The author still remembers that when I was in middle school, the teacher always asked us to memorize the names of the Tang and Song Dynasties and told us: This is a compulsory exam. However, at that time, I memorized it and did not think about it, but later I learned more about it, but I found that these eight people actually commented on a lot of seemingly unreasonable places.
The eight are: Liu Zongyuan, Han Yu, Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Rui, Wang Anshi, zeng gong, the first two are the Tang Dynasty, and the last six are the Song Dynasty. Why Li Bai and Du Fu could not enter the Tang and Song Dynasties, this question should have been known to everyone for a long time, because this time the evaluation is prose rather than poetry, so strictly speaking it should be called "Tang and Song Prose Eight Everyone".
Since it is an essay eight, the author only asks two questions: 1. Zeng Gong was able to enter the Tang and Song Dynasties, why couldn't the more famous Fan Zhongyun? 2. Fan Zhongyun can't enter the Eight Greats, why can Su Xun enter, is it really stained with his son's light?
To understand this problem, we must first find out who first proposed the Tang and Song Dynasties. This theory was put forward by Zhu You, a scholar at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when he wanted to compile a "Collection of Eight Gentlemen", so he set these 8 people. Therefore, from the very beginning, fan zhongyun was not selected, but Zeng Gong and Su Xun were actually very likely to be just Zhu You's personal preferences and could not explain any problems. However, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the scholar Tang Shunzhi also used Zhu You's words when compiling the "Compilation of Texts", which shows that everyone agreed with Zhu You's views at that time. Then, at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, this statement was not broken, which once again confirmed that the evaluation of the Eight Masters was deeply popular.
Therefore, the two questions raised by the author are worthy of our careful consideration. First look at the first question, on fame, Zeng Gong's fame is definitely not as good as Fan Zhongyun, in fact, not only fame, but also fan Zhongyun on the level of prose is also better. Zeng Gong's classic prose includes "Awakening Heart Pavilion", "Traveling Mountain", "Daoshan Pavilion", "Ink Pond", etc., his prose is simple and elegant, and it was highly respected at that time.
Compared with Zeng Gong, although fan zhongyun's prose quality is high, but the number is very small, except for the "Yueyang Louji" and "Lingwu Fu", the surviving prose is basic epistolary, that is to say, Fan Zhongyan rarely writes prose in a serious way. In fact, not only prose, but also the lyrics Fan Zhongyun wrote very little, Fan Zhong's surviving lyrics are currently only 5 songs, although the first capital is a fine product, but it can not change the fact that there are few works. Therefore, the reason why it is difficult to enter the eight people may lie in this "lazy" word. However, we can also understand this, because Fan Zhongyun is preoccupied with the affairs of the court, and writing articles can only be ranked behind in his heart.
Let's look at the second question, Fan Zhongyun is because there are too few works, so is Su Xun able to enter the Tang and Song Dynasties? The author believes that it is not, on the contrary, Su Xun is a prose master who has been ignored by everyone for a long time. Su Xun's prose, sharp language, arbitrary, words and words, many of the famous sentences that we often hang on our lips today are actually from his hand. For example: one patience can control a hundred brave, one quiet can control a hundred movements; Taishan collapses in front of the front and the color remains unchanged, the elk is happy on the left and does not look at the moment; the six kingdoms are broken, the non-soldiers are unfavorable, the war is not good, and the disadvantages are in the Qin; everything is known and said, and the words are inexhaustible. It can even be said that the height that Su Xun has reached in his prose is completely comparable to that of his son Su Shi.
Fan Zhongyan could not enter the Tang and Song Dynasties, but Su Xun and Zeng Gong both entered, which seemed to make no sense, but in fact, they all made sense. However, whether it is the Eight Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, or the title of Shi Xian Shi Shi Buddha Shi Sheng, it is only a false name sent by later generations, and it is not important to them for a long time.