Tao Yuanming, also called Tao Qian, was named "Mr. Jingjie" by other people, and he called himself "Mr. Wuliu". He was one of China's foremost poets in the five-word shih style, and his influence on subsequent poets was significant.

Tao Yuangming was born Chaisang (present-day Jiangxi), Tao's family belonged to the Xi minority, and although it boasted some illustrious forebears was poor by the time of the poet's birth. Since his childhood, Tao Yuanming read a lot of books. He accepted the ideas of both Confucianism and Taoism. But because he was born in a common family, he was looked down upon in the imperial court that had stern hierarchical system at that time. Around the age of 30, Tao served in local government. Tao Yuanming got weary of the dark life of official circles so resigned his post not long afterwards. Other postings

followed, but these too were of short duration. He spent 22 years in retirement on a farm,helping his family. Although he was poor and had to work hard, he was satisfied with quite lifestyle. He was fond of chrysanthemums, so he planted a lot of the flowers around his house. Furthermore, he liked to drink wine and was often in a drunk state of mind. During his late years, his life was impoverished. Some of his friends sent him money to relieve poverty, but he spent all of the money on wine. In 427 A.D., Tao Yuanming completed his 76 years of life and departed from the world. His tomb is at the foot of Mianyang Mountain of Jiangxi Province and is preserved in a sound condition.

What are the works of Tao Yuanming’s?

Today one can find one hundred and twenty five poems of Tao Yuanming. He favored themes about drinking and rustic life. All the poems can be divided into three categories, i.e., drinking poems, expressive poems and pastoral poems. His poems pay great attention to expressing emotion and aspiration.

Tao Yuanming is the founder of pastoral poems. He boasts the largest

number of pastoral poems that are also the most famous. Five Poems of Returning to the Life of Farmers are the most outstanding ones which fully reflect the enthusiasm of the poet for the unsophisticated farm life. Among the works of Tao Yuanming, there are some Cifu (a style of metrical composition like that of the fu - rhapsody) and prose that have been retained to the present days. His Cifu are represented by Ode of Going back to Nature, which is the heroic manifesto about his resignation and retreat. It unfolds the poet's romantic feelings of admiring nature and pursuing freedom. Record of the Peach Blossom Valley is the representative work of his prose. In the prose, he described an utopian society together? with the criticism and irony of the poet to the dark reality.

The Anthology of Tao Yuanming is the first literary collection in the history of Chinese literature. His poems have been pervasively spread in the world and left a great impact for later generations. Even his affection for wine has also influenced a lot of scholars in later generations.

Who is a Taoist nature poet?

T'ao Ch'ien has been too often described as a Taoist nature poet with his fondness for wine and for chrysanthemums. It is true that he was consumed by nature and wine, but he was far more a philosophic or meditative poet rather than an idyllic or bucolic one. He represents the culmination of the five-word poetry of the Han dynasty with its obsession with life's meaning; and with his strong attraction to Confucian endeavor and knightly chivalry, his intellectual makeup is far more complex than the word "Taoist" would convey.

The simpler view of T'ao Ch'ien as a Taoist recluse is supported by some of his most celebrated works. In a brief idealized autobiography, he styles himself Mr. Five Willows and speaks of his contentment with poverty, his fondness for wine, and his joy in reading, though he makes no attempt to probe the deeper meanings of books. His prose description of the Peach Fount Colony living in happy oblivion of the outside world has been celebrated since his time as the Taoist vision of a simple, good life unrealizable on earth.

What is the life attitude of Tao Yuanming?

He never? desired glory or profit. He enjoyed to study but never looked for abstruse explanations. Whenever there is something of which he apprehends the meaning, then, in his happiness, he forgets to eat. ...

His house with surrounding walls was lonely and did not shelter him from wind and sun. His short coarse robe was torn and mended. His dishes and gourds were often empty, yet he was at peace. He constantly delighted himself with writing in which he widely expressed his own ideals. He was unmindful of gain or loss, and thus he would be to the end.

Tao Qian, or Tao Yuan Ming lived in the tumultuous Eastern Chin dynasty, after the fall of the great Han and before the reunification under the Sui. In Jiangsu province near Lu Mountain, he lived as a recluse, leading a simple life and writing poetry that reflected his love of farm, family and alcohol. Though he lived a folksy life, his influence is permanent and enormous. By the Sung times, his status as one of China's greatest lyrical poets had become generally recognized, and his poetry has never ceased to fascinate the Chinese since.