The Wei and Jin Dynasties are my favorite period of history, because people in this era seemed to be able to "take advantage of their pleasures and return home after their pleasures have been exhausted". They didn't have to care too much about other people's opinions and went on a "Happy Journey" without any scruples. Jin people have even more to say. Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Wang Rong, Ruan Xian, Zu Ti, Wang Dao, Xie An, Huan Wen, Tao Yuanming... There are too many familiar names and too many familiar allusions.
The famous Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove may seem bohemian in today's world, but in the Jin Dynasty, they were sages admired by everyone, which seems to explain something. From this point of view, the aesthetics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and even the entire society, had a kind of morbidity, that is, morbid beauty, or beauty of shortcomings - since there is no perfection, then a little shortcomings and flaws, isn't it a kind of beauty? Why does this aesthetic appear? If you want to understand the reason, the best way is to have a comprehensive understanding of the long period of history, which is the history that our book tells. I hope readers will like this history because of these people, and also like these people even more because of this history.
Reader comments
The timeline is very clear, from the end of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and every little poem at the beginning is also very interesting, but the end of the Jin Dynasty is really too chaotic. You attack him, I will attack you, the country is built and then destroyed, it makes me dizzy.
I particularly like the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove", each of them has such a unique personality! But I kind of hate Shan Tao, he betrayed Ji Kang. This reminds me of Sima Yi in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". They are all people who do anything for power. But overall, this book is well worth reading and gave me a deeper understanding of that era.
The timeline is very clear, from the end of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and every little poem at the beginning is also very interesting, but the end of the Jin Dynasty is really too chaotic. You attack him, I will attack you, the country is built and then destroyed, it makes me dizzy.
I particularly like the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove", each of them has such a unique personality! But I kind of hate Shan Tao, he betrayed Ji Kang. This reminds me of Sima Yi in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". They are all people who do anything for power. But overall, this book is well worth reading and gave me a deeper understanding of that era.