Tang Dynasty Tales by William H Nienhauser Jr

Author:William H Nienhauser, Jr
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789814719544
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Published: 2016-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Translator’s Note

Liu Zongyuan (773–819) and Han Yu (768–824) have been accorded the status as the two most noted prose writers of the Tang dynasty for over a millennium. Liu’s life can be seen as evolving in two acts. After passing the Jinshi (Presented Scholars) examination in 793, in the late 790s he joined a group of other promising young officials as unofficial advisors to the Heir Apparent, Liu Song (761–806). Their leader was Wang Shuwen (753–806), a man of unknown background who became known for his skills at Go and argumentation. He ingratiated himself with Emperor Dezong (r. 779–805) and became a reader for the Heir. As Dezong grew more incapacitated in his final years, Wang Shuwen and his followers became increasingly powerful. Dezong died early in 805, but Liu Song had already suffered a stroke and had lost the power of speech. He took the throne (Shunzong r. 805) following his father’s death, but came under pressure eunuchs, a few allied officials, and some of the powerful provincial governors, to abdicate, which he did in the eighth lunar month of 805. When the new emperor, Xianzong (r. 806–820), was empowered, he was naturally suspicious of those men who surrounded his father and exiled all the principles to the far south. Liu Zongyuan was sent to Yongzhou (modern Yongzhou City in the southernmost part of Hunan proince) for a decade and then, after being recalled to the capital in 815, assigned to an even more remote post in Liuzhou (modern Liuzhou in northern Guangxi province).

Since Liu Zongyuan was noted for his allegorical prose writings (the most famous his landscape essays, “Yongzhou baji” [Eight Records of (Excursions) in Yongzhou]), modern scholars have focused on the meaning of “Hejian zhuan.” Many scholars beginning with Dai Zhi (Jinshi 1238) of the Song dynasty saw Hejian as a veiled attack on Emperor Xianzong.14 The most thorough exegesis of this theory can be found in Bian Xiaoxuan’s “‘Zhe long shui’ yu ‘Hejian zhuan’ xintan” (see bibliography). Countermanding Bian’s conclusions, Zhang Tiefu argues15 that Hejian and her husband represent Emperor Shunzong and Wang Shuwen and those relatives who led Hejian astray are refer obliquely to the provincial officials and eunuchs who pressed Shunzong to abdicate.16 Yu Cailin (Cidian, 1:357) have pointed out that none of these claims are completely verifiable, suggests that Hejian may be meant to refer to Wu Yuanheng (758–815), who was demoted when Wang Shuwen was in power and later came to hold great influence under Xianzong (he was a Chief Minister in 815 when Liu Zongyuan was summoned back to the capital).

Scholars are in agreement that the following passage from the Han shu is likely the source of the inspiration for “Hejian zhuan”:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.