STUDY IN CHINA GLOBAL (SCG)Tao Yuanming: His Times
The Jin Dynasty was established by emperor Sima Yan in 265. That year saw the nation state of Wei incorporated into the new empire. In 280 the nation of Wu was annexed as well. The dynasty was divided into two time periods: the Western Jin (265-316) with the capital located in Luoyang, and the Eastern Jin (317-420) with their capital located in Jiankang, later renamed Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty. Sima Rui founded the Eastern Jin, with its territory including most of southern modern day China.
The period between the years of 420 and 581 were known as the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The first of these small dynasties was known as the Song (420-479). Tao Yuanming (365-427) therefore lived most of his life during the late Eastern Jin, and died shortly after the Song began.
Throughout this period, imperial power was dependent upon noble families and generals who held the military power. These were times of civil war, political strife, in fighting, bloodshed, corruption and violence. The Eastern Jin was terminated by one man, General Liu Yu, through assassination and a breach of trust. The general murdered two of the Eastern Jin emperors.
Tao was a man of integrity and calm born into a time that valued neither. Many intelligent and honest men were executed to maintain state power. Tao Yuanming’s short ten years of government service, and subsequent retreat into the countryside for subsistence farming was therefore more of a necessity for physical survival, and thereby staying alive to support his family, rather than a love of seclusion. He had to be very careful not to take political sides in the near continuous in fighting. Tao came to the conclusion that to confront the emperor was to court death by execution; to serve the emperor meant the death of one’s morals; but to not serve the emperor meant poverty and financial hardship. He chose the last option.
