On Comparison Between Xu Gan And Zhong Changtong

Undoubtedly, Jian'an period is very important throughout the ideological and cultural history in China. The scholars during Jian'an period paid close attention to the reality and human life with a positive and vigorous spirit. However, it was quite rare to have such scholars as Xu Gan and Zhong Changtong who was expert at thought as well as literature and made considerable achievements. The paper is to analyze similarities and differences in the background of history of thought, literature and social life. Its purpose is to display their achievements in thought and literature in a full, comprehensive way and to clarify the characteristics of the development of thought and literature during Jian'an period.The paper consists of three parts.Part One talks about their personal experiences and their different conductions in society. Xu's life experiences "to live in seclusion—to be an official—to live in seclusion" is similar to that of Zhong "to learn around—to be an official—to resign stayed at countryside idle (or to live in seclusion)". On the basis of integrating many other factors such as era environmental, personal thought and temperament, it is easy to find that Xu Gan's conduction in society is like Yan Hui's and Zhong Changtong's is from Confucianism to Taoism, Confucianism and Taoism complementary to each other.Part Two compares the ideas in Zhonglun with ones in Changyan. It is made up of three sections. Firstly, politics, their governance have the comprehensive feature of Confucianism and Legalism with different proportion in their respective governing. The strategy of ruling the country in Zhonglun is inclined to theoretical guidance while that in Changyan focuses on specific measure. Secondly, ethics, both of them lay emphasis on propriety and morality to maintain the ethical order and improve the bad social atmosphere. In addition, Changyan questions the traditional ethics of "loyalty" and "piety". Thirdly, philosophy, they both refer to questions such as the relationship between nature and man, name and reality, the fundamental and the incidental but have not got to the abstract thinking.Part Three discusses their creativity in literature which includes three sections. The first section is about poetry. The two's creative visions are the cramped with the single emotion and their styles are different, one grieved, tactful and elegant while the other natural, simple and unsophisticated. The second section is about rhyme-prose. On one hand, one of the subjects is rich while the other is single. On the other hand, the one is leisurely and elegant while the other is pure and free in style. The last section mentions political prose. Both are full of emotion with many dual sentences but they embody their different styles. One is scholarly and the other is unruly under the influence of their cultivation of talents and temperament.