别有半生萧瑟Half a Life of Desolation

This session takes as its theme Yu Xin, the writer of the Southern Liang (and later the Northern Zhou), and his masterpiece Lament for the South, tracing his life and part of the history of the late Northern and Southern Dynasties. Some questions to spark your curiosity (and lure you in): Why did Du Fu praise Li Bai as "fresh and clear like Yu Kaifu, graceful and free like Bao Canjun"? Why did Du Fu sigh that "Yu Xin's whole life was most desolate; his poems and rhapsodies in old age stirred the land beyond the passes"? What did Yu Xin's little fanboy Du Fu go through to say that "Yu Xin's writing grew more accomplished with age"? What is meant by "Yu Xin's poetry crowns the Liang and leads the way for the Tang"? Where does "The sunset clouds fly together with a lone wild duck; the autumn waters share one colour with the endless sky" come from? Where does "The spring silkworm spins silk until it dies; the candle's tears dry only when it burns to ash" come from? And where does "Alas for the passing years, grieved by wind and rain; even the trees are thus" come from? Questions we will discuss this time: How was the Southern Liang founded and how did it develop? What influence did palace-style poetry and Buddhism each have on cultural life? How did the Southern Liang go so quickly from peace and revelry to turmoil? How did the Hou Jing Rebellion change the balance between North and South? What works did Yu Xin leave in the Northern Zhou? Where are Yu Xin's literary achievements most concentrated? Why talk about Yu Xin, and how should we see him today? Related reading: Lament for the South Rhapsody on a Withered Tree; Rhapsody on a Small Garden Twenty-Seven Poems Imitating "Singing My Thoughts" Rhapsody on Spring; Rhapsody on Mounted Archery Rhapsody on the Lamp; Rhapsody on the Mirror; Rhapsody Facing the Candle Book of Zhou: Biographies of Wang Bao and Yu Xin; History of the Northern Dynasties: Biography of Yu Xin Tian Xiaofei, Beacon Fire and Shooting Star Fog