Yuan Mei is not talented and good at writing poems.

Ganlong for four years (1739), aged 24, took the imperial examination. The test question is "I heard that the jade pendant tinkling in the wind was given", and there is a quip in the poem "If people are suspicious every other day, they are like crossing the river". However, the presidents believe that "if the language involved is not Zhuang, it will be placed in Sun Shan". Fortunately, Yin Jishan, a senior minister of the Ministry of Justice at that time, stepped forward and was not left out of the list.

In the seventh year of Qianlong (1742), he changed his official position and served as a magistrate in Shuyang, Jiangning and Shangyuan. He advocated the rule of law and did not shy away from powerful people, which made him quite successful and won the appreciation of Governor Yin Jishan at that time.

From eight to ten years (1743-1745), he served as the magistrate of Shuyang County.

Ten years after Qianlong's reign, Yuan Mei left Shuyang, and the people lined the streets to bid farewell, climbed the car and drank, and sent him away with tears.

Qianlong fourteen years (1749), 33 years old, his father died, resigned as an official and adopted his mother. He bought the abandoned garden of Sui Dynasty in Jiangning (Nanjing), renamed Suiyuan, built a house and settled down, which was called Suiyuan in history. Qian Ceng, a good friend, wrote a poem praising him: "When crossing the river, he was worthy of being a real celebrity, and he was like an old monk when he left the hospital;" After receiving Qing Xiang for ten years, towels and wild clothes began to correspond. "Yuan Mei also wrote a couplet:" If you don't be a senior official, you will be lazy if you are not blessed; "It is difficult to become an immortal Buddha. I love reading poetry and books." Since then, Yuan Mei has lived a leisurely life in Suiyuan for nearly 50 years. In a letter to his good friend Cheng Jinfang, he said, "My generation is in a prosperous time, not a big quirk or a big birthday." In his later years, Yuan Mei traveled to famous mountains in the south and made friends with poets.

In the 21st year of Qianlong (1756), Yuan Mei resigned at the age of 40 and settled in Jiangning (present-day Nanjing) because of his integrity. He lived at the foot of Xiaocang Mountain, built Suiyuan, called himself a layman, lived with Suiyuan as an old man and lived a leisurely life.

In the fifty-third year of Qianlong (1788), 73-year-old Yuan Mei visited Shuyang again at the invitation of Lu Yi Ting, a famous figure in Shuyang, and people from all walks of life in Shuyang met him 30 miles ahead. Facing so many people who supported him, Yuan Mei wrote a sincere picture of his return to Shuyang. In this essay, Yuan Mei said with deep feelings: "Those who take the people as their home and live in government but cannot forget their land cannot forget their land." Officials love people and people love officials, which is really an example of the head of the family.

In the second year of Jiaqing (1797), Yuan Mei died at the age of 82 and was buried in Baibupo.

Main work

Yuan Mei is the author of Xiao Cang Fang Shan Ji, Sui Yuan Shi Hua (16), Addendum (10), New Qi Xie (24), Continued New Qi Xie (10), Sui Yuan Shi Hua, and New.

Yuan Mei collected a lot of ghost stories, and wrote a note novel Zi Wuyu with concise and clear brushwork, which is as famous as Ji Xiaolan's Notes on Yuewei Caotang.

Yuan's articles and essays, such as "My Sisters' Respect" and "Notes on the Flying Pavilion of Xiajiang Temple", as well as parallel prose, such as "A Book with Jiang Yisheng" and "Rebuilding the Temple Monument" are well known.

Yuan Mei's letter to Ewing

Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House published the Complete Works of Yuan Mei in eight volumes. Among them, Huang Sheng's "On Borrowing Books from Kokura Fang Shan Collection" was included in the first semester of the second grade of the last education edition (Lesson 22).

A Letter to You Yin is a letter to your friend You Yin. The content is that Xie You presented paintings and praised his paintings. It tells the story of friends learning painting art from each other, appreciating each other and giving gifts.

Calligraphy is smart and elegant, natural and leisurely, which accords with Yuan Mei's thought of "natural spirit". Although the statutes are a little short, there are many talented people, which is also a good structure.

Major achievements

Yuan Mei was the most famous and influential poet in the mid-Qing Dynasty, ranking first among the "Three Great Poets of Qianlong" and occupying a leading position in the field of poetry for nearly 50 years. He is also a county magistrate with a good reputation. Yuan Mei is a family of its own, just like "Southern Yuan and Northern Ji". Yuan Mei is also a gourmet. He wrote the famous Menu with Garden, which is an important work that systematically discusses the cooking techniques and dishes in the north and south of China.

Yuan Mei, Zhao Yi and Zhang Wentao (Chuanshan) are also called the three great masters of Ganjia School. Yuan Mei likes to call people kind, reward literati, advocate female literature and recruit female disciples, which was accepted by the poetry circle at that time.

Yuan Mei advocated writing poems to express temperament and opposed Confucian poetry teaching. Some poems criticize Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism in Han Dynasty, declaring that "the Six Classics are all dross". Yuan Mei's literary thought also covered literary theory, literary development, stylistic function and so on, which was of progressive significance at that time.

Yuan Mei's creative and talented poems are unique in the field of poetry that emphasizes Confucian classics and learning. Yuan Mei's ancient poems have attracted much attention for a long time. In fact, the creation of classical poetry embodies the genius characteristics of Yuan Mei's poetry, full of vitality and creativity, and presents aesthetic characteristics different from modern poetry creation.

Yuan Mei has been active in the field of poetry for more than 40 years, with more than 4,000 poems, which basically embodies his theory of soul, unique style and certain achievements. The main feature of the ideological content of the Yuan Dynasty is to express the spirit, express the true feelings, interests and sentiments in personal life, which are often unconstrained and sometimes abrupt. In art, he does not imitate the past, sticks to one pattern, expresses his thoughts and feelings with skillful skills and fluent language, and captures the artistic image. Pursue the artistic style of truth, nature, freshness and agility. Among them, there are two kinds of outstanding representative works: one is live lyric travel poems, and the other is poems mourning the past and satirizing the present.

Yuan Mei combined "Qi" with "knowledge", based on temperament, intelligence and knowledge, and pursued truth, novelty and liveliness. On the whole, Yuan Mei does not object to the emphasis on melody, decorative sound and elegant allusions in the form of poetry, but only demands subordination to the spirit of expression.

Yuan Mei's theory of spiritual nature is a step forward and comprehensive compared with the public security school, and is considered as the main representative of the theory of spiritual nature in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Literary proposition

Yuan Mei

Yuan Mei is a family of its own, just like "Southern Yuan and Northern Ji". Advocate "the theory of spiritual nature". It is advocated that you should write your own personality when writing poems, and that "from 300 poems to now, all those who preach poems have spirituality, regardless of piling up". Advocate to express one's mind directly and write one's own "temperament experience". It advocates the combination of "spirit" and "knowledge", takes temperament, intelligence and education as the creative basis, and takes "truth, novelty and liveliness" as the creative pursuit, thus combining innate conditions with acquired efforts to create good products, and holds that "poetry is written with a pen, such as beauty's hair, skin and smile, which are innate; Poetry and fu are used, such as beauty's clothes and jewelry, the day after tomorrow. " It advocates that literature should evolve and have the characteristics of the times, and opposes Tang Zong and Song.

Yuan Mei ridiculed the verve school as "poor and arrogant", the style school as "puppet show", the texture school as "bone shop" and the Zongsong school as "beggars move".

Yuan Mei opposed Shen Deqian's theory of "gentleness and gentleness" and thought that "Confucius' theory of poetry is credible and also" interesting and resentful "; If you don't keep your word, you will be' gentle and honest'. "It is advocated that parallel prose and prose should be paid equal attention to, and parallel prose and prose, like the parity in nature, should not be neglected. The relationship between the same source and different current, the coexistence of two peaks and the diversion of two waters. Poetry is fresh and meaningful, flowing freely. Writing landscape poems is elegant and elegant. Among them, Zheng Xie, Zhao Yi, Zhang Wentao and Huang Jingren are poets with similar thoughts and styles.

Yuan Mei's literary thought has the viewpoint of development, which has impacted the feudal orthodox literary view and formalism. In addition, he emphasized the existence value of parallel prose as American literature, which has certain positive significance. However, most of his poems are about trivial matters around him, full of romantic ballads and lacking social content, and some of them are often flashy or even superficial.

Yuan Mei put forward the theory of "spiritual nature" and objected to Confucian poetry teaching. Some poems attack Confucianism in Han Dynasty and Neo-Confucianism in Zhu Cheng, claiming that "the Six Classics are all dross".

Yuanmei manual Zhu tong sa wan Lu

Yuan Mei advocated expressing one's mind directly, attached importance to the nature of words, opposed the archaism and emphasized the spirit of self-creation, which was of progressive significance in the history of China literature.

Yuan Mei advocated expressing temperament in poetry, revealing the "theory of soul" after Gong Ming School. This literary debate is consistent with the progressive literary, philosophical and historical thoughts of Wu, Cao Xueqin, Zheng Xie and others at that time.

Yuan Mei believed that poetry should have the poet's "true self" without losing childlike innocence, and opposed the traditional Confucian poetics, believing that colourful poems could be used. Yuan Mei's poetics brought a fresh wind to the poetry circle in Qing Dynasty and played a positive role in sweeping away imitations. His poems mostly express personal leisure or lament the past and satirize the present, and are often integrated with nature, full of interest and artistic conception, and pursue a beautiful, smooth, fresh and smart artistic style. Prose is sharp in thought, and some works directly expose the darkness of reality and the corruption of officials. Lyric works are sincere in emotion, full of appeal, fresh and natural, and vivid in writing.

Yuan Mei advocated writing poems with his own personality, saying that "there are three hundred poems, and the school of texture is Ling".

Yuan Mei was also one of the main poetic theorists in Ganjia period. Following the Gong 'an School and Jingling School (Zhongtan School) in the Ming Dynasty, they held the theory of spiritual nature. Sui Yuan Shi Hua, Supplementary Poems and Continued Poems are his main poems. Apart from expounding the theory of spiritual nature, Suiyuan Poetry has many comments on the works of poets in past dynasties, the evolution of schools and the poetry circles in Qing Dynasty. "Continued Poetry" imitates Si Kongtu's Twenty-four Poems. It has thirty-six steps, and it summarizes the specific experience of poetry creation process, method, cultivation and skill with four-character rhythm poems, which is called "painstaking creation".

Compared with the public security school, Yuan Mei's theory of spiritual nature is more anti-Taoist and anti-traditional, pointing out that poetry is not a means of preaching, but to express spiritual nature.

Yuan Mei was a litterateur in Qing Dynasty and an advocate of "the theory of spiritual nature". He took literature as his lifelong career. Soul is also temperament. He believes that "a poet has a human temperament, and there is no poem outside his temperament." He also said: "All those who preach poetry are spiritual, regardless of piling up." He believes that poetry is the inner voice and the true expression of temperament. The article is best at parallel prose, winning the physique of the Six Dynasties and enjoying the reputation of articles for decades. He also looks like a composition. He is frank and frank, hates sitcoms, but attaches great importance to friendship. After the death of his friend Shen Fengsi, Yuan Mei offered sacrifices to sweep the grave every year, never stopping for 30 years, and his friendship with his friends was profound and touching.

Healthy gourmet

Yuan Mei, who is also a gourmet, is the author of "Famous Cuisine with Garden", which is an important work that systematically discusses the cooking skills and dishes of North and South in Qing Dynasty. The book was published in the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong (1792). The book is divided into fourteen aspects, such as information list, warning list, seafood list, miscellaneous list, dim sum list, rice porridge list, tea and wine list and so on. In the list of instructions, he said at the beginning: "The way to learn, the foresight, and the diet." This article can be used as a general rule of diet, and the warning is simple: "For a politician, it is better to eliminate a shortcoming than to promote an advantage. If you can eliminate the disadvantages of diet, you will think more than half and make a warning list. " What is worth mentioning in this paper is the Tea and Wine List, which comments on the famous teas in the north and south of China, and also records many delicious teas, which are quite distinctive.

Among them, there is a kind of "noodle tea", that is, after the noodles are boiled with coarse tea juice, sesame sauce, milk and other condiments are added, and the noodles exude a faint tea fragrance and taste delicious; "Tea leg" is a ham smoked with tea, which is fiery red in color, delicious in meat and full of tea fragrance. It can be seen that Yuan Mei is a person who has a good knowledge of tea and diet.

No-ear meal means a pseudonym. Second, give up eye food. The so-called eye food refers to gluttony. Let the guests not eat with their mouths, but feel sincere from the excitement of folding dishes. Three precepts pierce the heart. Refers to the novel picture and confused thinking. I was stunned by temptation. The food is delicious, and it is "tried to the extreme" as soon as it comes out of the pot. After a pause, they become "moldy clothes". Although they are brilliant, their colors are dull and they are "disgusting". The five precepts fall off the set. Yuan Caizi described it in words: "Tang poetry is the best, but the test posts with five words and eight rhymes are not selected by famous artists." Why not? " It is also because of its settlement. Poetry is still like this, and food is also appropriate. "At that time, the official banquet menu was named sixteen dishes, eight baskets (sound guǐ ancient food container, round mouth and ears) and four kinds of snacks. It's called a Manchu banquet, eight snacks and ten dishes. " All kinds of common names are bad habits in the kitchen. "

Diligent and loving the people

Luo Pin painted a portrait of Yuan Mei.

The prosperity of eight to ten years is the so-called "prosperity of prosperity", but among the people in Shuyang, it is the sloppy and fierce reality of thousands of families. Shuyang County has "300,000 hungry people and countless hungry people".

Faced with this tragic situation of "hunger and cold on the road", Yuan Mei picked up a pen dipped in blood and tears to express his feelings: "It is difficult to die a fair death and starve to death. Wild dogs are nothing but skin and bones. They hate being parents and don't want to have eyes and ears. " With a sharp pen tip, Yuan Mei mercilessly lashed those corrupt officials who abused tigers and locusts regardless of people's life and death. He wants to "save the country and the people, and ultimately benefit the people." So soon after he took office, he opened a warehouse for disaster relief, reduced taxes, led the people to control water, and built the famous Liutangzi weir. Take various disaster-resistant measures to restore and develop agricultural production and achieve rapid results.

Yuan Mei also strictly controls family members, subordinates and officials, and is not allowed to disturb and harm the people. According to historical records, Yuan Mei "sat in the imperial court all day", and whenever "the government and the people did everything they could, there was no point in staying in a small lawsuit", major cases were closed as soon as possible, and with good governance, the social order was more stable. Yuan Mei had contacts with cultivators, silkworm girls, craftsmen, vendors and literati. He not only cares about all kinds of farming, but also enters the market. "He cares about the price of rice and asks Jiangdong" and cares about people's livelihood. In the feudal era, due to the limitation of class, it was commendable that Yuan Mei could do this, and the people all called him a "big official".