On the gate of Yuelu Academy, there is a couplet "Only Chu is talented and prospers in Si". It should be said that it describes the grand occasion of talented people in Hunan for thousands of years, especially in the past hundred years, Hunan people have staged earth-shattering dramas on the historical stage, so that there has been a saying that "Hunan people will not fail, and China will not fail". Although this statement is biased, it does show the position of Hunan people in the modern history of China. Professor Tan Qixiang, a famous historical geographer, said: "Since the Qing Dynasty, there have been many talented people in Hunan, and their achievements are unparalleled in the world."

There are many talented people in modern Hunan, and five important talent groups have appeared successively. One is the school of gifted scholars before and after the Opium War, represented by famous ministers such as Tao Shu, He Changling, Tang Jian, Li Xingyuan, Lao Chongguang, and famous scholars and thinkers such as Wei Yuan and Tang Peng. The other is 19 Xiang Army Group in 1950s and 1960s, namely Xianfeng Dynasty, whose main representatives are Zeng Guofan, Hu Linyi, Zuo and He. Iii. At the end of 19, that is, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-the Reform Movement of 1898, the main representatives were Tan Sitong, Tang, Xiong Xiling and Pi. Fourthly, in the first decade of the 20th century, that is, the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, there were mainly people with lofty ideals during the Revolution of 1911, including Huang Xing, Song, Chen Tianhua, Cai E, Yu Zhimo, Liu, Yao Hongye, Jiao Dafeng and Chen. Fifth, after the May 4th Movement, the new-democratic revolutionaries mainly included Cai Hesen, Peng, Li Fuchun, He Long, Ren and Hu Yaobang.

There are many talents in Hunan for the following reasons:

First, the two great immigrants in the late Yuan Dynasty, the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty updated the population quality of Hunan Province, brought all the pioneering spirit and enterprising consciousness of the immigrants, and absorbed the tenacious and hardworking habits of the Miao and Yao nationalities through intermarriage with ethnic minorities, thus gradually forming a special folk custom different from other provinces: simple and hardworking, energetic, brave and aggressive, and domineering. Under the influence of this folk custom, students and scholars have gradually formed a special morale style: simple and not extravagant, brave in doing things, determined to forge ahead, full of blood but bold.

Hunan's unique folk customs and literati habits are called "mule temper", which means "can bear hardships, but can withstand annoyance and arrogance". Both the horse's fortitude and the donkey's patience. With this character, farming is not afraid of hardship, sweat is rewarded, reading is not afraid of hardship, and writing can always succeed.

Secondly, the influence of Huxiang culture provided rich ideological connotation and spiritual strength for the formation and development of modern talent groups in Hunan. Huxiang culture has a long history, especially in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The great thinker Wang Chuanshan lived in Hengyang for 40 years. He wrote books and lectured, absorbed the strengths of various academics, advocated practical learning, and advocated practical application, which had a great influence on Huxiang culture. Huxiang culture, as the inheritance of Huxiang School, has its own distinctive characteristics. It is eclectic, advocating practicality and emphasizing patriotism. Yuelu Academy, as the first of the four major academies in China, has trained a large number of talents who can help the people for thousands of years. It is no exaggeration for the front door of the Academy to say that "Chu originated here for thousands of years"! Several talent groups in modern Hunan have shown a strong spirit of "applying what they have learned", which is the spiritual feature of Huxiang culture.

Huxiang School has always been aiming at "helping the poor" and "preaching and teaching to solve doubts". Huxiang scholars can "attach importance to the study of economy" and try their best to put it into practice. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Wang Fuzhi directly accepted and promoted the tradition of practicing Huxiang culture. During the reign of Jia Dao, He Changling and Wei Yuan advocated practical application. According to the principle of "doing practical things with hard work", they classified and edited the memorial documents on governance, money and grain, river engineering, salt lessons, farmland, warehousing, border defense, criminal politics and so on. Since the early Qing Dynasty, it has been called "Imperial Classics Compilation" with 128. Influenced by the style of study of being practical, Zuo set up his ambition of being practical and wrote his own couplet: "I don't have half an acre, and my heart is worried about the world;" Read thousands of books and make friends with the ancients. "Zeng Guofan also took saving the world as his responsibility in his early years. He himself attaches great importance to the "study of classics", "learn from the heart, learn from the left, learn from the right, hook and proofread, mountains and rivers are dangerous, rivers and water conservancy are important, and seek compromise in detail." He pays attention to practical study, but his ambition is high. In his youth, he put forward: "A gentleman's ambition is also a matter for the people, and he has the industry of being a saint inside and a king outside, and then he doesn't care about his parents' lives, so he deserves to be a perfect man. It is the style of study that makes groups of people with lofty ideals in Hunan set up their aspirations to study the world, devote themselves to studying the world, cultivate talents in the world and achieve the cause of the world.

The trend of attaching importance to teaching and neglecting learning is extremely strong, which has promoted the rapid development of education in Hunan and laid a solid foundation for bachelor talents in Hunan.

After the mid-Qing Dynasty, Yuelu Academy became the base camp for the rise of talents in Hunan under the auspices of mountain leaders such as Luodian and Ouyang. Tao Shu, Wei Yuan, Zeng Guofan, Guo Songtao, Zuo, Liu Rong, Hu Linyi, Tang, Chen Tianhua and Yang Changji all studied in Yuelu Academy. During the Reform Movement of 1898, Hunan established current affairs schools and a large number of societies, which became places for cultivating talents and discussing knowledge. Hunan celebrities such as Lin Gui, Cai E, Qin Lishan, Fan Yuanlian and Yang Shuda are all students of the School of Current Affairs. At the beginning of the 20th century, Hunan vigorously set up new schools, and gradually formed a number of famous schools such as Yi Shi, Changjun, Yali, Nan Zhou, Guangyi, Chuyi and Mingde. Cai Hesen, He Shuheng, Xiang Jingyu, Luo Xuezan, Li, Li, Xia and Ren all embarked on the revolutionary road from these famous schools.

The atmosphere of attaching importance to education and learning also prompted Hunan to be at the forefront of the country in the upsurge of studying abroad in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. In 2002, Hunan Fuyuan sent 12 students to study in Japan for the first time. Since then, both official and private expenses have been paid, and 1 1% of the total number of students studying in Hunan. After the May 4th Movement, work-study programs in France rose, with the first batch of 89 students studying in France and 43 students from Hunan. By the end of 1920, the number of students studying in Hunan was 364, accounting for 22% of the number of students studying in France 1576, second only to Sichuan. Cai Hesen, Li, Xiang Jingyu, Li, Li Fuchun, Cai Chang, etc. The leaders of the party and the country stand out from these students studying in France.

Third, political elites support each other and form a relatively concentrated talent circle. In fact, talents exist objectively in every dynasty and generation, but with strength and opportunities, talents also need Bole. The discovery and cultivation of talents often begin with those who have become talents and those who are familiar with them. In this way, helping and supporting each other will form a talent chain, which will gradually expand and increase, and will form a talent group. Zeng Guofan is the most typical in this respect. There are countless talents who are recommended to the imperial court and reused by him all over the world. He pays special attention to selecting talents from fellow villagers, and thinks that "people in the same county get along well", and also pays attention to selecting talents from students and relatives. This is called "Fighting Tiger Brothers, Fighting Father and Son". According to Xiao Yishan's General History of Qing Dynasty, there are 87 people in Zhongxing, Hunan, and 36 people in Xiangxiang, Zeng Guofan's hometown, accounting for 4 1.4%. According to research, the emergence of a large number of military and political talents in modern Hunan also showed three regular group phenomena. First, there are a large number of local celebrities, forming four core areas where talents are born, namely Changsha, Xiangtan, Xiangxiang and Ningxiang. These core areas are full of talents and heroes, which have created Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi. Liuyang has a large number of revolutionaries, Pingjiang has a large number of military generals, and Liling has more than 100 famous figures. There are 254 people in the People's Liberation Army, including Pingjiang, Liuyang 14. A big revolutionary movement often produces many revolutionaries.

Fourthly, the modern social environment and historical conditions provided a realistic stage for Hunan military and political talents. Modern talents in Hunan were concentrated in the military and political fields, and there were few entrepreneurs. The fundamental reason is that modern society is full of internal troubles and foreign invasion, and it is urgent to carry out fundamental changes. Large-scale civil wars and ethnic wars have come and gone, and the rise of military and political talents in Hunan just meets the needs of the times of "heroes in troubled times". In other words, modern China was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society with great suffering. To change this social reality, we need a large number of heroes from different places. People who have the ambition and ability to engage in political and military activities will have a broad stage for activities and opportunities to stand out. It is said that times make heroes. People's success needs environment and opportunity. During the Jia Dao period, Tao Shu, He Changling and Wei Yuan advocated practical application, which influenced a large number of Hunan scholars ideologically and academically. However, it was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement that created opportunities for the rise of Xiang army figures. The success of Xiang Army changed the professional concept of Hunan people. "People tend to stay at home and eat grass." Many young scholars are willing to join the army and make contributions. The Xiang army era lasted for more than 30 years, and the Sino-Japanese War was marked by one sentence. At the same time, it has also become an opportunity for Hunan people to seek reform and change. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Qing government implemented the New Deal to encourage students to study abroad, and Hunan youths went abroad in succession. With the rise of the anti-Qing revolutionary movement, people with lofty ideals in Hunan were able to take the lead in setting an example in this awakening event, and made historical contributions to the anti-Qing revolution and the founding of the Republic of China. After the founding of the Republic of China, the political situation remained turbulent. The second revolution, the war to protect the country, the movement to protect the law, the warlord melee, the national revolution, the land war, the anti-Japanese bonfire and the liberation war created opportunities for the emergence of the new-democratic revolutionary talent group represented by Mao Zedong.