Yuan Zhen

Yuan Zhen was born in 779, around the time of Emperor Dezong's ascension to the throne. He was a 10th-generation descendant of Tuoba Shiyiqian, the grandfather of Northern Wei's founder Emperor Daowu, who was posthumously honored Emperor Zhaocheng after Northern Wei's founding. Yuan Zhen's male ancestor line was renamed Yuan, from Tuoba, when Emperor Xiaowen changed Xianbei names to Han names in 496. Subsequently, ancestors of Yuan Zhen's served as officials of the Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty. His grandfather Yuan Fei () served as a county secretary general, while his father Yuan Kuan () served as a low-level official at the ministry of justice, as well as secretary to an imperial prince. Yuan Kuan died when Yuan Zhen was seven, and Yuan Zhen was raised by his mother Lady Zheng, who was considered an intelligent woman. As the household was poor, she did not send Yuan Zhen to school, but taught him to read and write herself. It was said that Yuan became capable of writing at age eight, and at age 14 passed the imperial examination for understanding two Confucian classics. At age 23, he was made a copyeditor at the Palace Library. == During Emperor Xianzong's reign ==

In 806, when Yuan Zhen was 27, during the reign of Emperor Dezong's grandson Emperor Xianzong, Yuan underwent a special imperial examination before Emperor Xianzong dealing with strategic thinking, and when the list of 18 examinees who passed the examination was announced, Yuan was ranked first — in a group that included such individuals as Bai Juyi, Dugu Yu (), Xiao Mian, and Shen Chuanshi (). As a result, Yuan was made You Shiyi (), a junior advisor at the legislative bureau of government (). Yuan had an outspoken personality, and after being put into an advisorial post, he started submitting suggestions to Emperor Xianzong. In particular, because the officials Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi, who dominated the court of Emperor Xianzong's father Emperor Shunzong — who had previously served as Emperor Shunzong's staff members while Emperor Shunzong was crown prince — were at that time denounced as frivolous and power-hungry, Yuan submitted an essay detailing what he saw as qualifications that the crown prince's and other imperial princes' staff members should have, and Emperor Xianzong was impressed upon reading it. Yuan further submitted proposals involving the defense of the northwestern borders with the Tibetan and Uyghur Empires. Emperor Xianzong, in response, summoned him and requested opinions on strategies to take there. As a result, though, the ruling officials at the time were jealous of Yuan, and they had him sent out of the capital Chang'an to serve as the sheriff of Henan County (), one of the two counties making up the eastern capital Luoyang. Yuan subsequently left governmental service for some time while observing a mourning period after his mother's death. Once the mourning period was over, he was recalled to governmental service, to serve as Jiancha Yushi (), a mid-level imperial censor. While stopping at the imperial messenger post at Fushui (敷水, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), Yuan got into a dispute with an imperial eunuch messenger — variously reported as either Liu Shiyuan () (by the Old Book of Tang) or Qiu Shiliang (by the New Book of Tang), in which the eunuch, as a result of the dispute, hit Yuan's face and injured him — Emperor Xianzong ruled that Yuan had overstepped his authorities as censor and demoted him to serve as the logistics officer at Jiangling Municipality (江陵, in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), despite defenses submitted on his behalf by Li Jiang, Cui Qun, and Bai. While at Jiangling, Yuan wrote many poems, and his style and Bai's were both popular and referred by the populace as Yuanhe Style () — Yuanhe being Emperor Xianzong's era name. The eunuch monitor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered at Jiangling), Cui Tanjun (), was impressed by Yuan's talents and did not treat him as a subordinate, but rather with great respect; he also often collected Yuan's poems and recited them. Meanwhile, sometime thereafter, Yuan was made the military advisor to the prefect of Tong Prefecture (通州, in modern Nantong, Jiangsu), while Bai was made the military governor of Jiang Prefecture (江州, in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi). Despite the distance between the two, they often wrote poems to each other, which often ran 30 to 50 lines, sometimes up to 100 lines. The people of the Yangtze River region became impressed by their poems and often read and studied them. Many of Yuan's poems showed his sadness at being exiled from the capital. == During Emperor Muzong's and Emperor Jingzong's reigns ==

In 820, by which time Li Heng was emperor (as Emperor Muzong), Cui Tanjun was recalled to Chang'an, and he offered to Emperor Muzong, as a gift, a collection of over 100 poems by Yuan Zhen. Emperor Muzong was pleased, and asked Cui where Yuan was at that point, and Cui replied that Yuan was serving in an office lacking authority. That same day, Emperor Muzong promoted Yuan to be Cibu Langzhong (), a supervisorial official at the ministry of rites, and further put him in charge of drafting edicts for Emperor Muzong. Meanwhile, during the campaign against Zhu and Wang, Wang had put Niu Yuanyi (), a general loyal to the imperial government, under siege at Shen Prefecture (深州, in modern Hengshui, Hebei). Yu Fang (), an advisor to an imperial prince, who wanted to submit an extraordinary suggestion to gain a promotion, suggested to Yuan that Yu's friends Wang Zhao () and Yu Youming () be sent to Wang Tingcou's Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) to try to persuade Wang Tingcou's officers to lift the siege on Shen Prefecture. Yuan accepted the idea, and, as part of the plan, gave Wang Zhao and Yuan Youming some 20 commission certificates to give them to Wang Tingcou's officers. A man named Li Shang () heard of the plan, but misinterpreted this as a plot by Yuan and Yu Fang to assassinate Pei. He reported this to Pei, but Pei took no action. He then reported it to the Left Shence Army (). After Emperor Muzong received report of this, he had Han Gao investigate the matter. After the investigation was complete, it was concluded that there was no evidence that Yuan intended to assassinate Pei, but as a result, both Pei (who by this point had returned to Chang'an and was again serving as chancellor) and Yuan were relieved of their chancellor posts, less than four months after Yuan was made chancellor. Yuan was sent out of the capital to serve as the prefect of Tong Prefecture (同州, in modern Weinan). When a number of advisorial officials subsequently submitted objections that Yuan's punishment was too light, Emperor Muzong stripped Yuan of one of his ceremonial posts as the director of Changchun Palace (長春宮, in Tong Prefecture). While the investigations were still ongoing, the mayor of Jingzhao Municipality (京兆, i.e., the Chang'an region), Liu Zungu (), was putting Yuan's house under constant guard. When Yuan complained about this, Emperor Muzong punished Liu. After Yuan served for two years at Tong Prefecture, he was made the governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) of Zhedong Circuit (浙東, headquartered in modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang) as well as the prefect of its capital prefecture Yue Prefecture (). Yuan retained a staff that was also talented in literature, and they took tours of the picturesque locations of the circuit three or four times per month. They also often wrote poems. His deputy Dou Gong (), in particular, became a famed poet himself, and they often wrote poems to each other. Meanwhile, while at Zhedong, Yuan also became known for being corrupt and gathering wealth. He served there for eight years, including the entire brief reign of Emperor Muzong's son Emperor Jingzong. == During Emperor Wenzong's reign ==

In 829, by which time Emperor Jingzong's brother Emperor Wenzong was emperor, Yuan Zhen was recalled to Chang'an to serve as Shangshu Zuo Cheng (), one of the secretaries general of the executive bureau (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng). He tried to reorganize the bureau, and he expelled seven officials under him who had poor reputations. However, as Yuan himself was not known for exemplary ethics, he did not receive much support from other officials. When the chancellor Wang Bo died in 830, Yuan tried to use his connections to again become chancellor, but was unable to do so. Instead, he was sent out to Wuchang Circuit (武昌, headquartered in modern Wuhan, Hubei) to serve as its military governor and the prefect of its capital prefecture E Prefecture (). He became ill suddenly in fall 831 and died within a day of falling ill. He was given posthumous honors. As his son Yuan Daohu () was then only two years old, his funeral was hosted by his cousin Yuan Ji (). He left a collection of 100 volumes of poems, draft edicts, commemorative texts, and essays. He also compiled a 300-volume work collecting ancient and contemporary legal rulings. ==Poetry==

As an official, Yuan Zhen pursued his poetic activities under during Emperor Muzong's and Emperor Jingzong's reigns, both his own taking an active interest in the works of other poets. Yuan Zhen was part of the New Yuefu Movement, which involved poets interested in reviving some of the aspects of the yuefu style folk ballad verse popular during the Han dynasty, with an interest in poetry as a form of political and societal critique. The group includes Bai Juyi (considered to be their leader), Zhang Ji, and Wang Jian. Yuan Zhen had four of his poems selected for inclusion in the famous poetry anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems. These were translated by Witter Bynner with the following titles: • "An Elegy I" • "An Elegy II" • "An Elegy III" • "The Summer Palace" The three "Elegies" are laments for his wife who died young. ==Prose==

The Biography of Ying-ying is one of the most widely read and adapted chuanqi, or short stories in the classical language. It has been translated by James Hightower ("Yüan Chen and 'The Story of YIng-ying'" HJAS 33 (1973): 90–123), Arthur Waley (available in the Anthology of Chinese Literature by Cyril Birch, vol. I. (). An online translation by Patrick Moran includes the Chinese text. here. ==See also==

• Yuan Zhen 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, copyrighted 1994-2005 • Bian, Xiaoxuan, "Yuan Zhen". Encyclopedia of China (Chinese Literature Edition), 1st ed. • Old Book of Tang, vol. 166. • New Book of Tang, vol. 174. • Zizhi Tongjian, 237, 238, 241, 242. • == External links ==