CHAPTER SEVEN

LITERATURE OF THE WEI-JIN PERIOD

During the Jian’an reign (196–220) at the end of the Eastern Han, Cao Cao assumed de facto control of the imperial court. The city of Ye, the capital of Wei,1 was not only the actual political center, but also the center of literary activities at the time. For this reason, the literature of the Wei and Jin dynasties has generally been considered as starting from the Jian’an period. Since the Later Eastern Han, the centralized autocracy had gone through a constant process of disintegration. During the cataclysm at the end of the Han dynasty, the three states held a tripartite balance of power in the country, and China began to enter a historical period of about four hundred years during which a multiplicity of states co- existed. The Wei-Jin period was a chaotic but colorful age when the literati gained an experience of life and society that was extremely deep and wide, and under the circumstances, accordingly, literature made unprecedented progress.

1. The Social Trend and Literary Consciousness of the Wei-Jin Period

The Rise of Scholar-Official Clans and the Weakening of Autocracy Since the Later Eastern Han, the so-called “distinguished families and great clans” had extended an increasing influence. These families and clans were not only local powers, but they also participated in the operation of the state apparatus. In the social upheavals at the end of the Han dynasty, the independence of these distinguished families and great clans was further strengthened. They ran their own estates, had command of their private armed forces and a large number of farmhands dependent on them, and became a force to be reckoned with for any ruler. By the time when Cao Pi officially founded the

1 Cao Cao was enfeoffed as the Prince of Wei. 148 chapter seven

Wei dynasty, he adopted the “Nine Ranks of Rectifiers,” a system of official appointment which offered more advantage to large local clans, in order to win their support in return. It was a sign that as a special social class, the scholar-official clan (also known as “hereditary clan” or “powerful clan”)—the nobilities of China’s middle ancient ages—was formerly established. Through the transition from the Wei to the Jin and the rise and fall of the two Jin dynasties, it gradually developed into the situation wherein “In the upper stratum, no one was from a poor family; / In the lower stratum, no one was from a powerful clan.” Scholar-official clans enjoyed hereditary political privilege, and they were interconnected through marriages. With rare exceptions, no mar- riage was ever made between scholar-official clans and commoners. Such a system of powerful families of scholar-official clans lasted through the entire Wei-Jin period and the Northern and Southern dynasties, and to a certain extent continued into the Tang dynasty until right before the An-Shi Rebellion.2 The special status and power of scholar-official clans came from their own strength, not that granted by the emperor. Hence the power of scholar-official clans was, to a certain extent, parallel with the imperial authority. For example, during the Eastern Jin, scholar-official clans reached the peak of their power. At the time when the regime was first established, there was already the saying, “all under heaven was shared by Wang and Ma.” (“Biography of Wang Dun” in History of the Jin) At later times, there were even occasions when the emperor became a nominal ruler only, with no real power of his own. Under specific circumstances, of course, the relation between the imperial authority and the power of scholar-official clans was constantly changing. Not- withstanding that, however, the power of scholar-official clans always showed the special features of being supportive of, while simultaneously also resistant to, the imperial authority. Objectively speaking, it played the function of preventing the imperial authority from becoming an absolute power, and restricting the political expansion of autocratic dictatorship. As a consequence it greatly weakened, among the intel- lectuals, especially those from scholar-official clans, the consciousness of being dependent upon imperial authority. Through the entire Wei-Jin period and the Northern and Southern dynasties, the so-called cardinal

2 A rebellion (755–762) during the Tang dynasty led by two military commanders, An Lushan and Shi Siming.