Zhuangyuan Fang (Number One Scholar’s Archway)

Zhuangyuan Fang

Outside the east gate of Xinghua City, Taizhou, there is a Ming–Qing dynasty thoroughfare, anciently known as Tongtai. From the Qing dynasty onward, it has been called Dongchengwai Dajie (East Outer City Street), also known as Xinghua Zhuangyuan Fang. Slightly to the east lies Zhuangyuan Lane, which extends northward — the place where Li Chunfang, the top imperial scholar of the Ming dynasty’s Jiajing era, spent his early years. As a youth, Li Chunfang was diligent and studious, often reading alone in the Earth God Temple at Shenghu Li. The temple had three bays, three sections, and two courtyards, with the rear section being quiet and secluded. Local chronicles refer to this place as the “Study Site of Li Chunfang, the Minor Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty.” At the age of 21, Li Chunfang passed the provincial examination, and then spent another 15 years studying hard in pursuit of the top imperial title. In the 25th year of the Jiajing reign (1546), he went to the capital again to take the metropolitan examination. The night before his departure, he stayed alone once more in the Earth God Temple where he had studied as a boy, and dreamed that a fleeing hare rolled along the ground and turned into a deer, which he then struck on the head. Upon waking, he felt an overwhelming surge of confidence. He then returned to his ancestral home in Jurong to pay respects at the family shrine, staying overnight at a monastery where he left a poem inscribed on the wall of the monks’ quarters: “Year after year I hear the mountain temple bells, / A lone horse in the west wind recalls the venerable monk. / One day I shall surely leave behind a jade belt, / But for now, no silken veil should cover my poetic lines.” The following year, Li Chunfang became the top imperial scholar. The stone memorial archway spanning the street at the head of Zhuangyuan Lane was first built in the 26th year of the Jiajing reign (1547), with a single gate and double pillars. In the 44th year of the Jiajing reign (1565), Li Chunfang rose to the position of Minister of Rites, was conferred the honorary title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and concurrently served as Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall. On January 5, 2009, the city of Xinghua, Taizhou, restored the Zhuangyuan Fang.