Wen Tianxiang and the inscribed horizontal board of Mingde Hall

Styled as Song Rui and Wenshan, Wen Tianxiang was a successful candidate in the highest imperial examination held in the palace under the supervision of the emperor in the fourth year (1256 A.D.) under Baoyou reign in the Southern Song Dynasty, later becoming vice prime minister and concurrently head of the Privy Council. Captured in the armed resistance against the Yuan troops and unmoved by persuasion to surrender with promise of gains, he wrote such following verses to state his noble ideas: “No one can escape from death. I prefer to imprint my heart on historical annals.” In August of the second year under Xiangxing reign (1279), he was taken under armed escort to the capital of the Yuan Dynasty while paasing by Jinling (present-day Nanjing) and inscribed on a horizontal board for the school named “Mingde Hall”. According to the regulations of shcools after the Song Dynasty, this hall should have been called “Minglun Hall”. Since this horizontal baord was inscribed by Wen Tianxiang as a national hero, it was kept by all dynasties after the Yuan Dynasty until it was destroyed in the war under Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty. The horizontal board entitled “Mingde Hall” was re-inscribed by Zeng Guofan under Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty. According to “Nanjing literature”:“ Mingde Hall was originally inscribed by Wen Tainxiang and later by Zeng Guofan in seal characters, except its horizontal hall-board which was first inscribed by Wen Tainxiang so that no one in the following generations dared to change it. Therefore, this school is not called “Minglun” as it is for all schools in China, but termed “Mingde”.