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 Theobald ...
Yanfu (彥輔), was a Chinese calligrapher, politician who was one of the pure conversation leaders in the Jin Dynasty, and an individual with a literary reputation by others at that time.
Yue Guang was born to a poor family and lived in the lowest social class, but was appreciated by several high-ranking government officials due to his moral integrity and ability in his childhood. With their assistance, Yue Guang began his political career and served as assistant minister, archer coordinator, and tutor of the
crown prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...
. He was later involved in a complicated political struggle, and his leader lost trust in him because of his identity as the father-in-law of another political party’s leader.
__TOC__
, politics became increasingly corrupt and class contradictions became more apparent. At the same time, there was a confrontation and struggle between the two groups led by
Cao Shuang
Cao Shuang (died 9 February 249), courtesy name Zhaobo, was a Chinese military general and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the eldest son of Cao Zhen, a prominent general of Wei. He initially held ...
and
Sima Yi
Sima Yi ( ; 179 CE – 7 September 251 CE), courtesy name Zhongda, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
He formally began his political career in 208 un ...
, which the latter won. In the second year of (265),
Sima Yan
Emperor Wu of Jin (; 236 – 16 May 290), personal name Sima Yan (), courtesy name Anshi (安世), was the grandson of Sima Yi, nephew of Sima Shi and son of Sima Zhao. He became the first emperor of the Jin dynasty after forcing Cao Huan, ...
forced the last emperor of Cao Wei,
Cao Huan
Cao Huan () (245/246–302/303), courtesy name Jingming, was the fifth and last emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. On 4 February 266, he abdicated the throne in favour of Sima Yan (later Emperor Wu of the Jin dyn ...
, to abdicate the throne and establish the Jin dynasty.
Western Jin (266-316) is one of two main divisions in the history of Jin, which was established by Sima Yan, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Jin. After the kingdom of Wu was eliminated to improve the poor situation left by the war, Sima Yan took
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...
as his capital and adopted a series of measures throughout the country, such as focusing on agricultural production and protecting the interests of the gentry. These measures contributed to freeing the people from the war and making the country work on development. While emphasizing the development of production, Sima Yan strongly opposed extravagance and advocated frugality. Yue Guang was promoted to a higher position during that period.
After a period of stable development, the royal family of Western Jin gradually decayed. Sima Yan became immersed in his achievements and forgot what he advocated. In order to dominate the country and bolster the power of the Sima clan, most of his relatives were awarded different lands, which resulted in the War of the Eight Princes, since every prince wanted to rule the whole country rather than only part of it. A succession of crises caused higher taxes and destroyed the social economy. However, the ruling classes were still busy contending for power and after the War of the Eight Princes, the hidden class contradiction broke out. Eventually, the common folk began to revolt against the domination. At the same time, with the
uprising of the five barbarians
The Upheaval of the Five Barbarians also translated as the Rebellion, the Revolt, or the Invasion of the Five Barbarians () is a Chinese expression which refers to a series of rebellions and invasions between 304 and 316 by non-Han peoples, commo ...
, Western Jin lost control of northern China.
Lifetime
Early life
When Yue Guang was eight, his father, Yue Fang, served as
staff officer
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
of
Xiahou Xuan
Xiahou Xuan (209 – March 254), courtesy name Taichu, was a Chinese essayist, historian, military general, philosopher, and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Family background
Xiahou Xuan was the so ...
. After being familiar with him, Xiahou Xuan said to his father, "Yue Guang will become a famous officer in the future, it is rare to behave so decently in his age."
After his father's early death, Yue Guang was left poor and alone. He devoted his energy and time to studying, but was unknown at that time. He was modest and never looked forward to enjoying luxury, which helped him earn a reputation for being frugal and hard-working. In addition, he was good at analysing things with terse and lively language, but he always kept silent while being asked something he did not understand. He was later recommended as a scholar and invited to become
Wei Guan
Wei Guan (220 – 25 July 291Although the exact day of Wei Guan's death was not recorded, Sima Zhong's biography in ''Book of Jin'' recorded that he was killed together with Sima Liang, who died on 25 July 291. 永平元年)六月，贾后矫 ...
's sons’ tutor because of his reputation.
Political career
Yue Guang served as
county magistrate
County magistrate ( or ) sometimes called local magistrate, in imperial China was the official in charge of the ''xian'', or county, the lowest level of central government. The magistrate was the official who had face-to-face relations with the ...
of Yuan City and was promoted to being the princess's tutor, then later the master of
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
. Finally, he served as assistant minister. While evaluating employees, Yue Guang preferred to point out their advantages first, then the disadvantages would be realized by themselves without mentioning it. He had been regarded as one of the leaders of Qingtan in Western Jin and famous for his literary reputation all over the country.
In the first year of Yongkang (300 AD),
Sima Yu
Sima or SIMA may refer to:
People
* Sima (Chinese surname)
* Sima (given name), a Persian feminine name in use in Iran and Turkey
* Sima (surname)
Places
* Sima, Comoros, on the island of Anjouan, near Madagascar
* Sima de los Huesos, a caver ...
, known as the crown prince Minhuai, was deposed and detained in Jinyong City. The imperial court forbade the old minister of the prince from seeing him. Those people could do nothing but sigh indignantly, but eventually, all of them decided to violate the decree and went to worship, and the government clerk arrested them and sent them to jail. However, those who were sent to prison in Henan, which was governed by Yue Guang at that time, were released by him, which was considered illegal. One of the assistant prosecutors said to the manager, "The reason why the prince was deposed is he overused his authority and enjoyed luxury every day. Now those old ministers risked bidding farewell to the prince, It seemed that the evil prince deserved to be missed. If they are punished severely, this thing will be circulated widely, and in people’s eyes, it looks like those people were attracted by the virtue of Sima Yu, which is an absolute misunderstanding, so it is better to release them like Yue Guang." After listening to his opinions, Yue Guang was not punished.
Yue Guang was promoted to the Ministry of the Department of
Shang Shu
The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorica ...
later. He took over the position of Wang Rong, who recommended him as a scholar at the beginning of his political career.
End of life
Sima Ying
Sima Ying (司馬穎) (279 – December 306), courtesy name Zhangdu (章度), was a Jin Dynasty (266–420) imperial prince who served briefly as his brother Emperor Hui's regent and crown prince. He was the sixth of eight princes commonly asso ...
, the prince of
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
, was Yue Guang’s son-in-law, but Yue Guang worked for
Sima Ai
Sima Ai or Sima Yi (司馬乂) (277 – 19/20 March 304), courtesy name Shidu (士度), formally Prince Li of Changsha (長沙厲王), was a Jin Dynasty (266–420) imperial prince who briefly served as regent for his brother Emperor Hui. He wa ...
, the prince of
Changsha
Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...
. In 303, during the War of the Eight Princes, Sima Ying was going to attack Sima Ai in
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...
, who was afraid that Yue Guang would betray him due to his relationship with Sima Ying. Despite his protests, Yue Guang could not convince Sima Ai otherwise, which added to his mental pressure and resulted in some psychological problems. Eventually, Yue Guang passed away in 304.
Family
Yue Guang’s father was called Yue Fang, he served as a staff officer but he died early.
Yue Guang had three sons: called Yue Kai, courtesy name Hongxu, who served as an adviser of the Second General; Yue Zhao, courtesy name Hongmao, who worked with the Prince of Donghai, Sima Yue. The youngest son, called Yue Mo, courtesy name Hongfan, who served as a general, attacking the five barbarians.
Yue Guang had two daughters, one of them married the Prince of Chengdu, Sima Ying, and the other one married Wei Jie, who was famous with his literary talent.
While Sima Ai suspected that Yue Guang would be rebellious during the War of the Eight Princes, Yue Guang explained " asimpossible to sacrifice isthree sons’ lives for one of isdaughters."
Anecdotes and evaluation
Yue Guang was confused as to why one of his close friends had not visited him for a long time. His friend explained that he felt extremely uncomfortable after having dinner with Yue Guang in his house since he thought there was a snake in his cup while drinking. After checking his house, he did not find any snake, but it appeared that the bow behind him was reflected in his cup and vaguely looked like a snake. Yue Guang dissuaded his friend's fears by taking the bow down in front of him.
A legend said that there was a monster in Henan palace and the previous masters of Henan were all afraid of living in the palace. Yue Guang did not believe that and tried to find out the truth after he was promoted to master of Henan. At midnight, he stayed in the palace with some soldiers and the door suddenly opened following some harsh and menacing noise, everyone was scared at that time except Yue Guang. He looked around and found a small hole in the wall. After the wall was broken, a little fox jumped out.
Although Yue Guang was well-liked, he did not accept the behavior of some of his peers. When Wang Cheng and Hu Wufuzhi served as high officials, they almost did whatever they wanted, such as streaking and insulting others. Yue Guang disagreed and said "They are able to find happiness in Qingtan. Why do they have to do that?"
Book of Jin
The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang X ...
'' (''Jin Shu'').
*
Sima Guang
Sima Guang (17 November 1019 – 11 October 1086), courtesy name Junshi, was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer. He was a high-ranking Song dynasty scholar-official who authored the monumental history book ''Zizhi Tongjian''. Sima was ...
(1086).
Zizhi Tongjian
''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...