the construction of water conservancy culture, is numerous.