Ouyang Xiu

Ouyang Xiu (born 1007, Mianyang, Sichuan province, China—died 1072, Yingzhou [now Fuyang], Anhui province) was a Chinese poet, historian, and statesman of the Song dynasty who reintroduced the simple “ancient style” in Chinese literature and sought to reform Chinese political life through principles of classical Confucianism.

Ouyang Xiu’s father, a judge in Mianyang, died when Ouyang was three, and he and his mother went to live with his uncle in Hubei. Although the story that the family was so poor that he had to learn writing in the sand with a reed is apocryphal, they probably lived in straitened circumstances.

In 1030 he placed first in the doctoral examinations and was appointed a judge at the western capital, Luoyang. He was already known as a brilliant young writer, and at Luoyang he befriended the renowned essayist Yin Zhu and the poet Mei Yaochen. Not only did these friendships enhance Ouyang’s status but, more important, they reinforced his strong preference for the simplicity and clarity of the “ancient style.” Some years before, he had read the works of Han Yu, the great master of Tang-dynasty literature, whose pure and easy “ancient style,” free of outworn metaphors and allusions, had greatly impressed him. Eventually, Ouyang’s leadership and advocacy of that style paved the way for a new literary movement.

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In 1034 he was appointed a collator of texts in the imperial library at the capital, Kaifeng. Two years later, Fan Zhongyan, a government official, was banished at the insistence of an imperial counselor for speaking out against certain official practices and institutions; Ouyang immediately defended Fan and attacked the counselor in writing. As a result, Ouyang, too, was banished and demoted to low judicial office in Hubei and Hunan provinces. There he wrote the Xin Wudai shi (“New History of the Five Dynasties”), a history of a period of political chaos lasting through almost the entire 10th century. Ouyang’s strong sense of fairness led him to devote separate sections to political outcasts such as martyrs, rebels, and traitors, a radical departure from previous dynastic histories.

Ouyang was recalled to the capital in 1040 and reinstated in his former office. Three years later, when Fan Zhongyan, who was also back at the capital, and other high officials began to carry out new political policies, Ouyang participated and put forward some propositions for reforming official institutions and military affairs. The reformation was aborted two years later; Fan and other reformers were dismissed. Ouyang was banished to Anhui province, where he served as magistrate of one county after another. Living in the countryside, he often wrote about the beauty of nature and the pleasures of drinking wine. He called himself Zuiweng (“Old Drunkard”), built a pavilion of that name, and wrote an essay about it, “Zuiwengting ji” (“Old Drunkard Pavilion”), which has become one of the most celebrated works in Chinese literature. After a term (1050) as defense commander of the southern capital of Shangqiu, in Henan province, he was recalled to the capital in 1054 to become an academician of the Hanlin Academy.

It had been more than nine years since Ouyang was exiled from the capital, and the new appointment signified a promotion. As always, his moral courage and outspoken manner did not endear him to his colleagues. He was first ordered to write the Xintangshu (“New History of the Tang Dynasty”). In 1057 he was placed in charge of civil service examinations. He favoured those who wrote in the “ancient style” but failed those who employed literary embellishments. For thus imposing his own ideas of literature on the traditional examination system, he was physically attacked by disgruntled candidates. He survived, however, and the literary style championed by him set a new course for Chinese literature. He praised and promoted brilliant young writers such as Su Dongpo, Su Zhe, and Zeng Gong.

When the Xintangshu was finished in 1060, Ouyang was rapidly promoted to the highest councils of state, leaving a remarkable record in social, financial, and military affairs. Eventually his position at court became untenable, however, and at age 60 he was approaching the end of his political career. He was falsely accused of having an affair with his daughter-in-law, a charge that injured his prestige and left him increasingly isolated in the capital. He repeatedly asked to be relieved of his duties, but instead the new emperor sent him to be magistrate successively in Anhui, Shandong, and Henan.

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In Shandong he opposed the reforms of his former protégé Wang Anshi, particularly a system of loans to farmers at a low interest rate, and he refused to carry them out in his districts. In 1071 he was retired with the title of grand preceptor of the crown prince. He intended to make his permanent home in beautiful Anhui, the place of his Old Drunkard Pavilion, but he died within months of his retirement.

Ouyang’s personal influence and many-faceted activity had a lasting effect. As a statesman, he worked to regenerate political life through classical Confucian principles; he criticized fearlessly, and he recommended the promotion of able men who eventually led opposing parties. He was early captivated by writings of Han Yu, whose opposition to Buddhism he shared, though in a more moderate form. As the leader of the literary reform movement in the Northern Song dynasty, Ouyang established monumental prestige with his creative works and was esteemed as one of the “Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song.” He believed that those who grasp the Dao are able to create excellent works. Like Han Yu, Ouyang advocated a simpler, more direct prose to replace the mannered and excessively rhythmic style then popular, and his writings in the resultant guwen style established a model emulated thenceforth. He emancipated the fu prose poems from strict conventions and left superb examples of these as well as of the newer ci (lyrics set to popular tunes) and other literary forms.

In his Xin Wudai shi and Xintangshu, Ouyang stretched the boundaries of the standard history and praised or censured men and institutions through terse but exact descriptions implying moral judgment, in supposed emulation of Confucius. As a scholar, Ouyang ignored later commentaries and instead sought a fresh and immediate understanding of early texts. He contributed to archaeological study and compiled Jigulu (“The Collection of Antiques”), which covers classical documents from the Zhou to the Tang dynasties. As a painter, he helped create the new wenrenhua (literati) style. His preserved writings include not only his histories but more than 150 chapters of poems, state papers, letters, and other smaller pieces. His library consisted of 10,000 books and a large collection of literary artifacts and archaeological records from ancient times. He was honoured posthumously with the title Wenzhong (“literary and loyal”).

Selected works by Ouyang were published in English as Accounts of India and Kashmir in the Dynastic Histories of the T’ang Period (1968) and Love and Time: Poems of Ouyang Xiu (1989).