Fa Zhen (100–188),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theob ...

Gaoqing,

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ''ho'' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by East Asian artists, poets and writers. The ...

Xuande Xiansheng, was a reclusive scholar who lived in the Eastern Han dynasty. He was the grandfather of

Fa Zheng Fa Zheng (176–220), courtesy name Xiaozhi, was a key adviser to the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Born in a family of high social status and of noble descent, Fa Zheng travelled to Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan ...

, a chief adviser to the warlord

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the H ...

, who founded the state of Shu Han in the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...

era.

Family background

Fa Zhen's

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

was in Mei County (郿縣),

Fufeng Commandery Fufeng ( zh, 扶風), also known as You Fufeng ( zh, 右扶風), was a historical region located in modern western Shaanxi. In early Han dynasty, the administrator of the capital Chang'an and its vicinities was known as ''You Neishi'' (右內史) ...

(扶風郡), which is in present-day Mei County,

Baoji () is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a population of 3,321,853 accord ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

. His ancestor was Tian Fazhang, who was formally known as King Xiang of the Qi state in the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

. Tian Fazhang's descendants changed their family name from "Tian" to "Fa" after the fall of Qi in 221 BCE. During the reign of Emperor Xuan in the

Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a war ...

, Tian Fazhang's descendants were relocated to the capital province and granted a hereditary official position with an income of 2,000 ''dan'' (石) of grain. Fa Zhen's father, Fa Xiong, served as the Administrator (太守) of

Nan Commandery Nan Commandery ( zh, 南郡, "Southern Commandery") was a Chinese commandery that existed from the Warring States period to Tang dynasty. Its territories covered present-day central and western Hubei province, as well as parts of Chongqing. The seat ...

(南郡; around present-day

Jingzhou Jingzhou () is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (''or metro' ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

) during the reign of Emperor An in the Eastern Han dynasty.

Life

Fa Zhen was known for being studious and well versed in readings from different schools of thought. His fame as an erudite scholar spread throughout the

and Gansu areas. He had hundreds of students who came from various locations to study under him. Among them was

Fan Ran Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...

(范冉). The ''Sanfu Jue Lu Zhu'' (三輔決錄注) recorded that when Fa Zhen was still a teenager, he once attended a meeting between his father and his father's subordinates. After the meeting, Fa Xiong asked his son, "(Among them,) Who do you think is a great talent?" Fa Zhen replied, "

Hu Guang HU or Hu may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Hu Sanniang, a fictional character in the ''Water Margin'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature * Tian Hu, one of the antagonists in the ''Water Margin'' * Hollywood Und ...

(胡廣) possesses the calibre of a high minister." He was proven right because Hu Guang rose through the ranks later and held positions among the

Nine Ministers The Nine Ministers or Nine Chamberlains () was the collective name for nine high officials in the imperial government of the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), who each headed one of the Nine Courts and were subordinates to the Three Councillors of ...

and

Three Ducal Ministers The Three Ducal Ministers (), also translated as the Three Dukes, Three Excellencies, or the Three Lords, was the collective name for the three highest officials in Ancient China and Imperial China. These posts were abolished by Cao Cao in 208 AD a ...

. Fa Zhen led an unassuming and modest, but reclusive life. The Administrator of Fufeng Commandery heard of him and invited him for a meeting. Fa Zhen wore a ''fujin'' (幅巾; a type of headgear similar to ''

bokgeon Fujin () is a type of ''guanmao'' (冠帽), a male traditional headgear generally made from a black fabric in China and Korea. The fujin is a form of hood made on one width of cloth, from which its Chinese name derived from. It was usually worn ...

'') to the meeting. The Administrator attempted to use the example of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

serving as a politician in the

Lu state Lu (, c. 1042–249 BC) was a vassal state during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China located around modern Shandong province. Founded in the 11th century BC, its rulers were from a cadet branch of the House of Ji (姬) that ruled the Zhou d ...

to persuade Fa Zhen to serve in the Han government. Fa Zhen replied, "I dared to come here because I saw you treating your guests in a respectful manner. However, if you want me to join the civil service, I will travel farther north beyond the northern mountain and farther south beyond the southern mountain." The Administrator was taken aback by Fa Zhen's response and did not dare to speak again about recruiting Fa Zhen into the civil service. Fa Zhen continued receiving offers to serve in the Han government, but he declined all of them. Tian Ruo (田弱), who was also from Fufeng Commandery, once wrote a memorial recommending Fa Zhen to the imperial court, and recommended Fa again when Emperor Shun visited the Shaanxi region. The emperor consecutively sent out four offers to Fa Zhen to join the civil service, but Fa turned down all of them. Fa Zhen said, "If I can't conceal myself from the rest of the world, can I drink water that will make me deaf to the world?" He then retreated further into seclusion and maintained his refusal to become an official. Guo Zheng (郭正), a friend of Fa Zhen, once said, "You can easily hear news about Fa Zhen, but you can't see him in person easily. He tries to escape from fame but fame follows him; he tries to avoid fame but fame chases him. He is truly a master of hundreds of generations!" Fa Zhen died of natural causes in 188 during the reign of Emperor Ling at the age of 89 (by

East Asian age reckoning Countries in the East Asian cultural sphere (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and their diasporas) have traditionally used specific methods of reckoning a person's numerical age based not on their birthday but the calendar year, and what age one is ...

).(辟公府，舉賢良，皆不就。同郡田弱薦真曰：「處士法真，體兼四業，學窮典奧，幽居恬泊，樂以忘憂，將蹈老氏之高蹤，不為玄纁屈也。臣願聖朝就加衮職，必能唱清廟之歌，致來儀之鳳矣。」會順帝西巡，弱又薦之。帝虛心欲致，前後四徵。真曰：「吾旣不能遯形遠世，豈飲洗耳之水哉？」遂深自隱絕，終不降屈。友人郭正稱之曰：「法真名可得聞，身難得而見，逃名而名我隨，避名而名我追，可謂百世之師者矣！」乃共刊石頌之，號曰玄德先生。年八十九，中平五年，以壽終。) ''Houhanshu'' vol. 83.

References

{{reflist * Fan, Ye. '' Book of the Later Han'' (''Houhanshu''). * Pei, Songzhi. '' Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). 100 births 188 deaths 2nd-century Chinese people

Family background

Life

See also

References