Liu Zongyuan

Liu Zongyuan

Liu Zongyuan (773-819, November 28), Han nationality, was born in Hedong (now Yongji area of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province). He was one of the eight great writers in Tang and Song dynasties. He was a writer, philosopher, essayist and thinker in Tang Dynasty. He was known as "liuhedong" and "Mr. Hedong" in the world. He was also known as "liuliuzhou" because of his official career.

He was born in Hedong. Yuan and Han Yu are called "Han Liu", Liu Yu Xi and Wang Wei, Meng Hao Ran and Wei Ying Wu are called "Wang Meng Wei Liu". Liu Zongyuan left more than 600 poems in his life, and his achievements in writing were greater than those in poetry. There are nearly 100 parallel prose articles, which are characterized by strong argumentation, sharp writing style and pungent satire. There are many sustenances in travel notes, such as Mr. Hedong's collection, and representative works such as xiju, jiangxue and yuweng. Liu's residence, built by Liu Zongyuan's family, is now located in Wenxing village, Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. It is a national 4A scenic spot.

(source of Liu Zongyuan's portrait)

Life of the characters

Early life

Liu Zongyuan's ancestral home is Hedong county (Hedong Liu, Hedong Xue and Hedong Pei are known as "Hedong three surnames"), and his ancestors have been officials for generations (Liuqing, the seventh ancestor, was a servant of the Northern Wei Dynasty and granted the title of Jiyin duke). Liu Congyu, the great grandfather of Liu Zongyuan, and Liu chagong, the great grandfather of Liu Zongyuan, were both county magistrates. His father Liu Zhen once served as a royal censor. Liu Zongyuan's mother, the Lu family, belongs to the Lu family of Fanyang. Liu has only two sisters.

Liu Zongyuan was born in the capital Chang'an in 773. When he was four years old, his mother Lu and he lived in Jingxi manor. His mother's enlightenment education made Liu Zongyuan have a strong interest in knowledge. Liu Zongyuan spent his childhood in Chang'an, so he knew and felt the corruption and incompetence of the imperial court, the crisis and turbulence of the society. (at the age of nine, he encountered the chaos in Jianzhong. In the fourth year of Jianzhong, Liu Zongyuan came to his father's Rensuo Xiakou to avoid the war. Liu Zongyuan, who was only 12 years old, also experienced the war of the separatist regime

In 785 ad (the first year of Zhenyuan), Liu Zhen went to Jiangxi to be an official. Liu Zongyuan traveled with his father as an official, directly contacting the society and increasing his knowledge. He participated in social activities, made friends, and received people's attention. Soon, he returned to Chang'an. His father Liu Zhen worked in the government and county for a long time. He had a good understanding of the real social situation, and developed a positive attitude and upright character. His father who was good at poetry and writing and his mother who believed in Buddhism laid the foundation for the formation of his later thought of "integrating Confucianism and Buddhism".

Young talent

In 792, Liu Zongyuan was elected as a rural tribute and was able to take the Jinshi examination.

In 793, at the age of 21, Liu Zongyuan became a Jinshi and became famous. Soon after, Liu Zongyuan's father Liu Zhen died, and Liu Zongyuan stayed at home to watch the funeral.

In 796, Liu Zongyuan was assigned to the Secretary Province as a scholar.

In 798, at the age of 26, Liu Zongyuan took part in the examination of erudite and macro Ci, and won the list. He was awarded the correct character of jixiandian Academy.

In 801, Liu Zongyuan was appointed as Lan Tian Wei (Zheng liupin).

In October of 803, Liu Zongyuan was transferred back to Chang'an as a censor. Since then, he has more extensive contacts with the upper class of officialdom, has a deeper understanding of the dark corruption of politics, and gradually sprouts the desire for reform, becoming an important figure of Wang Shuwen's reformists.

Innovation period

On January 26, 805 (the 21st year of Zhenyuan), Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty died, and Prince Li Song succeeded him to the throne. He was changed to Yongzhen, namely Shunzong. After Shunzong ascended the throne, he made use of Wang Gu, Wang Shuwen and others. Liu Zongyuan was also promoted to be a member of the Ministry of rites, wailang, who was in charge of rites, sacrifices and tributes. (at this time, there were many political figures with the same political views around Wang Shuwen, including Han Tai, Han Ye, Liu Yuxi, Chen Jian, Ling Zhun, Cheng Yi, Lu Zhi, LV Wen, Li Jingjian, Fang Qi, etc., who formed a political group.). After Wang Shuwen and others took charge of the government, they actively carried out reform and adopted a series of reform measures, which is called Yongzhen reform in history. (the main innovation measures are: restraining the influence of vassal towns, strengthening the power of the central government; abolishing the palace and city, deposing the eunuchs of Diaofeng, Uighur, Yaofang, goufang and Yingfang (known as Wufang children); denouncing corrupt officials; rectifying taxes, abolishing the additional contributions of local officials and local salt and iron envoys, and trying to recover the military power in the hands of eunuchs and vassal towns.) With the aggravation of Shunzong's illness, the eunuch group headed by Ju Wenzhen, together with the foreign vassals, put pressure on the court to retire.

In April of 805 (the first year of Yongzhen), eunuchs such as Ju Wenzhen, Liu Guangqi and Xue Yingzhen made Li Chun the prince of Guangling Prefecture, and changed his name to Li Chun. In May, Wang Shuwen was dismissed as a Bachelor of Hanlin. In July, eunuchs and ministers invited the crown prince to supervise the country. In the same month, Wang Shuwen went home for his mother's funeral. On August 5, Shunzong was forced to abdicate the throne to Prince Li Chun, known as "Yongzhen neichan". Li Chun ascended the throne, namely Xianzong. As soon as Xianzong ascended the throne, he attacked the political groups headed by Wang Shuwen and Wang Xi. On August 6, Wang Shuwen was demoted as Yuzhou Si Hu and Wang she as Kaizhou Si Ma. Wang died soon after he took office, and Wang Shuwen was also given death. Yongzhen's innovation failed in more than 180 days.

Move to Yongliu

After the failure of Yongzhen's reform, Liu Zongyuan was demoted to be the governor of Shaozhou in September. In November, on his way to office, Liu Zongyuan was demoted to be Yongzhou Sima. (other members of Wang Shuwen's political group were also demoted as Sima of Yuanzhou, later known as "erwangbasima") Liu Zongyuan lived in Longxing Temple. After six months, Liu Zongyuan's mother died of illness.

In 815, Liu Zongyuan left Yongzhou and lived in Yongzhou for 10 years. He studied philosophy, politics, history, literature and so on. He traveled to Yongzhou mountains and rivers and made friends with local scholars and idle people. He wrote eight chapters of Yongzhou (317 of 540 poems in the complete works of liuhedong were written in Yongzhou).

In January of 815 (the 10th year of Yuanhe), Liu Zongyuan received an imperial edict to return to Beijing immediately. In February, after more than a month's trek, Liu Zongyuan returned to Chang'an. In Chang'an, Liu Zongyuan was not reused. Because of the hostility of Wu Yuanheng and others, he did not agree to use it again. On March 14, Liu Zongyuan was demoted to be the governor of Liuzhou. At the end of March, Liu Zongyuan left Chang'an for Liuzhou and arrived on June 27.

In 819 (the 14th year of Yuanhe), Xianzong implemented amnesty. Under the persuasion of Pei Du, Xianzong called Liu Zongyuan back to Beijing. On the eighth day of November, Liu Zongyuan died of illness in Liuzhou. He was 47 years old.

In 1158 (the 28th year of Shaoxing), Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty granted Liu Zongyuan the title of Linghou of wenhuizhao.

Main contributions

literary works

Liu Zongyuan left more than 600 poems in his life, and his achievements in writing were greater than those in poetry. There are nearly 100 parallel prose, and the ancient prose is roughly divided into six categories.

（1） Argumentation: it includes essays on philosophy and politics, and essays on argumentation. Sharp writing and precise argument. Tian Shuo is the representative work of philosophy thesis. (on feudalism and on sentencing are representative works of long and medium political commentaries. The representative of the short political commentaries are Wengong of Jin Dynasty, Fengdi debate of Tongye, and Wujiu Jie Zan of Yiyin In his philosophy, there is a simple element of materialism. His political thought is mainly manifested in the progressive social and historical view of emphasizing "potential" and the people-oriented thought of Confucianism. But also influenced by Buddhism, especially when they are frustrated in politics, they often seek spiritual relief from Buddhism.

（2） Fable: inherited and developed the tradition of Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, Lu's spring and Autumn Annals, Liezi and Warring States policy, which were mostly used to satirize and attack the ugly phenomenon of the society at that time. He is good at using all kinds of anthropomorphic images of animals to express philosophy or political opinions. (the representative works include three commandments (Linjiang's Milu, Qianzhi's donkey, yongmou's rat), biography, bottom theory, etc.) It shows a high degree of humor and satire.

（3） Biography: inheriting the tradition of historical records and Hanshu, but also innovating. (representative works include Duan Taiwei's anecdote, biography of Ziren, biography of Hejian, snake catcher's story, etc.). Some works are exaggerated and fictional on the basis of real people and stories, like fables and novels (such as biography of Song Qing and biography of Zhongshu guotuo).

（4） Landscape travel notes: the most popular, all written after being demoted, to Yongzhou's more winning. In his works, there are not only beautiful scenery to express his experience and resentment, but also the description of the author's quiet mood, which shows his spiritual sustenance in extreme depression. As for the direct depiction of landscape scenery, it is either precipitous and clean, or clear and beautiful, and represents the natural beauty with exquisite language.

（5） Poetry Sao Fu: unique (representative works "punish blame Fu", "Min Sheng Fu", "menggui Fu", "Gongshan Fu", etc., all use the style of "Lisao" and "Jiuzhang". The essence of Qu Sao can be found in expressing one's feelings, self injury, irony and bitter words. Tiandui and Jinwen are of another type. Their forms are modeled after Tianwen and Qifa, and their language is strange and profound. In addition, there are many works about Buddhism such as steles, inscriptions, records, prefaces and poems in Liu's collection, which are related to Zen, Tiantai and Lu sects.) There are more than 140 Liu's poems, all written after being demoted. His predecessors called him Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and Wei Yingwu King Meng Weiliu. Some of his five ancient thoughts are close to Tao Yuanming's poems, with simple and natural language, elegant style and profound meaning. Some of the five ancient poems were influenced by Xie Lingyun. They made ingenious language, mixed with metaphysics, and even studied Xie's poems. However, Liu's poems can contain hidden resentment in the beauty, and there are differences in the similarities. Liu's poems are also famous for their generosity, sadness and health. （

Chinese PinYin : Liu Zong Yuan