The Translation of Begonia Collection in Yuyao

From Yunke Township to the south, to a certain place, there is a dam several feet wide, which blocks the tide of seawater and prevents it from flooding into farmland on both sides. This was built during the reign of Xie Zhifu. After the completion of the dam, Xie Zhi wrote to me and asked me to write down the whole story of the dam construction. The letter said: "(Your article) will make future generations have evidence to test, even if I leave office, (the dam) will not be destroyed." Xie Zhifu himself is a human being, with the word "Shi Hou" and the name "Jingchu". Xie Jingchu, one of his ancestors, is famous for his literary talent, and later generations are prominent. By Jingchu's generation, he was already a noble family famous for his literary talent. As a magistrate, he has no conceited talent and ignores the urgent problems of the people. When the dam was first built, it was November of Dinghai year. He can attend in person, encourage people to work hard and control floods, regardless of the cold of ice and snow. He can also make people encourage each other, follow him and even forget the hard work. So before long, the dam was built. His love for the people is obvious in this matter, but he is not satisfied with it. He is thinking about telling this story to future generations, so that future generations can continue to protect the dam intact, so that the dam can last forever. Well, benevolent people are far-sighted, but they can save the people from fire and water. People like him must pass on their stories. The gentleman of later generations, after examining Xie Jingchu, knew that it was impossible not to be moved afterwards.

Before I passed this place in Yuyao on business, he came to see me and talked about the world and the leisure in Kan Kan. Xie Jingchu said: "Truth is grand and secret. Saints often only know the superficial truth of things, but they don't know the deep essence of' why'. The reason is that everyone has something difficult to understand. Those detailed political governance dogmas and laws are related to people and are the most concerned issues of ordinary people. This is a superficial truth that is easy to be known. Dredge roads and rivers, harness farmland mulberry fields, build protective dams and ditches to resist droughts and floods; Building a school, letting the people learn the way of etiquette and music at school, and persuading the people with (the way of saints) is what the people urgently need. This truth is deeper than appearance. Now these officials and those fools have no idea what they are doing; And those so-called talented people must do things in a strange way to win prestige in order to shock the world; As for those officials who spend their energy in dealing with official documents, on the other hand, I don't have time to do what the ancients said was urgent for the people. I've done it before, but I'm not as strong as I am. One out of ten thousand people did it. His achievement is not famous in the world, but he is called talented. Ha, this is really amazing. The vitality of the imperial court is only a few hundred years, but the cause of educating the people, pursuing peace and governing the world is far from endless. Isn't that what I said? " I think what he said is quite right. Soon after, I heard that he became a magistrate of a county, built a bridge on the river after taking office, hired scholars to educate the children of civilians, and then the dam was built. From this, I believe that his words and deeds are consistent and he has not deceived me. Write a story about building a dam for him, and take this opportunity to write down what he said and save it for later generations. Li Qing's diary on July 7th, 2008.