The Seventh Son of Jian'an: Yu Xue has nothing to lose, yu zhi has nothing to fake

The Seven Sons of Jian'an (建安七子) is the collective name of seven literary scholars during the Jian'an period (196-220), including Kong Rong, Chen Lin, Wang Cang, Xu Gan, Ruan Yu, Ying Yue, and Liu Zhen.

The title of "Seven Sons" began with Cao Pi's "Treatise on Classics": "The Literati of the Present, Lu Guo Kong Rong Wenju, Guangling Chen Lin Kong Zhang, Shanyang Wang Yue Zhongxuan, Beihai Xu Ganwei Chang, Chen Liu Ruan Yu Yuanyu, Runan Ying Yue Delian, Dongping Liu Zhen Gonggan." The seven sons of the period, Yu Xue has nothing to lose, Yu Zhi has nothing to fake, Xian is recorded in a thousand miles with self-sacrifice, and he is on his feet and runs at the same time. These seven people generally represent the excellent authors of the Jian'an period except for the father and son of the Cao family, so the "seven sons" theory has been widely recognized by later generations. Among the seven sons, except for Kong Rong and Cao Cao's political disagreements, the other six families, although their own experiences were different, all of them personally suffered from the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, and later defected to Cao Cao, and their status changed, so that they had a stable and rich life. They regarded Cao Cao as a confidant and wanted to rely on him for a career. Their poems have much in common with the Cao father and son. Because the seven sons of Jian'an once lived together in the Wei capital Yizhong, they were also called "the seven sons of Yizhong".

In the ninth year of Jian'an (204), after Cao Cao occupied Yecheng, he created a relatively stable political situation centered on Yecheng in northern China. Cao Cao advocated "Shang Criminal Name", "Shang Tong Tuo", and was also good at belonging to Wen and loving scribes. After suffering from the chaos of war, many scribes, such as Baichuan, went to the sea and rushed to Yecheng one after another, and attached themselves to the Cao clan. Here, a huge group of Yixia people was formed, with the "Three Caos" as the leader and the "Seven Sons" as the representative. Most of them accompanied the army during the war, returned to study literature and compose poems, discuss literature, sing praises and praises, express feelings, write about the hardships of conquest, describe social chaos, criticize and consult with each other, jointly improve the level of writing, develop and prosper Jian'an literature, and leave behind the precious spiritual wealth of "Jian'an wind and bone" for future generations. Jian'an literature occupies a very important position in the history of the development of Chinese literature.

"Jian'an" is an era name of Liu Xie, the emperor of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, after the Dong Zhuo rebellion, the warlords divided the territory, and wars were frequent. Chang'an and Luoyang were destroyed. Emperor Xian traveled from Chang'an to Luoyang, where he was greeted by Cao Cao to Xuchang. This year (i.e., 196) was changed to the first year of Jian'an.

In 220, Cao Cao died, and Emperor Xian was located in Cao Pi. Jian'an literature usually refers to the literature of the period from the end of the Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Wei Dynasty, but it is not limited to these 25 years.

The Jian'an period was a glorious period in the history of mainland literature, "handsome talents steamed, writers emerged", various genres were developed, and it was a golden age in the history of Chinese literature. The Eastern Han Dynasty was in the midst of great divisions, great turmoil, and warlord chaos, but in literature it radiated brilliant colors. This is related to various aspects of society at that time.

I. Introduction to the Seven Sons of Jian'an

Kong Rong(153~208)

Kong Rong's family origins, he was the twentieth grandson of Confucius, a native of Qufu, Luguo, and later used by Cao Cao. When he was young, he once let the big pear give to his brother and take the small pear himself, so his name has been passed down through the ages, which is also the story of "Kong Rong let the pear". During the reign of Emperor Ling, situ Yang Gave Mansion. Zhongping Chu (185), a high-ranking person, was a servant of the imperial history, and was at odds with Zhongcheng and resigned due to illness. Later, Sikong Fu was made a subordinate of the staff, and the general of the Qianhu Benzhong Lang was transferred. In the first year of Emperor Xian's reign (190), because of dong zhuo, he became a huilang and went to Beihai County, Qingzhou, where the Yellow Turban Army was at its peak. In the second year of Xingping (195), Liu Bei recommended him to lead the History of Qingzhou Assassination. In the first year of Jian'an (196), Yuan Shao's son Yuan Tan attacked Qingzhou, Kong Rong ran alone, and his wife was captured. Cao Cao moved the imperial capital Xuchang, zhengkong Rong as a general, and moved to Shaofu. In Xuchang, dissatisfied with Cao Cao's deceit, many obedient people were dismissed from office. After returning to worship Dr. Taizhong, retiring to idle duties, good service hospitality, full seats, rewards and recommendations, and high prestige. In the end, he was jealous of Cao Cao, and he was convicted of a crime and went to prison and abandoned the city. Kong Rong was the head of the seven sons of Jian'an, and his literary talent was abundant. The only surviving works are prose and poetry. Essays such as "Recommended You Heng Table" and "On the Book of Sheng Xiaozhang with Cao Gong" are gorgeous in rhetoric and have more atmosphere; "On prohibition with Cao Cao" has a witty meaning. The second poem of his "Miscellaneous Poems" uses white painting techniques to write about the pain of losing a son, which is mournful and moving.

Chen Lin(?) ～217）

The character Kong Zhang, a native of Guangling (present-day Jiangdu, Jiangsu), did not have a definite year of birth, but he knew that he was older among the "Seven Sons of Jian'an", about the same as Kong Rong. In the last year of the Han Ling Emperor, he served as the general He Jin's master bookkeeper. He Jin summoned the four generals to enter the capital Luoyang for the eunuchs, and Chen Lin tried to obstruct it, but He Jin did not accept it, and finally he was defeated and killed. Dong Zhuo wantonly attacked Luoyang, and Chen Lin took refuge in Jizhou and entered Yuan Shaomu. Yuan Shao made a canonical article, a military Chinese book, and more than his hand. The most famous is "Yuzhou Wen for Yuan Shao", which counts Cao Cao's crimes, slanders his father and ancestors, and is extremely inflammatory, jian'an five years (200), guandu I battle, Yuan Shao's defeat, Chen Lin for Cao's army captured. Cao Cao loved his talents without blaming them, and was appointed as a priest of the Air Division, so that he and Ruan Yu were in charge of the record room. Later, he was promoted to be the governor of the Xiangmen Gate. In the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217), he died of the same disease as Liu Zhen, Ying Yue, and Xu Gan. Good at chapter secretary. "Drinking Horse Great Wall Cave" is his masterpiece of poetry, under the pretext of the story of the Construction of the Great Wall in the Qin Dynasty, exposing the suffering caused by the heavy servitude at that time to the people, which is particularly profound.

Wang Cang (177~217)

Zi Zhongxuan, Shanyang Gaoping people, Wang Yue when he was young to see the left middle lang general Cai Yong, Cai Yong saw and wondered, fell to greet each other. Wang Cangqiang memorized silently, was good at arithmetic writing; once walked with a friend, read the stone stele on the side of the road, looked at it and recited it again, and did not lose a word. He also watched people play Go, and its situation was chaotic, and Wang Yuefu reset it, without making a mistake. Later, he went to Jingzhou to attach himself to Liu Biao, who took him as his guest. After Liu Biao's death, Wang Yue persuaded Liu Biao's second son, Liu Chun, to surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao went to Jingzhou, and Wang Yue gave him the title of Marquis of Guannei. When the State of Wei began to build the Zong Temple, Wang Cang, together with Heqia, Wei Qi, and Du Xian, jointly discussed the honor of Cao Cao as the "King of Wei"; later, because the Zhongshu ordered Xun You to stop and then died of sorrow, his proposal was terminated. Of the seven sons, he was the most accomplished. His "Seven Lamentations" and "Climbing the Stairs" best represent the spirit of Jian'an literature. One of the "Seven Lamentations" ("Xijing Chaos without Elephants") writes about the scene of hungry women abandoning their children that he saw on his way from Chang'an to avoid chaos in Jingzhou, profoundly revealing the tragic images caused by the warlords at the end of the Han Dynasty and the deep disasters of the people, which made people frightened. "Climbing the Tower" is composed by Dengmai Chengtou in Jingzhou, which mainly expresses homesickness and nostalgia, is full of touching power, and is a famous piece of lyrical xiaofu.

Xu Gan (Dry) (171~217)

Zi Weichang, a native of Beihai (present-day Weifang, Shandong), was one of the seven sons of Jian'an. Teenagers study diligently and immerse themselves in classics. At the end of the Han Ling Emperor, the sons of the clan formed a party and power gate, competing to chase after the glory and fame, Xu Gan closed the door and defended himself, poor and ugly alleys, not following the customs. At the beginning of Jian'an, Cao Cao summoned the Air Force Division of the Division to sacrifice wine and subordinates, and then transferred the five senses to literature. A few years later, due to illness, Cao Cao was honored. Later, he was awarded the above Ai Chang, but he was also ill. In February of the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217), the plague spread and he also died of illness. The main work was the Treatise on the Middle, which Cao Pi praised as "a family of words, elegant in rhetoric, and passed down to posterity." ”

Ruan Yu (?) ～212）

Zi Yu (字瑜), a native of the Chen Liuwei clan (present-day Kaifeng, Henan), was one of the seven sons of Jian'an. His chapters and secretaries are outstanding, and his famous works include "Writing books for Cao Gong and Sun Quan". The poems include "Driving Out of the North Guo Gate", which depicts the suffering of orphans abused by their stepmothers, which is more vivid. When he was young, he studied under Cai Yong, who called him a "wizard". The chapters and tables he composed were excellent, and at that time, the military and state books were mostly written by Ruan Yu and Chen Lin. Later migration is the genus Cao Shu of Xiangcang. The language of poetry is simple and often reflects general social problems. The poems include "Driving Out of the North Guo Gate", which describes the suffering of orphans who are abused by their stepmothers. Ruan Yu's musical attainments were quite high, and his son Ruan Xian and grandson Ruan Xian were all celebrities at that time, ranking among the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest", which was wonderful in music. The Ming Dynasty has the "Ruan Yuanyu Collection".

Ying Yue (?) ～217）

Zi Delian was a native of Runan (present-day southeastern Runan County, Henan), and one of the seven sons of Jian'an. Good at composing endowments, representative poems "Shi Wu Guan Zhonglang will build Zhangtai collection of poems". He was initially appointed by Cao Cao, the King of Wei, as a vassal of Xiang Xiang (丞相掾), and later became marquis of Pingyuan (平原侯庶子). When Cao Pi was a general in the Five Senses, He wrote dozens of articles for the Literature of the General's Mansion (in charge of school texts and service articles). Poetry is also known.

Liu Zhen (?) ～217）

Zi Gonggan, a native of Dongping (present-day Dongping County, Shandong), was one of the seven sons of Jian'an. Literature is precious. In Jian'an, Liu Zhen was summoned by Cao Cao to be a subordinate of Xiang Xiang. He is quite close to the Cao Pi brothers. Later, because he looked down on Pi's wife Zhen shi at Cao Pi's seat, he served as a laborer for the crime of disrespect, and later he was made a minor official by the Crimes Removal Bureau. In the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217), he died of the same disease as Chen Lin, Xu Yu, and Ying Yue. His literary achievements are mainly manifested in poetry, especially in the creation of five-character poems. There are fifteen poems in existence, and three poems of "Gifting from The Brother" are representative works, which are concise and clear, easy and popular, and are better than comparisons.

Ii. The achievements of the seven sons in literature

poetry

The Seven Sons mainly wrote five-word poems. Wuyan poetry is a new poetic style that did not flourish until the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and the emergence of "ancient poetry" in the world of Huan and Ling marks the initial maturity of Wuyan poetry. The excellent five-word works of the "Seven Sons" are written with great emotion and change, making the five-word poem more exquisite in art. For example, Xu Gan's "Room Thoughts" is more delicate and deeply written than the same theme of "Qingqing Riverside Grass" or "Ran Ran Lonely Bamboo". Chen Lin's "Drinking Horse Great Wall Cave Line" and Ruan Yu's "Driving Out of the North Guo Gate Line" were all written before the war at the end of the Han Dynasty, and their writing time is not necessarily later than that of "ancient poems", and their importance in the history of the development of Wuyan poetry is more worthy of attention.

Fu

The "Seven Sons" wrote a large number of Xiaofu, and they contributed to the further prosperity of Xiaofu on the basis of the achievements already made by Zhang Heng, Cai Yong and others. The scope of the "Seven Sons" has been expanded, and the normalization and routineization of the subject matter have further diluted the aristocratic nature of the past; the function of reflecting social reality has become more strengthened, and the number of works directly describing political events has increased; and the lyrical color has become stronger. Regarding the endowment of the "Seven Sons", Cao Pi gave a fairly high evaluation in the "Treatise on Classics", and Liu Xun also expressed the same opinion in the "Wenxin Carved Dragon" and Interpretation Endowment, and also particularly believed that Wang Cang and Xu Gan were the "fu leaders" of the Cao Wei generation, saying that they could be juxtaposed with Song Yu, Sima Xiangru, Zuo Si, and Pan Yue.

prose

Kong Rong's chapter table, the secretaries of Chen Lin and Ruan Yuan, and the discourses of Xu Gan and Wang Cang were all unique at that time. Their common advantage is what Cao Pi called "the text is mainly based on qi", which is infused with the unique temperament of the author. The famous prose of the "Seven Sons" include Kong Rong's "Recommendation of You Heng Shu", "Discussion with Cao Gong on Sheng Xiao Zhangshu", Chen Lin's "Moving Yu Prefecture", "Book for Cao Hong and prince Wei", Ruan Yu's "Writing For Cao Gong and Sun Quan", Wang Cang's "Treatise on The Book of Affairs", "Jingzhou Literature Chronicle of Officials" and so on. The "Seven Sons" prose has a tendency to gradually degenerate in form, especially Kong Rong and Chen Lin. Some of their works are dual and tidy, and they use more allusions, which has become a link that cannot be ignored in the process of prose transformation from the end of the Han Dynasty to the Western Jin Dynasty.

opus

The "Seven Sons" works, the original collection has been completed, and now Xu Gan's monograph on political ethics " The Middle Theory " exists exclusively. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Pu's compilations include the Collection of Kong Shaofu, the Collection of Wang Shizhong, the Collection of Chen Ji Room, the Collection of Ruan Yuanyu, the Collection of Liu Gong □, and the Collection of Ying Delian Xiulian, which are included in the Collection of One Hundred and Three Families of the Six Dynasties of Han and Wei. In the Qing Dynasty, Yang Fengchen compiled the "Seven Subsets of Jian'an".

3. Historical evaluation

The life of the "seven sons" can basically be divided into two periods. In the early period of the social war at the end of the Han Dynasty, although their social status and life experience were different, they generally could not escape the fate of upheaval and hardship. In the later period, they were all attached to Cao Cao successively, Kong Rong served as a high-ranking official such as Shaofu and Wang Cang served as a servant, and the rest were also close subjects of Cao's father and son. However, Kong Rong later clashed with Cao Cao and was killed. Because the seven people were attached to Cao Cao in different times, there was no unified boundary between the front and the late period of each person. Kong Rong was in the first year of Jian'an (196), Xu Gan and Ruan were in Jian'an for five years, Chen Lin was in Jian'an for five years, Wang Yue was in Jian'an for thirteen years, and Liu Zhen and Ying Jiong were in Jian'an thirteen years later. Corresponding to their life path, the creation of the "Seven Sons" can also be roughly divided into two stages. Most of the previous works reflect the reality of social turmoil and express the feelings of worrying about the country and the people. The main works include Wang Cang's "Seven Lamentations" and "Climbing the Tower", Chen Lin's "Drinking Horse Great Wall Cave Line", Ruan Yuan's "Driving Out of the North Guo Gate Line", Liu Zhen's "Gift to The Brother", etc., all of which have practical significance and a certain depth of thought; but some of the works are too low and sentimental, such as Ruan Yuan's "Seven Lamentations", Liu Zhen's "Lost Title" and "Heaven and Earth Are Endless". Most of the later works reflect their support for the Cao regime and their ambition to establish their own merits, mostly for banquets, gifts, etc.; but some of the praises of cao's father and son, with the tone of a Pilgrim and a courtier, reveal a vulgar attitude. However, whether before or after, the creation of the "Seven Sons" is dominated by positive and healthy content.

The creation of the "Seven Sons" has its own personality and unique style. Kong Rong is good at singing prose, and his works are exquisite. Wang Cang's poems, fu, and prose, known as "both good and good", have strong lyricism in his works. Liu Zhen is good at poetry, and his works are imposing and desolate. Chen Lin and Ruan Yuan, famous for their chapter secretaries at that time, also had certain achievements in poetry, and the difference in their styles was that Chen Lin was more strong and powerful, and Ruan Yuan was more natural and smooth. Xu Gan's poetry and endowment are all capable, and the writing is delicate and the body is soothing. Ying Jiao is also able to poetry and endowment, and his works are harmonious and multi-literary. The creative style of the "Seven Sons" also has some common characteristics, which is the style of the era of Jian'an literature. The specific content of this style of the times and the reason for its formation is what Liu Xun said in the "Wenxin Carved Dragon Chronology": "Looking at its time and text, yahao is generous, good and chaotic from the world, the customs are decaying, and the ambition is deep and long, so the outline is general and angry." ”

The "Seven Sons" have a very important position in the history of Chinese literature. Together with the "Three Caos", they constituted the main force of Jian'an writers. They have all contributed to the development of poetry, endowment, and prose.