Zongyuan Yongzhen Innovation

It was Liu Zongyuan's peak experience to join in Wang Shuwen's innovation group and undergo the failure of combating for imperial power among eunuchs launched by Shun Zong and Wang Shuwen group. This was also the theme of his poems and articles. The paper is based on these with the following contents.First, based on the previous researches, carding and clarification were further made to describe the experience of Liu Zongyuan's participation in Wang Shuwen group and truth of succession of Shun Zong and Xian Zong in Mid-Tang dynasty.In the initial year of Yong Zhen, when Wang Shuwen was in power, during the succession of Shun Zong and Xian Zong, it could be divided into 2 stages, marked by choosing prince and combating for military leadership from eunuchs. In the former, it was the warfare between the reform group and eunuchs and the conservative group. In the latter, it was the life-and-death warfare for the throne between the reform group for Shun Zong and eunuchs for Xian Zong. Wang Shuwen group failed in the throne warfare due to the indiscretion, careless plan and insufficient preparations. Wang Shuwen group once prevented the man from being the prince( latter Xian Zong).This made Xian Zong hate the member of the Group. It was prelude of the combat between Niu's and Li's group that Wang Shuwen group was isolated, supplanted and retaliated among officials in the court. This was also the struggle between officials of common people from poor family and officials of intellectual people from Shandong and officials inherited from high officials. The essential of struggle was for political rights and economical benefits between two social classes, which was connected with clan struggles within eunuchs. Wang Shuwen and his members had the defects in their characters, which was an important factors to cause the failure of reform. Wang Shuwen and Wei Yi, the main leaders of the group lacked evident capability to strive for support of senior statesmen to cope with eunuchs to scrabbling for imperial power. Second, the paper elaborate Liu Zongyuan's thought of...