The Life Of Official Career Of Haoran Meng:to Be Or Not To Be

At the time of Tang Dynasty the question of to be or not to be for educated individuals are localized by popular culture into a more realistic multiple choice:to pursue a politician career or to live in seclusion as a famous recluse. Poet Haoran Meng is also inevitably affected by this cultural trend and lived his whole life struggling’to be or not to be’.There are three obvious periods in his journey of seclusion. In what is defined as the first period, when he was leading a life of reading and farming in Xiangyang, Meng was living in seclusion in the South Park and Lumen Hill. While enjoying the beautiful scenery of the nature, his true expectation is to become famous as a recluse and be recommended into the court.In the second period when Meng decided to take the imperial examinations in Chang’an, he had turned into his fortieth without getting the ideal recommendation for bureau. With no luck in the exams, he turned to Xian-Fu, writing poems for royals and nobles, to seek for fame and government position, which end up failure as well. Disheartened by all the unsuccessful trials, Meng left Chang’an and entered the third period of his life.Roaming in mountains and rivers, Meng was travelling as a recluse. He rejected several endorsements, work for Jiuling Zhang’s Shogun for a short period of time and eventually dumped this position too.In his whole life, Meng tried four different pathways to pursue a career of politician-recommendation, participating in the imperial examination, Xian-Fu and joining Shogun ate-and failed all of them. This is not accidental though, because Meng was never particularly determined for the politician career and kept tracked by the’to be or not to be’question. For example, Meng’s first choice was being recommended into the court. Although the recommendation policy by the reign of Xuanzong was encouraging-plebeians are not restricted by the born, Meng did not really seize the chance. When Chaozong Han would endorse him for a position in Chang’an, he drunk himself senseless and left Han waiting for nothing. Similarly he missed the recommendation of The Prosecutor Cao. Conceited when flattered, flinch when rebuffed. Meng’s personality determined his destiny.