But there is no record of zhou wenbin in the history books.
At present, there are many movies and TV plays about the four great talents in the late Ming Dynasty, all of which tell the stories of four Suzhou literati: Tang Bohu, Zhu Zhishan, Wen Zhiming and zhou wenbin. But what are the real four gifted scholars in history? Facts have proved that there is no zhou wenbin in history.
Tang, Zhu, Wen and Zhou did exist in history, and they were invented by later scholars. The "Four Scholars of Wu Zhong" in history refers to Tang, Zhu, Wen and Xu, that is, writers of the Ming Dynasty, who are tied with others as "the first seven scholars". Their poetic style is clear, but they are not familiar with calligraphy and painting, and their personalities are different from those of the other three. Probably for this reason, later the literati invented a beautiful zhou wenbin to make up the numbers.
Xu Zhenqing (1479-1511year) was a native of Meili Town, Changshu, and later moved to Wuxian (now Suzhou), a writer of the Ming Dynasty, who was famous for his quatrains and Yangzhou flowers.
Xu Zhenqing was born smart, lacking in arts and sciences. He said, "There are no books at home, but everything.". 16 years old wrote "Qian Xin Collection", which is famous in Wuzhong. However, in his early years, he tried again and again. After reading Li Sao, he wrote a collection of sighs. In the fourteenth year of Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty (150 1 year), he wrote "You Jiang Ji"; In the 16th year of Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty (1503), Wen Zhiming co-edited New Records of Taihu Lake; In the eighteenth year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty (1505), when he heard of the invasion of Tatar, the officers and men failed in the war of resistance against Japan, and he also wrote a long poem "You Yu Tai". In the same year, he was a scholar, and later he was awarded the deputy curator of the left temple of Dali Temple. In the fifth year of Ming Dynasty (15 10), he was demoted to Dr. imperial academy.
Xu Zhenqing occupies a special position in the field of poetry, and there are many poems, known as "Xiong Wen". His early poetry style was close to that of Bai Juyi and Liu Yuxi, and was later influenced by He Jingming and Di Gong. He advocated that "literature should be suitable for Qin and Han Dynasties, and poetry should flourish in Tang Dynasty", and participated in the literary retro movement, becoming one of the "first seven poets" (the other six were He Jingming, Bian Gong, Kang Hai, Wang He). Qin Yi Lu, written by him, only talks about the Han and Wei Dynasties, but ignores the theory of restoring ancient ways after the Six Dynasties. His poems are elegant in style and gallop between Han and Tang Dynasties. Although deliberately retro, there is still a romantic feeling in Wuzhong.
Xu Zhenqing believed in Taoism in his later years and studied health preservation. In the sixth year of Ming Dynasty (15 1 1), Zheng De died in the capital at the age of 33. Among the four gifted scholars, he died the earliest and enjoyed the shortest life. Xu Zhenqing's other works include Di Gong Ji, Yi Ye Sheng Wen and Lin Yi.
Among the four gifted scholars in Wuzhong, Tang Yin, Zhu Yunming and Wen Zhiming are famous for their calligraphy and painting, but Xu Zhenqing is famous for his poetry. A Qing poet Shen Deqian compiled Poems of the Ming Dynasty. Among the four gifted scholars, only Xu Zhenqing and Wen Zhiming, Wen Zhiming recorded only two poems, while Xu Zhenqing collected as many as 23. He is one of the first seven sons, and his reputation is second only to that of Li (Meng Yang) and He (Jingming). When comparing Xu's poems with those of Li and He in the Collection of Poetry in the Ming Dynasty, there is a saying that Li Qixiong, He and Xu are affectionate, which clearly points out the basic feature of poetry-affectionate. Although he is in tune with Li Mengyang, his habits in the Central Plains are not deep, and the wind is still flowing on the left side of the Yangtze River. The style of Wuzhong School is still reserved, which has its own characteristics compared with other poems of the first seven poets. "History of Ming Dynasty" summed up its poetic style with the word "melting the essence of police". He is good at seven words and close to the body, excellent quatrains, clear pronunciation and mellow voice, elegant style and meaningful feelings.
Xu Zhenqing's "Qin Yi Lu" contains many incisive cautionary words, which is one of the few masterpieces in the history of poetry talks in Ming Dynasty and even in the whole history of ancient China. Not to mention the admiration of the former and later seven scholars and their followers, even Qian, who has always taken the ancient as the truth, greatly praised his poetic theory: "Specializing in poetic theory, studying style, exploring elegance, contracting, compromising, preparing the quality of this article, taking grass from the building, deleting a hundred and saving one, and serving the treasure of the sea so far." Mr. Qian Zhongshu, a master of modern literature, even directly used "Tan Yi Road" as the name of his works. Xu Zhenqing, as the "crown of Wuzhong poets" (Ming History, Volume 286), is well deserved.