Han Yu
Han Yu (Chinese韩愈/韩愈, Pinyin Hán Yù ) (* 768, † 824 ) was a Chinese poet and essayist.
Life
As an orphan, he went 786 to Chang'an, where he 792 at the fourth attempt was the Jinshi exam. In the following years he began the construction of the literary circle, which he should owe his so- far-reaching influence later.
802 he received his first official posts in the central government, but was soon sent it into exile. Possible reasons for this are his lack of loyalty to the heir to the throne, called his criticism of the conduct of imperial servants, and his advocacy of a tax cut during a period of starvation.
From 808-809 Han Yu was, inter alia, as imperial court inspector in Luoyang, as governor of Chaozhu, finally in the capital Chang'an served as president of the State Normal School, Capital Prefect and Vice President of Ministry officials. During these years he campaigned for a forcible pacification of the insurgent Northeast provinces. 819 he was banished for an ill- received by the Emperor Pamphlet in the then still relatively uncivilized extreme south of the kingdom. After a few years, returned to the capital, where he died soon after from the effects of exile.
Work
Han Yu is regarded as rigorous observer of Confucianism and fought particularly vehement against the other two dominant currents of thought, Daoism and Buddhism. Notably, he occupied himself with the writings of Mencius, whose thoughts he explained to a wide audience and so laid the foundations for the rise of Neo - Confucianism during the Song Dynasty. Even Han Yu went always for a strong central political violence and the absolute supremacy of the emperor.
In the pamphlet, which earned him exile, it is a diatribe against the influence of the Buddhist clergy. Outside The occasion was a ceremony in which every thirty years, a revered as a relic of alleged finger bone of Buddha transferred in solemn procession to the Imperial Palace and is kept there three days. Buddha is barbaric origin, its language is different than that of the Chinese, and one should therefore throw the bones into the fire or into the water. The font was disrespectful, if not understood even as a personal attack on the Emperor.
Han Yu is considered the greatest prose writer of the Tang Dynasty. Contrary to the floral- overloaded manner of the previous centuries, he advocated a revival of the clear and straightforward writing style of the Han Dynasty and became the leader of the Conservative Guwen movement (Chinese古文 运动), the significant influence on Chinese literature up to the should have the modern era. Even Mao Zedong still trained on Han Yu's writings and known to be his student. He was able to make in the field of poetry, in which he, however, does not reach the luminaries of the dynasty, namely Li Bai and Du Fu a certain name.