Zhan Mingduo, the “Last Government Student” and the Academic Value of Zhenxian Zagao

Abstract: Zhan Mingduo (1883-1931), the last government student of Wuyuan county, was only 49 years old, but in his less than 50 years of career, Chinese society has undergone earth shaking changes. In this era of dramatic changes, Zhan Mingduo not only wrote his autobiography “My Little history”, but also his personal collection of poems and essays Zhenxian Zagao and diaries. This paper focuses on the manuscript of Zhenxian Zagao, and discusses its academic value from three aspects: business, clan, and the role of squire. It can be seen from this that, as a government student and a Huizhou merchant, Zhan Mingduo had no worries about food and clothing, but he had been wandering between fame and livelihood for many years. During his intermittent travels, Zhan saw the world and came into contact with some new ideas. In the wording of his writing, he often embedded the fashionable new nouns into his personal expression, showing the tendency of keeping pace with the times. However, on the whole, his knowledge reserve and social insight were still extremely conservative. He was full of negativity and pessimism about the rapid social change, which reflected the powerlessness and bewilderment of the increasingly marginalized gentry in the tide of the changes of the times.