A Few Anecdotes of Zhang Taiyan in His Early Years

Zhang Taiyan (1869-1938) was a famous scholar of Chinese classic studies in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. He was born in 1869 into a family of intellectuals in Yuhang County， now a district of Hangzhou， the capital of eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang Province.

He found the charms of books at a very tender age. One day he sat outdoors reading. He was so immersed in the book that， after his sister-in-law asked him inside and dressed him up warmly， he came out again and resumed reading immediately. He had the slightest idea that he was wearing a floral dress of his sister-in-law’s. All the people present laughed. The young scholar was greatly puzzled.

One rainy day， his father invited a few scholars to a private party at home. They sipped wine and composed poems. The six-year-old Zhang Taiyan was asked to compos a short poem about the rainy day. He thought a short while and composed a 20-word four-line short poem orally. Everyone was amazed. When the county magistrate learned of the prodigy’s poem， he invited the junior poet over to his house.

In Zhang Taiyan’s formative years， the Qing Dynasty was slowly and painfully coming apart. Influenced by his family and the time， the young scholar had some radical revolutionary thought. He read some radical books which some adults dared not to touch. When the young radical learned that a book that sharply criticized the Manchu invaders was available in Hangzhou， he made a special trip to the city and bought it and finished reading it on the boat on his way back home.

A talented scholar， Zhang hated the imperial examination intensely because scholars were not examined for their broad knowledge of the world， but for the useless stereotypes of essay writings. At the age of 14， he faked illness and successfully avoided sitting for an examination for young scholars in Yuhang County. Two years later， the 16-year-old scholar sat for the examination. All the young examinees were asked to write an essay on the grandeur of the great Qing. Zhang was so exasperated by the absurdities of the essay topic that he penned a severe criticism blasting the seamy sides of the decaying empire.

The examiner was happy to see Zhang was the first to complete the essay and hand in his test paper. But at a brief glance， he found what the bold young scholar had written. He stopped Zhang who was on his way out and angrily chided him for writing such wicked stuff. Zhang stopped and retorted loudly that he told the truth. He grabbed his essay and began to read it aloud. Other examinees stopped writing and listened attentively. The commotion caught the attention of other examiners from other classrooms. They came to see what was going on. Zhang was driven out of the examination site.

As no examiners wanted any trouble， they dismissed Zhang Taiyan as a crazy young man.□