Yuan Hongdao

Yuan Hongdao

Yuan Hongdao (December 23, 1568 to October 20, 1610) was named Zhonglang, Wuxue, Shigong and Liuxiu. He is from Gongan County, Hubei Province. In the 19th year of Wanli (1591), he was a Jinshi. He successively served as the magistrate of Wu County, the head of the Ministry of rites, the head of the seal inspection department of the Ministry of officials, the doctor Ji Xun and the doctor Guozi.

The main general of the Ming Dynasty's literature movement against the restoration of the ancients not only opposed the imitation of the Qin and Han ancient prose by the former and the latter seven scholars, but also opposed the imitation of the Tang and song ancient prose by Tang Shunzhi and GUI Youguang, believing that the prose was closely related to the times. Against the trend of "literature must be in Qin and Han Dynasties, poetry must be prosperous in Tang Dynasty", put forward the theory of "expressing the spirit alone, not sticking to the style".

Yuan Hongdao, together with his brother yuan Zongdao and his brother yuan Zhongdao, is known as gong'an Sanyuan in history. Because Sanyuan was born in Gong'an County of Jingzhou, his literary school is known as Gong'an School or gong'an style. People think that Yuan Hongdao is the most successful of the three brothers.

Life of the characters

Frustrated in the imperial examination

Yuan Hongdao was born in chang'anli, Gongan County, Jingzhou Prefecture, Huguang (now Gongan County, Hubei Province) on December 6, 1568, the second year of Mu Zonglong's reign in Ming Dynasty. He was born into an official family. He lived a rich life in his youth and was very good at poetry under the education of Wan Ying, Wang Yun and other famous teachers. Yuan Hongdao was born at the age of 16. He organized a literary society in the south of the city. He was the president of the society. In addition to studying the Eight Legged system, he devoted himself to poetry and ancient prose. His friends, who were under 30 years old, respected Yuan Hongdao as a teacher. He won the examination at the age of 21, but he failed in the examination in Beijing.

Yuan Hongdao's frustration in the imperial examination made him feel a lot of self hurt. In his poems, such as "the flower Dynasty is just now", he sighed bitterly about loneliness, depression and loss. Under the influence of his eldest brother yuan Zongdao, Yuan Hongdao began to seek spiritual sustenance from Zen Buddhism and interpret Confucianism with Zen. He wrote his own experience as Jinxie, and visited Li Zhi in Macheng. They talked about Zen and had a good understanding of each other. Li Zhi praised him for his "extraordinary insight and courage. A man of true spirit can bear the burden". He also presented a poem to him, saying: "reciting the sentence of Jin Xie, I am also glad to whip. I have to follow your advice earlier. I don't think we should have Lao Ku. " Under the Enlightenment of Li Zhi's deviant thought, Yuan Hongdao's vision was wide open. "Shi Zhi always collected Chen's words and adhered to common opinions. He died in the ancient language and could not disclose the essence of a paragraph.". From then on, he was determined to change the style of poetry creation, "to be a teacher of the heart, not to be a teacher of the heart; to be able to change the ancients, not to change the ancients.". Hair as a language, one by one from the mind outflow ", and the outstanding independence.

Official place

In 1592, Yuan Hongdao became a Jinshi, but he was not immediately appointed by the imperial court. However, the door of his official career has entered, and his long-term wish has finally come true, so he is in a good mood. On the Bank of his hometown Shipu River, Yuan Hongdao often gets together with his relatives and friends, recites poems, drinks, talks about Zen, and roams leisurely. At this time, he was deeply dissatisfied with the movement of returning to the ancients in the literary world, and thought that poetry and prose should be developed at will and should not be imitated. In a reply to Li Zi's bearded poem, Yuan Hongdao wrote: "if you ask about an article, you should break your heart." "He and Li, who are ignorant, know and see. Although the shaft is the same, Erya is a good enough teacher. Later, it became rich in culture and rhetoric. Wave Jin thin craftsman, wrap foot ring side Qi. Simulation into thrifty narrow, reckless world ridicule. Straight desire to Ling Su Liu, Si Yan Wu is deception. There are no words in modern times, but there are real poems in Luxiang. But I bought a pot of wine and listened to the bamboo branch with you. " In his opinion, the retro works are not as good as folk songs.

In the 23rd year of Wanli (1595), Yuan Hongdao was elected magistrate of Wu county (now Jiangsu). During his term of office, he was decisive in judging cases, convenient with the people, and popular with local people. However, it also led to the dissatisfaction of those in charge. In addition, the affairs of officials were complicated and difficult to be idle. He felt that "it was very hard to be an official in life, especially to be an official. If you were an official of Wu, it would be tens of thousands of times as hard as a straight ox and horse.". So the next year he resigned on the pretext of an excuse.

Travel works

In order to eliminate his unhappiness, Yuan Hongdao did not return to his hometown immediately after he left Wu County. Instead, he traveled all over the southeast places of interest, wandering in Wuxi, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Tonglu, Shexian, Jiashan and Xiushui, replying with friends such as Tao Wangling and pan Jingsheng. For more than three months, "every day you don't travel, every day you don't enjoy yourself, every moment you don't talk, and every conversation is not smooth." moreover, "poetics has made great progress, poetry collection has been greatly enriched, poetry intestines have been greatly broadened, and poetry eyes have been greatly broadened.". Especially when he read Xu Wei's manuscript "Que Bian" in Hangzhou, he was "shocked" and "awakened" like a nightmare. He was overwhelmed by Xu Wei's poetic style of "talking freely and without fear". Therefore, he was more and more dissatisfied with the retro style of Li Panlong, Wang Shizhen and other "later seven sons", and proposed the creation idea of "expressing one's own spirit and not sticking to the style", which required that the creation of poetry should be "from one's own mind" It is against blindly pursuing the retro simulation without real emotion.

He criticized the literary world shrouded by the retro school for stifling the vitality of creation, and pointed out that the changeable creative techniques of the writers of Qin and Han Dynasties and the poets of the prosperous Tang Dynasty are the models for later generations to learn. Otherwise, if we just abandon the essence and pursue the end, and just "attack and imitate, and influence the trend", we will lead the poetic creation to a dead end, become mere formality, and fail to express our aspirations. Yuan Hongdao pointedly points out that the retro school and its last works are like "chewing dregs in the dung, picking up farts, relying on power to bully good people, and now Suzhou takes refuge with its family.". To remember a few well-known stories is to be knowledgeable; to use a few words is to be a poet. He cheated Du Gongbu and hoarded Li Kongtong, an eight inch three-point hat that everyone could wear. So it's good to say poetry, but not poetry! "

In addition to openly opposing the style of the retro school, Yuan Hongdao also promoted the liberation of style with his own creative practice. He wrote poems reflecting real life, such as Fu ballad and Zhu Zhi Ci, which are popular and fresh, meaningful and lively. He also wrote dozens of travel notes, such as Hu Qiu, Ling Yan, Xiang Hu and Xi Hu, which are lyrical and have no disadvantages of carving. "They all overflow from the true source. Don't open your eyes, sweep Wang and Li Yunwu, and the world's talented scholars will know how to dredge their hearts and search for wisdom Sex, to clean up the disease of imitation painting.

Going north to Beijing

When he returned to the southeast, Yuan Hongdao took his family members to live in Yizheng for a while. He wrote poems and articles with literary friends from the north and the south to publicize his "theory of spirit". Wanli 26 years (1598), since the shuntianfu (now belongs to Beijing) professor. The next year, he moved to the Imperial College as a teaching assistant. In the third year, he made up the rites department and made up the officials in charge of the Qing Dynasty.

After all, Beijing was the cultural center of the Ming Dynasty. Yuan Hongdao was able to see the rich pictures and books collected by the government in Beijing, and formed a "grape society" with Xie Zhaohe, Huang Hui, his elder brother yuan Zongdao, and his younger brother yuan Zhongdao. He enjoyed the leisure and happiness of commenting on poems and essays in Chongguo temple in the west of the city. On the one hand, through extensive reading, making friends and discussing, he gradually corrected the previous tendency of "emphasizing the understanding of reason" and overemphasizing the self, "so he corrected and majored in it, with strict self-discipline, close self-examination, indifference and calmness.". On the other hand, his criticism of the last class of the retro school is more powerful and deep.

Yuan Hongdao systematically analyzed the style of Tang and Song poetry and thought: "such as yuan, Bai, ou and Su, and Li, Du, ban and Ma, they are really flying geese. The great fallacy is that there was no author before. The scholars of language, however, are not so sick as the poets of Tang Dynasty and the literati of Han Dynasty. Why should they blame Nanwei for his use of fat and powder, while those who spit on Xi Shi can not imitate him? " He also said: "the poetry of the Song Dynasty is good at style but short in rhyme, and it is a kind of prose, which is close to argumentation but neglects to use and cut. However, there are those who surpass the Qin and Han Dynasties and surpass the Tang Dynasty. " This paper specifically refutes the idea of "literature must be in Qin and Han Dynasties, poetry must be in Tang Dynasty", so that the style of writing can be reversed. When commenting on the influence of Yuan Hongdao, Qian Qianyi later said that he promoted the change of literary style and brought vitality to poetry creation.

Devote oneself to Literature

In the 28th year of Wanli (1600), Yuan Hongdao died because of his elder brother yuan Zongdao. He went to the book of gaobingshu and asked for leave to return home. He built the "LIULANG Pavilion" in the south of Gongan City, and wrote poems and essays with his old friends all day long to express his interest in mountains and rivers. He also toured Wudang Mountain, Taoyuan County and other places of interest to express his sincere admiration for the nature of qingyindai. He also admired Tao's potential to realize his life and seek self adaptation in the long forest and abundant grass. "He would rather beg for food than regret.". Yuan Hongdao lived in LIULANG lake for six years, and did not return to Beijing until the 34th year of Wanli (1606).

After his return to Beijing, Yuan Hongdao studied traditional opera and novels. He praised Jin Ping Mei, Shui Hu Zhuan, Si Sheng ape and other works, believing that they could be "bold and ambitious", get rid of the traditional stereotype and make a new life. Yuan Hongdao wrote the wine making policy, talking about wine culture and so on, and compared these novel and opera with Confucian classics since Jiajing. Soon after, Yuan Hongdao moved to be the head of the Imperial Examination Department of the Ministry of official affairs, and went to be the official of the Ministry of official affairs. He once presided over the Shaanxi provincial examination, toured Songshan and Huashan mountains, and wrote rich travel notes and poems, which were "extremely good at singing and sighing".

Wanli 38 years (1610), Yuan Hongdao to the Ministry of Li Yan FengSi doctor to return. At this time, gong'an was in the flood. He lived in Shashi and built the North Building of inkstone, so that he could "rest in the shadow and lie around" in his later years, play in poems and books, and "relax his nature". However, he soon fell ill and died suddenly on September 6 of the same year at the age of 43.

Main ideas

Literary thought

Yuan Hongdao played an important role in the literary world of Ming Dynasty. He was known as "San Yuan" when he was with his elder brother Zongdao and younger brother Zhongdao. He was known as "Gong'an School", and Hongdao was actually the leader. He had a systematic theory, which became the literary program of Gong'an School

① We oppose blindly imitating the ancients and advocate that the text should change at any time. In his letters with Jiang Jin, he said: "the way of the world has changed, so has the culture. Today, it is not necessary to imitate the ancient, it is also potential. In the preface to the collection of Xuetao Pavilion, it is said that only those who know the time It is a strict punishment to imitate the traces of the ancient language and pretend to be ancient

Chinese PinYin : Yuan Hong Dao