Tao Qian Totally Explained

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Names>

Xìng 姓:	Táo 陶
Míng 名:	Qián 潛, or Yuānmíng 淵明
Zì 字:	Yuánliàng 元亮, or Yuānmíng 淵明
Hào 號:	Wǔliǔ Xiānsheng 五柳先生 (Five Willows)
Shì 謚:	Jìngjié 靖節

ť For the Han Dynasty's governor, see Tao Qian (Three Kingdoms).

Tao Qian (365–427), also known as Tao Yuanming (陶淵明), born in modern Jiujiang, Jiangxi, was one of the most influential pre-Tang Dynasty Chinese poets.
   He came from a notable family which had descended into poverty; when young, he was torn between ambition and a desire to retreat into solitude. His great-grandfather was the famous Eastern Jin general and governor, Tao Kan. He served in a series of minor posts, but his sister's death, as well as disgust at the corruption and infighting of the Jin Court prompted his resignation, convincing him that life was too short to compromise on his principles; as he put it himself, he wouldn't "bow like a servant in return for five bushels of grain" ("為五斗米折腰" has entered common usage to mean "swallowing one's pride in exchange for a meagre existence". 'Five bushels of grain' refers to the salary of a low-ranking official). He lived in retirement for his last 22 years.
   Approximately 130 of his works survive. Most of them were poems or essays, which depict an idyllic pastoral life of farming and drinking; because of this he'd later be termed the "Poet of the Fields". While his poems were not influential in his time, they'd later be a major influence on the poetry of the Tang and Song Dynasties.
   Apart from his poems, Tao is perhaps best known today for his short but intriguing depiction (in prose) of a land hidden from the outside world called "Peach Blossom Spring" (桃花源記). The name Peach Blossom Spring (桃花源 Tao Hua Yuan) has since become the standard Chinese term for 'utopia'.

Translation

Editions

Meng Erdong ed. Tao Yuanming Ji Yi Zhu ISBN 7-80626-064-1.
Wu Zheshun ed. Tao Yuanming Ji ISBN 7-80520-683-X
David Hinton (translator). The Selected Poems of T'ao Ch'ien. ISBN 1-55659-056-3.
Pohl (translator). Der Pfirsichbluetenquell. Bochum University Press 2002.
Davis, A.R., T'ao Yuan-ming, Hong Kong, 1983. 2 vols.

Commentary

Hightower, James R. Poetry of T'ao Ch'ien. ISBN 0-19-815440-2.

Ziaofei Tan. Tao Yuanming and Manuscript Culture: The Record of a Dusty Table. ISBN 978-0295985534.Further Information

Get more info on 'Tao Qian'.

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