Yang Shen's Situation And Mentality After Relegation

The thesis studies Yang Shen's situation and mentality after relegation. The study is based on his works and other related documents and by bibliographical and biographical methods. From the angle of the relegation, the change of Yang Shen's situation and mentality can be understood more comprehensively. The thesis is divided into four parts, the main contents are as follows:The first part points out that Yang Shen grew up in a Confucian family, and he was well-known for his literary talent in his youth. His character was developed upright and frank from the beginning of his official career. In the "proposed ceremony" incident, he was not afraid of death, expressed his views. Because he violate the emperor's will, he was relegated to a demoted garrison in Yunnan, without reversion in the rest of his life.The second part describes Yang Shen's life and mentality after relegation. In early days he arrived, his mind was filled with homesickness, loneliness, resentment and pain, and he had to pretend unrestrained to avoid misfortune. Although being departed in the demoted garrison, he was still concerned about the affairs and people's livelihood, eager to go back to the court to make contributions. When things revealed hopeless, he had to adjust his mentality and find a new way of life: he made an active physical and psychological adjustment by returning to nature; he began to spread advanced culture to the people where he was relegated, and he also devoted his efforts to academic work to fulfill his spirits. In the process of expanding spiritual space, he denounced the common practice, literary style, and academic atmosphere then. He thought about life and history in depth. He was just a man of independence, unyielding, and with tenacious fighting spirit.The third part discusses Yang Shen's spiritual support. Yang Shen was a firm believer of Neo-Confucianism before relegation. But after being stroke by the life sufferings, he carried out an integration of ideas. He absorbed ideas of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoist, which enable him to detach from the illusory fitness, and to preserve his health. He could publicize his academic character, and criticized the social reality. Yang Shen had a complex thinking, both with advanced new elements of materialistic and humanism. After all, he could not get rid of illusion of the emperor's power.The conclusion part compares Yang Shen with some other famous intellectuals who also had experience of relegation .The results showed that Yang Shen possessed a more diversity and modern attitude to relegation.