After the Return of the Three Kingdoms to the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan, as a dimwitted monarch, was absurd, oppressed the people, and extravagant. He even allowed his subordinates, Shi Chong, and others to wantonly plunder the people's fat and people's ointment, and the treasures obtained could not even be filled with the imperial palace. The temple is still like this, and the city need not say much, and they have followed suit, and the extravagance style still became a trend at that time.
Although there are many righteous people who can't see it, they don't have a good way to put things right. At that time, the most famous Chinese literati were afraid of awarding the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest", although these seven people could not see the chaotic social phenomena at that time, but there was no good way, and then, the like-minded seven people chose to return to the hidden mountain forest, but formed a unique landscape.
In fact, "bamboo forest" is neither a place name nor a real "bamboo forest". The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest are based on a special background to fight against the evil forces of the Sima family, among which the most well-known is Ji Kang. But unfortunately, he was later beheaded by Shi Chong, and his death was very unjust. The slightly "negative" of the Seven Sages was Shantao, because he was full of thoughts about how to become an official.
Ji Kang and ShanTao were good friends, and before they died, they said to their son, "As long as your Uncle Shantao is there, you are not an orphan." In order to protect Shantao's thoughtfulness, he also specially wrote the famous "Letter of Renunciation with Shan Juyuan" before his death, which on the surface seemed to rebuke Shantao for drawing a clear line with him, but in fact, he was protecting him.
Because the more Ji Kang scolded Shantao, the more it meant that the relationship between the two was not so good, and the imperial court could spare Shantao's life. This is also a good interpretation of "gentlemen are harmonious and different", and let posterity feel a realm of suffering friends.
Looking at the long life path of Ji Kang and Shantao, it is more desirable for Shantao's approach. Although Ji Kang died heroically, he did not exert his talents to benefit the people. And Shantao has actively pursued meritorious fame all his life, not only for the honesty of the official, but also for the deep understanding: he must strive to be a good official, and trying to live is the greatest loyalty to the people, hoping that because of the existence of my Shantao, he will leave a seat for the people to breathe.
It can be said that Shantao has a way to protect himself in the chaotic world, unlike Ji Kang's method of "preferring to crush jade rather than tile whole", but instead has more seemingly soft, but actually resolute means.
Here, there is a story that goes something like this:
Some counties once ordered Yuan Yi to give Shantao a hundred catties of silk, the price was not cheap, Shantao decided that Yuan Yi would not only accept bribes from him, and refused to refuse on the spot, fearing that it was too obvious, and immediately reporting was bound to offend a number of officials. His approach was to accept this valuable gift and leave it in the storeroom. In the end, the county ordered Yuan Yi to confess to the crime and confess to a number of bribe victims, and when he was about to punish Shantao, Shantao took out the hundred pounds of silk from the warehouse and presented it to the emperor, explained the reasons and declared him innocent.
In the chaotic world, Shantao did not use a resolute approach to resist the power, but instead protected himself and sought the law of corruption, which was really both wise and commendable.
On the other hand, his friend Ji Kang was not so sleek, at that time, Ji Kang explicitly refused to cooperate with the Sima family, but could not see their obedient style. Ji Kang was not the same as Ruan Yuan, and he did not want to see the Sima family's stubbornness and absurd luxury anymore. At the same time, he also participated in the riots many times, but because the timing was not right, he was quelled before he could participate. In fact, even if Ji Kang really joined these armed uprisings, he would probably have a hard time making a difference. Because Ji Kang can't look at people, he can't recognize heroes without his eyes.
On the contrary, his death has a lot to do with not being able to look at people.
His death was caused by the fierce-hearted Lü Xun, who was very poisonous and saw his sister-in-law beautiful and waiting for an opportunity to lighten people's homes. Ji Kang, as a good friend of the two brothers, actually chose to settle this matter with the mud and do peace in the face of such a big right and wrong thing. This is not to mention, but Lü Xun accused his brother Lu An of filial piety to his mother on trumped-up charges. Soon, just when Ji Kang wanted to defend Lu An, he was caught by the Sima family and eventually died.
Ji Kang's death was a foregone conclusion because he preached a fight against the Sima family to the end. His value lies in the erection of a spiritual monument to intellectuals, whose pride deserves respect. The most repressive of the Seven Sages was Ruan Yuan, who pretended to be crazy and stupid and refused to become an official, and in the end, he had to write a "persuasion text" under the coercion of Sima Zhao. Ruan's life represents the life of the vast majority of the Seven Sages, who have nested in their lives, have not achieved great things, and seem to be returning to the hidden mountains and forests, dashing a lifetime of celebrities, in fact, he has achieved nothing.
Wang Rong, one of the Seven Sages, loved money all his life, was a miracle in the Seven Sages, and in the end, he achieved his wealth and became one of the few rich people in the capital, even if he achieved his own life ideals. Many people argue that he is not a negative person, that he has money and does not rob the people of their money too much, at most it is "self-defilement", in order to make the Sima family look down on him, think that he has no political ambitions and raise his noble hand and let him go. However, this Wang Rong's money still came from the common people after all.
The people have spent a lot of money to raise an inactive official, so is this a positive figure? It is true that he is not as excessive as Shi Chong, but can he be forgiven for not seeking his own government in his position? Can you be considered a positive person because you haven't done anything bad? Therefore, the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest reflect the characteristics of Chinese literati very well: they have the world in mind, they are proud and upright, although they want to be unique, but they also lack some strategy and courage.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this can be described as "a bookworm who is useless".
Resources:
【Introduction to the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest", "Examination of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest", "The Main Influence of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest"】