Chapter 16 2. Prosperous writings of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties

The Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, especially the Sui and Tang Dynasties, when the nation was united and the country prospered, created a splendid Chinese feudal culture. Various academic works continued to emerge, making the variety, type, and quantity of books far exceed those of the previous generation. During this period, a hundred flowers bloomed in literature, which was rich and colorful.In terms of parallel prose, there are the four masters of the early Tang Dynasty represented by Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin, and King Luo Bin; ; In terms of prose, there are Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Li Ao, Huangfu Shi and other famous writers.Han Yu was the leader of the ancient prose movement in the Tang Dynasty, and was praised by later generations, so he was known as "the decline of the eight generations of literature".Famous poets include Wen Tingyun, Wei Zhuang, Li Yu, Feng Yansi and so on.They all have their own collections of poems and essays, which occupy a very important position in the history of Chinese literature.According to the "Complete Tang Wen" compiled by Dong Gao and others in the 19th year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1814), more than 3,000 writers from the Tang and Five Dynasties were collected, and more than 18,400 articles were written.The "Quan Tang Poetry" compiled by Peng Dingqiu and others during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty collected more than 48,900 poems from the Tang and Five Dynasties, with lyrics from the Tang and Five Dynasties, and more than 2,200 authors.

In the Tang Dynasty, a new kind of literature appeared—legendary novels.Legendary literature is a model of notebook novels for later generations. Its commentary developed from folk creations such as "Bianwen" and "Successful Talks" opened the way for the generation of Zhanghui novels in later generations.There are dozens of extant legendary novels in the Tang Dynasty, most of which are widely popular, and most of them are collected in "Taiping Guangji" edited by Li Fang in the Northern Song Dynasty. ,, "Li Wa Biography" and so on.

The prosperity of literary creation has led to the rapid development of books that are convenient for scholars to find chapters and excerpt sentences.Most of the tomes handed down from generation to generation include "Yiwenleiju" edited by Ouyang Xun and others during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, "Beitang Shuchao" edited by Yu Shinan in the early Tang Dynasty, and "Beginners" written by Xu Jian and others during Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty And Bai Juyi's "Bai Shi Liu Tie" and so on. Historiography in the Sui and Tang dynasties also had significant development.The first is the establishment of the official history book system, and the second is the innovation in historical works.

In the thirteenth year of Emperor Kaihuang (593), Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty issued an edict prohibiting private compilation of national history. In the third year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan (629), a history museum was set up to specialize in national history, supervised by the prime minister. This is an important change in the compilation of Chinese history books. Since then From then on, it became the custom of successive dynasties that the prime minister supervised the revision of national history.In the early Tang Dynasty, under the supervision of the prime minister, the "Book of Jin", "Book of Liang", "Book of Chen", "Book of Northern Qi", "Book of Zhou", "Southern History", "Northern History" and "Sui Shu" were compiled. "Wait.

In addition to the official history books, the first general history devoted to laws and regulations appeared in the Tang Dynasty - "Tong Dian" (written by Du You), and "Shi Tong" written by Liu Zhiji, a theoretical work on history. "Tong Dian" is a special history of economy, politics, rites and music, laws and regulations, which originated from biographical history books.It not only created the method of compiling the canonical records, but also stored a large number of ancient documents.As a political book of general history, it describes various systems and historical events, always in chronological order, from ancient times to the Tang Dynasty.Among them, "Food and Goods Code", "Official Officials Code", "Military Code" and "Border Defense Code" are the best.

Under the influence of "Tong Dian", Zheng Qiao in Song Dynasty compiled "Tong Zhi";During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there were "Xu Tong Dian", "Qing Tong Dian", "Xu Tong Zhi", "Qing Tong Zhi", "Xu Wen Tong Kao" and "Qing Wen Wen Tong Kao", called "Nine Tongs". .Together with the "Tong Kao of Qing Xu Documents" edited by Liu Jinzao in modern times, they are collectively called "Ten Tongs", which is a set of important documents about our country's laws and regulations.

Liu Zhiji's "Shi Tong" is a systematic historical review monograph. The main content of "Shi Tong" is the evaluation of the meaning, origin and compilation style of history books, as well as the elaboration of Liu Zhiji's own views and opinions on history revision.Liu Zhiji's "Shitong" has opened up the road of historical criticism in our country. There are also many works on geography in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.In the Sui Dynasty, there were "Records of the Products and Soil Customs of Zhuzhou", "District Yutu Zhi", "Zhuzhou Tujing Ji" and so on.In the Tang Dynasty, there were "Pictures of Guanzhong Longyou and Shannan Kyushu" by geographer Jia Dan, and "Yuanhe County Chronicles" by Li Jifu. "Yuanhe County Chronicles" is "Yuanhe County Maps", which was changed to County Chronicles after the loss of maps in the Northern Song Dynasty. It took the forty-seven towns at that time as the standard, and recorded the history, mountains and rivers of prefectures, prefectures, and counties in sub-towns. , Daoli, tribute and other items are the earliest and relatively complete general records in existence.In addition, there is Xuanzang's "Da Tang Western Regions", which records Xuanzang's personal experience in the Western Regions for seventeen years and the mountains, rivers, cities, products, customs, etc. of more than 100 countries in the Western Regions. An important document on the ancient historical geography of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, etc.

In terms of science and technology, astronomy, calendars, and arithmetic have all developed considerably, and the "Wuyin Calendar", "Linde Calendar" and "Dayan Calendar" appeared. These are the three most valuable calendars in the Tang Dynasty.In terms of medicine, Sun Simiao, an outstanding medical scientist in the Tang Dynasty, summed up the medical theories and achievements of prescriptions of his predecessors, combined with his own clinical experience and investigations, and wrote "Qian Jin Fang" and "Qian Jin Yi Fang", a collection of medical achievements. He pioneered compound prescriptions, and analyzed the characteristics of women and children, and advocated the establishment of an independent department.Sun Simiao was revered as the king of medicine by later generations.In addition, there is Wang Tao's "Secrets of Outer Taiwan".In terms of pharmacology, the Tang Dynasty completed the world's earliest pharmacopoeia "Materia Medica" formulated by the state.During Emperor Gaozong's time, Su Jing and others compiled "Tang Xin Materia Medica".This book is divided into three parts: Materia Medica, Medicine Maps, and Tujing, and contains 844 kinds of medicines. It was promulgated in the fourth year of Xianqing (659).

Confucian classics have experienced ups and downs, and by the Tang Dynasty there were already divergent opinions and complicated chapters.When Emperor Taizong ordered Yan Shigu to examine and finalize the text of the "Five Classics", compile the final version of the "Five Classics" and issue it to the world.He also ordered Kong Yingda and others to compile and annotate a unified interpretation of the "Five Classics of Justice", and implement the policy of "unifying in one statue", which ended the situation in which each faction of Confucianism held its own views since the Eastern Han Dynasty.However, Lu Deming, a famous phonologist and exegesis expert in the Sui and early Tang Dynasties, aimed at the phenomenon that the classics at that time were too simple in pronunciation, kept silent for a long time, and the righteousness became more obedient. On the basis of the scriptures, he wrote the book "Classic Interpretations", which lists the similarities and differences of each scripture in detail, and each word has its own sound and meaning.In the preface of this book, the origin and development of Confucian classics are also described in detail, and the Confucian classics of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties are summarized.

The Sui and Tang dynasties were a period of great development of my country's religious undertakings. During this period, the translation of Buddhist scriptures reached its peak, and the number of Taoist classics also increased greatly.According to the statistics of "Kaiyuan Shijiaolu", there are a total of 64 scriptures and biography published in the Sui Dynasty, with 301 volumes.In the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang’s activity of translating scriptures in Chang’an after returning to China was the most prominent.In the third year of Zhenguan (629), Xuanzang went to the Western Regions to seek the Dharma. After traveling through more than 110 countries, he returned to China in the 19th year of Zhenguan (645) with 520 Sanskrit classics and 650 volumes.He successively engaged in the translation of scriptures in Hongfu Temple and Ci'en Temple in Chang'an. It lasted 19 years and translated seventy-five volumes of Mahayana scriptures such as "Maha Prajna Sutra" and "Yogi's Land Theory". Five volumes.According to statistics, there are 372 volumes of translated scriptures in the Tang Dynasty, with 2,159 volumes.Buddhist writings by Chinese monks in the Sui and Tang dynasties also continued unabated.Tang Shi Daoxuan's "Guang Hongming Collection" is the second largest collection of Chinese Buddhist poetry and prose after "Hongming Collection", with a total of more than 130 works.In addition, Daoxuan also has 30 volumes of "Continued Biography of Eminent Monks".Famous catalogs of Buddhist scriptures include the fifteen volumes of "Three Treasures of Past Dynasties" written by Fei Changfang of the Sui Dynasty, and the twenty volumes of "Kaiyuan Shijiaolu" written by Shi Zhisheng of Tang Dynasty.There are also 100 volumes of the Buddhist book "Fayuan Zhulin".

The Sui and Tang dynasties respected Taoism, and the number of Taoist classics increased greatly. According to "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi", there are 377 volumes and 1,216 volumes.The emperors of the Tang Dynasty took the Taoist Taishang Laojun as the Taishang Xuanyuan Emperor.Xuanzong took Lao, Zhuang, Lie, and Wen as the "Four Sons' Classics" and opened a course to select scholars.Although Anshi's Taoist scriptures were damaged a lot, the government collected more than 6,000 volumes of Taoist scriptures in the first year of Emperor Suzong (760-762), and the number increased to 7,000 volumes after rewriting in the reign of Daizong Dali (766-779).