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Tao Yuanming

Eastern Jin poet who quit as magistrate of Pengze after some eighty days and spent his last two decades farming and writing of country life

Also known as Zi Yuanliang · Wuliu Xiansheng · Zi Yuanming · Tao Qian

Tao Yuanming, personal name Qian, was from Chaisang in Xunyang (modern Jiujiang); the *Book of Song* (*Songshu*) gives his courtesy name as Yuanming, or by another account Yuanliang. He was a great-grandson of the Eastern Jin grand marshal Tao Kan. He took and soon left posts as provincial libationer and as adjutant to two generals. In 405 he became magistrate of Pengze, but after some eighty days, unwilling to dress formally to receive a visiting inspector, he handed back his seal and wrote 'Returning Home'. He then farmed, declined a later summons as court editor, and wrote the 'Returning to Live in the Country' and 'Drinking Wine' series and 'The Peach Blossom Spring'. He died in 427, and his friend Yan Yanzhi gave him the private posthumous name Jingjie. Zhong Rong's *Grades of Poets* (*Shipin*) called him the founder of recluse poetry, and Xiao Tong compiled his collected works with a preface.

Life and times

  1. c. 365 CEBornJinNorthern and Southern
  2. 427 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Sayings22
    1. The Peach Blossom Land Beyond the WorldJinIdiom from Tao Yuanming's The Peach Blossom Spring: an idyllic haven untouched by the world
    2. Not Seeking Thorough UnderstandingJinIdiom from Biography of Master Five Willows: reading for gist, now mere superficiality
    3. Flourishing Toward ProsperityJinIdiom from Tao Yuanming's Return Home: thriving and flourishing
    4. Fallen Petals Swirling DownJinIdiom from Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Spring: petals drifting down in profusion
    5. Suddenly Opening UpJinIdiom from the Peach Blossom Spring: a view suddenly opening, or sudden understanding
    6. +17 more
      1. Contented and HappyJinIdiom from the Peach Blossom Spring: contented and happy in oneself
      2. Hearing the Neighbors' Hens and DogsJinIdiom from the Peach Blossom Spring: villages close enough to hear each other's hens and dogs
      3. Yellowed Hair and Hanging LocksJinIdiom from the Peach Blossom Spring: old and young alike, living in contentment
      4. Indifferent to Glory and GainJinLine from Tao Yuanming's Master Five Willows: a quiet man unmoved by fame or profit
      5. Rejoicing in Heaven's Decree Without DoubtJinLine from Tao Yuanming's Homeward Bound: riding the flow of change and content with fate
      6. Seeing Today Right and Yesterday WrongJinIdiom from Tao Yuanming's Homeward Bound: leaving office, he sees yesterday's path was wrong
      7. Homeward Bound, Let Me ReturnJinIdiom from Tao Yuanming's Homecoming: the resolve to leave office for the fields
      8. Nobody Asks the Way to the FordJinIdiom from Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Spring: a path no one seeks any more
      9. Joyfully Forgetting Meals over a Good BookJinFamous line from Tao Yuanming's Master Five Willows: the joy of understanding a book
      10. Four Bare Walls of Master Five WillowsJinIdiom from Tao Yuanming's Master Five Willows: bare walls that keep out neither wind nor sun
      11. Rice Basket and Water Gourd Often EmptyJinIdiom from Tao Yuanming's Master Five Willows: poor in food and drink, yet at ease
      12. Mistakenly Caught in the Dusty NetJinLine from Tao Yuanming's Returning to the Fields: thirty years lost in the world's net
      13. Returning to the Uncarved JadeJinIdiom rooted in Yan Chu's refusal of office: going back to the unworked jade
      14. Picking Chrysanthemums by the Eastern HedgeJinLine from Tao Yuanming's Drinking Wine: a recluse at ease among his chrysanthemums
      15. Returned to Nature at LastJinFamous line from Tao Yuanming's Returning to My Fields: free at last from the cage
      16. Unhurried, I Catch Sight of the Southern HillsJinFamous line from Tao Yuanming's Drinking Wine: a calm heart meeting the hills by chance
      17. Knowing the Days to Come Can Still Be Set RightJinFamous line from Tao Yuanming's Returning Home: what lies ahead can still be set right
  2. Literature · Poetry2
    1. Drinking Wine · Poem 5 (Plucking Chrysanthemums)JinTao Yuanming's poem of reclusion at Chaisang: chrysanthemums by the fence, the southern hills
    2. Returning to Dwell in the Country · Poem 1JinTao Yuanming's first poem after resigning at Pengze: the cage of office against the open farm
  3. Literature · Prose2
    1. The Peach Blossom SpringJinTao Yuanming's tale of a fisherman who strays into a hidden village, China's archetypal utopia
    2. Biography of Master Five WillowsJinTao Yuanming's self-portrait under a pen name: a quiet man of books and wine, content when poor
  4. Literature · Rhapsodies1
    1. Return HomeJinTao Yuanming's lyrical rhapsody on resigning office and returning to his fields