Characters of the Qing Dynasty

Chinese name: Liu Dakui

Alias: Liu Caifu, Liu Gennan, Liu Haifeng

Nationality: Qing Dynasty

Ethnicity: Han

Place of birth: Xianxian Village (Chenzhou), Tanggou Town, Songyang County, Anhui Province today

Date of birth: 1698

Date of death: 1780

Occupation: Teacher

Belief: Confucianism

Main achievements: The master of Tongcheng prose school

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Representative works: "Collected Poems of Liu Haifeng", "Occasional Essays", etc.

Famous disciples: Yao Nai, Wang Zhuo, Wu Dingcheng, Jin Fang, Qian Lusi

Historical status: One of the three ancestors of Tongcheng

The thesis advocates: Emphasis on the unity of spirit, syllables, and words

Liu Dakui

Liu Dakui (kuí) was born in Tang, Songyang County, Anhui Province He comes from a family of Gougong-students. Both his ancestors and father were scholars, and they were both tutors and engaged in farming. Dakui once said to himself, "My family background is on the side of Wanjiang River, with more than ten acres of thin farmland." When he was young, he studied with his father. Ancestor) representative of the "Tongcheng School".

Dakui has a well-groomed beard and a bold personality. He reads ancient poems and essays with sonorous rhymes. He likes drinking and reciting poems. He was taught by Wu Zhi, a fellow countryman.

In the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign (1726), Liu Dakui first arrived in the capital. He was rich and talented, and his writings moved the capital. After Fang Bao learned of his writings, he often said to others: "How can someone like Fang be so successful! Liu Sheng, the son of Yi, is a great scholar of the country!" (Yao Nai's "Preface to Mr. Liu Haifeng's 80th Life") and praised him as a first-rate figure like Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu. , became famous in the capital for a while, and many scholar-bureaucrats were willing to make friends with him. In the seventh year of Yongzheng's reign (1729) and the tenth year of Yongzheng's reign (1732), he only got the second rank in the Gongsheng examination twice.

In the sixth year of Qianlong's reign (1741), Fang Bao recommended Ying Boxue Hongci, but was suppressed and rejected by Zhang Tingyu, a bachelor. After Zhang knew that Dakui was in the same town, he felt deeply sorry. In the fifteenth year of Qianlong's reign, Zhang Tingyu specially selected him to take the Confucian classics examination, but he was not admitted. After Dakui was 60 years old, he became an edict in Yixian County. He returned home a few years later and lived by the Songyang River. He stopped traveling and taught literature to his students, remaining silent until the end of his life. After his death, he was buried in Liujiatiaojidi, Xiangrong Village, Jinshe Township. The tomb is a provincially protected cultural relic.

Liu Dakui’s literary ideas

Liu Dakui summarized and developed the Tongcheng School prose theory. Emphasize the unity of expression, syllables, and words, and pay attention to the artistic appearance of prose. The Qing Dynasty's "National History·Wenyuan Biography" said: "Although Dakui traveled to Fangbao's school, his literary attainments were different. Fangbaogai obtained the meaning and theory from the classics, and learned the righteousness and method from the writers; Dakui obtained it by combining the ancient people's spirit and syllables. , and combined with the strengths of Zhuang, Sao, Zuo, Shi, Han, Liu, Ou, and Su. His spirit, talent, and magnificence were all reflected in his "Occasion of Essays", which not only affirmed the importance of the content, but also paid attention to the law. ,Skill. He inherited Gui Youguang's creative techniques of applying novel and opera description techniques to prose writing. Emphasizing the beauty of words, sentences, syllables, and the beauty of style and artistic conception is a great improvement compared to empty talk about "writing to convey the Tao." Fang Dongshu once said: "The scholar (Liu Dakui)'s paper focuses on algae, and the assistant minister (Fang Bao)'s paper focuses on method." Fang Bao was deep in Confucian classics and advocated righteousness and method in his articles. His writing was rigorous, concise and clear; Dakui also focused on ancient prose. The charm of "Zhuang", "Sao", "Zuo", "Shi", Han, Liu, Ou and Su is rich in talent and magnificent. Forming the style of "the sun shines brightly in spring, the wind and cloud change abnormally". Not only that, Dakui also had a great influence on the formation of the "Yanghu Sect".

Liu Dakui inherited the simple materialist ideas of Xunqing, Wang Chong, Liu Yuxi, and Liu Zongyuan, and believed that "the way of heaven is completely ignorant", "people's poverty leads to longevity" and the disaster of the family have nothing to do with heaven. His discussion on the "Concept of Reason and Desire" is similar to that of Dai Zhen, advocating that "one's own feelings can lead to the harmony of the world", recognizing people's reasonable desires, so that "the people of the world can live in peace and regain their natural destiny." ." He believed that the relationship between king and minister was only "a matter of love" and pointed out that marriage should be "kind and harmonious".

Therefore, Liu Shipei, a famous literati in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, said that among the Tongcheng School writers, "only Haifeng is more thoughtful." (History lishixinzhi.com) (History lishixinzhi.com)

Liu Dakui’s main disciples

Liu Dakui failed in his official career and devoted his life to teaching disciples. His disciples were Yao Nai and Wang Zhuo of Tongcheng. , Wu Ding of She County, Cheng Jinfang, Qian Lusi of Changzhou, etc. are the most famous. Among Liu Dakui's disciples, Yao Nai learned from Zongfang and Liu, and joined Zuo Shi from Ou Wang. His writing was refined and Xu Zhuorun's style was elegant, pure and pure, and he was the official biography of Tongcheng ancient prose. During the Qianlong period, Qian Lusi (also known as Qian Boquan) and Wang Zhuo jointly recited "Shi Shuo" among Yun Jing of Yanghu and Zhang Huiyan of Wujin. Yun and Zhang began to abandon the study of parallelism and specialized in Tongcheng style ancient prose. Yun's writing was honest and strong, while Zhang's writing was elegant. His disciples include Lu Jirun, Dong Aicheng, Dong Hucheng in Yanghu, Dong Shixi, Zhang Qi in Wujin, Xie Shiyuan, Tang Chunfan, Qin Xiaoxian in Wuxi, Yang Shaowen in Shanyin, Dai Xi in Qiantang and dozens of others, forming their own system and lineage. "Yanghu School". The Mean Square and Liu Family Methods he taught were actually branches of the Tongcheng School in its initial stage.

Liu Dakui’s main works

Liu Dakui is the author of 10 volumes of "Collected Works of Mr. Haifeng", 6 volumes of "Collected Poems of Mr. Haifeng", 1 volume of "Occasional Essays", and edited "Selected Ancient Prose" 48 volumes, 93 volumes of "Selected Poems of Previous Dynasties", 20 volumes of "She County Chronicles", etc. The more representative chapters include "Reply to Wu Dianlin's Book" and "Occasional Notes on Essays".

Historical records of Liu Dakui

Volume 485 of "Manuscript of Qing History" by Zhao Erxun and others·Biography 272·Biography of Liu Dakui Liu Dakui was named Caifu and cultivated Nan, from Tongcheng. Great-grandfather Ri Yao was a tutor in Shexian County in the late Ming Dynasty, and the villagers admired him for his high integrity. After that, he lived many lives, and he became famous in the end. When he entered the capital in his early twenties, Fang Bao had high hopes from all over the world. Those who came to him in the form of Wen Ye did not accept his offer lightly, and he was given a special reward. In Yongzheng, he was on the deputy list twice, but he was not promoted. In the first year of Qianlong's reign, Bao was recommended to the Ci Department. Zhang Tingyu, a great scholar, deposed him and regretted it. For fifteen years, he specially recommended it for his study of Confucian classics, but no more records were included. After a long time, he chose Yixian County to teach and returned home after a few years. He lived on the Songyang River and never came back. He died at the age of eighty-three.

Da Kui has a well-groomed beard and can lead fists to the entrance. Read the ancient poetry aloud and listen to its syllables, and God will understand them. Tongcheng was a scholar of ancient literature since Fang Bao, and at the same time there were Dai Mingshi and Hu Zongxu. His reputation was misfortune, Zongxu was learned, but his reputation was not very obvious. Although Dakui traveled to Baomen and taught his teachings and methods, his talent was unique and he wrote "Haifeng Poetry Collection". Yao Nai succeeded him, and his teachings were popular at that time, especially Dakui. The world then called him "Fang Liu Yao".

Liu Dakui’s historical status

Liu Dakui studied under Fang Bao and was highly praised by Fang Bao. He was also Yao Nai’s teacher and played a connecting role in the history of the development of Tongcheng School. He plays a key role, so he is respected as one of the "Three Ancestors of Tongcheng".

Appreciation of Liu Dakui's works

Poetry

"West

Mountain"

The rain on the West Mountain dyes the morning mist, Thousands of feet of flat hills and hundreds of hectares of pools.

The songs of birds are heard deep in the trees, and ten screens depict the south of the Yangtze River.

Prose

"The Mule"

Riders despise mules but value horses. Those who use Fu Xu's kindness and allow things to happen but not to do so, and force them to use force to make things happen but have no choice but to do so are the so-called despicable people in the world. Treating people with kindness and allowing them to happen, forcing them to do so with threats will make them worse. Those whose behavior stems from their hearts and are unbreakable are the so-called noble people in the world. However, horses are cheap and mules are noble. Although today's husband is not good at anecdotal evidence, but Rong Chu uses power to do good things, is he not a human being? How can a man be inferior to a mule? However, the mule is stubborn and thinks he is unyielding for a long time. Alas! Why is this mule inferior to a horse? (For translation, please see the title link)

"Occasional Notes on Essays" (Excerpt, the full text can be found at the title link)

In the way of writing, God is the mainstay and Qi is the supplement. Cao Zihuan and Su Ziyou's thesis focuses on Qi, that's right. However, the qi changes with the spirit. If the spirit is turbid, the qi will be strong. If the spirit is far away, the qi will be free. If the spirit is great, the qi will be high. If the spirit changes, the qi will be strange. If the spirit is deep, the qi will be calm. Therefore, the spirit is the master of qi. To focus exclusively on reason is to fail to achieve its full potential. If people don't read properly, their words will be empty and sparse. If a person has no economy, then even though his words are cumbersome, they are not suitable for use.

Therefore, when it comes to principles, books, and economics, the actual writing is different if the writing is different. For example, if a great craftsman is working hard and has no earthworks or materials, how can he find the facilities even if he can use all his means? However, there are civil engineering materials, but there are many people who are not good at installing them, so they will not be able to become great craftsmen. Therefore, literati are also great craftsmen. The spirit, syllables, and syllables are the craftsmen's abilities, and the principles, books, and economy are the craftsmen's materials.

"A Trip to the Cave Three Times" (excerpt, the full text can be found in the title link)

The middle room is like a hall, the right room is like a kitchen, and the left room is like an annex. One of the stones is milky and drooping. When you buckle it, its sound is like a bell. The small stone outside the left room stands squarely, buckled like a chime. The ground is made of rocks mixed with earth, and when bumped against it, there is a loud sound of drums. There is a stone on the back like a bed, where you can sit, and I sing loudly with two or three sons. Their sound is loud, like the sound of a bell and a chime. Looking down at the deep stream, the sound of water comes out of the ground. Beyond the creek, there is a green wall, and there is a path underneath it. The firewood collectors are singing songs without stopping.