36 Facts About Han Yu

Han Yu, courtesy name Tuizhi, and commonly known by his posthumous name Han Wengong, was an essayist, Confucian scholar, poet, and government official during the Tang dynasty who significantly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism.

Han Yu is often considered to be among China's finest prose writers.

Han Yu was born in 768, in Heyang in Henan to a family of noble lineage.

Han Yu's father worked as a minor official but died when Han Yu was two.

Han Yu was then raised in the family of his older brother, Han Hui.

Han Yu was a student of philosophical writings and Confucian thought.

Han Yu's family moved to Chang'an in 774 but was banished to Southern China in 777 because of its association with disgraced minister Yuan Zai.

In 792, after four attempts, Han Yu passed the jinshi imperial examination.

Han Yu gained his first central government position in 802 on the recommendation of the military governor.

The Emperor, offended by Han Yu's criticism, ordered his execution.

Han Yu was however saved by his friends at the court, and was thusly demoted and exiled to Chaozhou instead.

Han Yu was then appointed to a high-ranking position after he successfully completed a mission to persuade a rebellious military commander to return to the fold.

Han Yu held a number of other distinguished government posts such as the rector of the Imperial university.

Han Yu sponsored many literary figures of the turn of the ninth century.

Han Yu led a revolt against pianwen, a formal, richly ornamented literary style, advocating a return to a classical, simple, logical, and exact style.

Han Yu promoted Confucianism but was deeply opposed to Buddhism, a religion that was then popular at the Tang court.

Han Yu contrasted the Chinese civilization and barbarism where people were "like birds and wild beast or like the barbarians".

Han Yu considered Buddhism to be of barbarian origin, therefore an unsuitable religion for the Chinese people.

Han Yu was critical of Taoism, which he considered to be a harmful accretion to Chinese culture.

Han Yu nevertheless made the distinction between Taoism, a homegrown religion, and Buddhism, a foreign faith.

Han Yu criticized both of these beliefs for being unable to deal with social problems.

Han Yu considered Confucianism to be distinct from these two beliefs in linking the private, moral life of the individual with the public welfare of the state.

Han Yu emphasized Mencius's method of assuring public morality and social order, and his concept of the expression of Confucian spirituality through political action would later form the intellectual basis for neo-Confucianism.

Han Yu introduced the ideas of the succession of the Way, as well as the concept of the "teacher" who embodies the Way as expressed in "Discourse on Teachers".

Han Yu is often considered the greatest master of classical prose in the Tang.

Han Yu was listed first among the "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song" by Ming Dynasty scholar Mao Kun.

Han Yu considered the classical "old style prose" to be the kind of writing more suited to argumentation and the expression of ideas.

Han Yu wrote in many modes, often with discursiveness and daring experimentation.

However, while Han Yu's essays are highly regarded, his poetry is not considered exceptional.

The poem where Han Yu ruminated on getting old by recounting how he lost his own teeth is "Losing Teeth".

Han Yu was a stylistic innovator in the many genres he wrote in, and was a major influence on the literary and intellectual life of his time as well as later dynasties.

The writings of Han Yu were influential to Song Dynasty writers and poets, in particular Ouyang Xiu who popularized the use of guwen as advocated by Han Yu, a style that would stay as the model for Chinese prose until the revolution in Chinese literature of modern China.

Han Yu's prose reversed the literary decline of eight dynasties, his teachings aided the misguided throughout the world, his loyalty led him to risk the wrath of his master, his courage surpassed the generals of three armies.

All the major accounts of Han Yu's life agree that he had an open and forthright character, which manifested itself in his unswerving loyalty to his friends.

Han Yu led a defense of Confucianism at a time when Confucian doctrine was in decline, and attacked both Buddhism and Taoism which were then the dominant belief systems.

Han Yu's descendants held the title of "Wujing boshi".