Examples about Chinese literati who are poor and noble, and willing to keep loneliness.

Rambling about Qing Gao

Jin Kai Cheng

In the long feudal society, Qing Gao used to be a commendable word, and people who were pure and noble were generally said to be honored. The meaning of "qing" in "qinggao" is relatively clear, which means that a person is pure and upright, and does not engage in evil, crooked and unseemly activities. As for the meaning of "high", it seems to be different from the high moral character, high moral standing, but always with a little lonely and even withdrawn meaning, or can be interpreted as lonely. Therefore, the reputation of the high first always fall on the head of the hermit of the world of silence.

It is said that Xu Yu was the first of the legendary hermits. It was said that Tang Yao was going to cede the world to him, and he thought that the words polluted his ears, and thus ran to the edge of the Ying River to wash his ears. This incident is not known to be true, but it was a beautiful story in ancient times. This beautiful story also reflected the rather confused values of the ancient scholars. Tang Yao was a saint who was praised by everyone, and the saint was praised because he did good things for all the people in the world; however, his chosen successor was unwilling to do things for all the people in the world, and he was praised for his unwillingness to do things, so I really don't know what kind of reasoning is behind this.

The reasoning is not clear, but the beautiful story about Xu Yu has in fact set a pattern for the noble, that is, it is unlikely that anyone who is noble will be able to get the name of noble; and later, the noble will be expanded to the rich, that is, the noble is not related to the rich. For example, Zhuge Liang, when he was "lying high in Longzhong", he could be called noble; later, he assisted Liu Bei and became the prime minister of Shu Han, and in the minds of later generations, he was highly esteemed and almost perfect, but no one said he was noble. Ji An, Su Wu, Wei Zeng, Yan Zhenqing, Shi Kefa, etc., are all known in history for their high moral character, but they are also not rated as noble because of their official work. Of course, the high regard in which these people are held in history is far from being comparable to the word "noble".

Among those who have been called noble in history, Tao Yuanming is about to stand out. Because he was unwilling to bend his back for five buckets of rice (this phrase now has a new interpretation, put aside), he resigned from the Pengze order, return to the countryside, "force farming" for "food and clothing". This kind of situation is not related to the rich and noble, in the minds of the ancients is to become a pure noble.

However, from the viewpoint of Tao Yuanming's model of purity, a person's behavior and thoughts certainly determine whether he has the "reality" of purity; but if in addition to the "reality" can also enjoy the "name" of purity, it is necessary to have some extraordinary skills to be able to do. Tao Yuanming, in addition to being truly noble, was also able to write good poems, which he used to express his thoughts and feelings, and thus became a typical example of nobility. Later on, people like Lin Hejing and Ni Yunlin also became famous for their talent and skill. For example, Lin Hejing, who was a "plum wife and crane child" and lived in seclusion at the Lonely Mountain in Hangzhou, was of course very noble; but he also had to write a perfect song about plums such as "The water is clear and shallow, and the dark scent of the moon floats in the twilight" in order to become a celebrity. Ni Yunlin, who lived in Huishan, Wuxi, was a bit eccentric, but his paintings were free of fireworks and had a unique style, so even his eccentricity was also recited. Of course, a truly noble person does not care about fame at all. Want no name but finally famous, the reason is probably because history needs to set up a noble model, and this kind of model can only be set up through the spread of the results of the talent; if there is no performance, there is no way to spread the word. Secondly, because of the talent could have been an official, but they did not do, which proved to be the real noble. As for that talent is suitable for the requirements of the Palace, the ancients are often not y. In their minds, they seemed to think that as long as they had talent, they could become officials.

Cleverness is a positive word, but it is not a very high evaluation, however, the ancients assessed the cleanliness is quite strict; said strict but no clear standards, and therefore quite vague. This situation is clearer when viewed with examples. For example, Li Bai, only a short period of time as a court poet, but also dare to openly claim that "can break the brow of the power and nobility, so that I can not be happy face", he himself is very hopeful to get the name of noble; however, he is finally not recognized as a model of noble. The reason may be that he is sometimes too eager to use the world's heart, but also extremely conceited, relatively lack of calm and retiring style; and he had the possibility of becoming an official will be proudly claimed that "up in the sky laughing out of the door, my generation is not the people of the artemisia"; not an official to do is proudly claimed that "Chang'an Palace on the nine days, where was once a close minister," "in the past in Chang'an drunken flowers and willows, the five lords and seven nobles **** cups of wine", and so on and so forth, it would be difficult to and noble hooked up. The first thing I'd like to say is that I don't know what to say. However, Li Bai is a great poet, his poem is not only good image thinking, but also naive and exposed, think of what to say. Therefore, it is not a big deal for him not to be recognized as a model of purity. This example only shows that the ancient people were quite strict in assessing the model of purity.

Another example of the ambiguity of purity is that of Meng Haoran. He originally also wanted to be an official, try to see the "Lin Dongting on the Zhang Prime Minister" poem, he wrote "gas vapor cloud dream Ze, wave shaking Yueyang City" such a powerful lines, and then said, "want to help no oars, end of the shame of the Holy Spirit, sit and watch the anglers, in vain, envy of the fish feeling," the heart of the world is extremely obvious. Later, he could not be an official, but also not without complaint, so he said, "not talented, abandoned by the Lord, sick old man," "who is false when the road, the world's scarcity of soulmates," and so on. But Meng Haoran life has not been an official, and "Tang Book - Meng Haoran biography" also recorded interview with Han Chaozong had asked him to go to the capital, want to recommend in the court; but Meng Haoran was happy because of the drink with the deceased, to the point of missing the appointment, but also said, "industry has been drinking, why do not you care about him!" It can be seen that he did not care about being an official. Especially after the return to seclusion, in the lonely mood, but also more than a sense of tranquility. In this way, Meng Haoran is supposed to become a noble model; and some people do think so, try to see Li Bai's "gift Meng Haoran" poem: "I love Meng Haozi, the world known for his style. I love Meng Haoran, his style is known all over the world. His red face abandons his crown, and his white head lies in the pine clouds. Drunken moon is often in the holy, fascinated by the flowers do not serve the king. The mountains are safe to look up to, but I'm not here to greet the Qingfen." ("Drunken moon" sentence with "Wei Zhi-Xu Miao biography" canon, alluding to Meng Haoran because of the drama drink against Han Chaozong's appointment.) It can be seen that in Li Bai's mind, Meng Haoran's innocence is extremely prominent; however, Meng Haoran is still not a recognized model of innocence in history. It can be seen that the comment on innocence is both strict and ambiguous at the same time.

In the contemporary era, purity has been criticized for a long time, but because it is after all a unique concept and value in traditional Chinese culture, it has a deep influence in people's hearts, so although it has been criticized, it has not yet made a real change in many people's concepts; that is to say, the value of purity has not been lowered in people's hearts in fact. As for now, in the process of gradually establishing the mechanism of socialist market economy, all kinds of values are undergoing profound changes. And from the abstract reasoning, noble and market economy is almost never compatible; but the actual situation makes people feel that the concept of noble contains some connotations, its value tendency not only does not see weak, but also has a strong trend, which seems to prove once again the Chinese traditional culture in a series of positive and negative complementary ideas of the mystery. In the market economy, some people can not get rich, then retain a little noble temperament, is not a spiritual comfort, at least to alleviate a little psychological imbalance. That is, for the rich and wealthy and even both rich and noble people, if you can speak a little clear, speak a little high, for people to themselves is no harm. Perhaps this is the reason why many people do not want to completely abandon the unique concept of the traditional culture, and continue to consciously or unconsciously maintain its value.