The expansion of written arts
The written arts all advanced during the Han dynasty due to the increase in Confucius based education. These arts included poems, encyclopaedias and songs of many types expanding the knowledge and entertainment of the Han people. Both Han and Qin claimed to have encyclopaedias containing all important and relevant known with an example of this being the Master of Huainan which was written during the reign of Emperor Wu (Lewis, 2007). This book was written by a number of scholars who assembled a number a maxims and principles from all the philosophic traditions in attempt to summarise them as a whole. The use of a number of scholars shows that the Han were very strict when it came to making sure everything was checked and accurate to the best of their abilities. This can be seen in the biographies of scholars such as Lui Buwei and Liu An who claim that thousands of scholars were assembled in order to write these encyclopaedias (Lewis, 2007). However this statement may be biased as the scholars might be attempting to exaggerate the work they did as well as make themselves appear better.
The growth of poetry throughout China allowed great artists such as Sima Xingru and the more famous Yang Xiong to become more recognised, each with their own poetic style. Sima Xingru believed that poetry should be able to emphasise the power of words to cast a spell on the reader while Yang Xiong strongly argued that it should be a moral instrument of persuasion, avoiding elaborate phrases and ornaments to create more direct message (Lewis, 2007). Apart from these two major authors many other styles were present during the Han age with emotional testaments becoming popular to be written before a tragedy or suicide (Lewis, 2007). An example of these testaments is the song which was written for and sung by Xiang Yu to his wife, Yu, which depicts a testament written before his finale battle and suicide:
My strength uprooted hills,
My energy dominated the age.
Bu the times were unpropitious,
And Dapple [his horse] runs no more.
When Dapple runs no more,
What then can I do?
Ah Yu, my Yu,
How can I save you?
With most Han songs having unknown authors they were mostly placed under the name of the Music beuru songs or the Nineteen Old Poems (Lewis, 2007). This beuru was founded by Emperor Wu who utilised these songs to accompy events such as state sacrifices, banquets and army parades proving that the written arts had become to play an important role during Han ruling (Lewis, 2007). A majority of these songs were either quite repetitive and simplistic due to the fact that they had to be perfomed and understood without any prior knowledge which is incredibly evident in the song “ South of the river” which recites:
South of the river we can pick lotus,
The lotus leaves, how they fill the pond.
Fish play amongst the lotus leaves.
Fish play east of lotus leaves.
Fish play west of lotus leaves.
Fish play south of louts leaves.
Fish play north of lotus leaves.
The music bureau was condemned by many Confucius scholars for utilising music that had previously developed during the Warring States which was denounced immoral by Confucius himself (Lewis, 2007). However the bureau was eventually demolished due to reforms and money saving policies at the end of Western Han (Lewis, 2007).
The growth of poetry throughout China allowed great artists such as Sima Xingru and the more famous Yang Xiong to become more recognised, each with their own poetic style. Sima Xingru believed that poetry should be able to emphasise the power of words to cast a spell on the reader while Yang Xiong strongly argued that it should be a moral instrument of persuasion, avoiding elaborate phrases and ornaments to create more direct message (Lewis, 2007). Apart from these two major authors many other styles were present during the Han age with emotional testaments becoming popular to be written before a tragedy or suicide (Lewis, 2007). An example of these testaments is the song which was written for and sung by Xiang Yu to his wife, Yu, which depicts a testament written before his finale battle and suicide:
My strength uprooted hills,
My energy dominated the age.
Bu the times were unpropitious,
And Dapple [his horse] runs no more.
When Dapple runs no more,
What then can I do?
Ah Yu, my Yu,
How can I save you?
With most Han songs having unknown authors they were mostly placed under the name of the Music beuru songs or the Nineteen Old Poems (Lewis, 2007). This beuru was founded by Emperor Wu who utilised these songs to accompy events such as state sacrifices, banquets and army parades proving that the written arts had become to play an important role during Han ruling (Lewis, 2007). A majority of these songs were either quite repetitive and simplistic due to the fact that they had to be perfomed and understood without any prior knowledge which is incredibly evident in the song “ South of the river” which recites:
South of the river we can pick lotus,
The lotus leaves, how they fill the pond.
Fish play amongst the lotus leaves.
Fish play east of lotus leaves.
Fish play west of lotus leaves.
Fish play south of louts leaves.
Fish play north of lotus leaves.
The music bureau was condemned by many Confucius scholars for utilising music that had previously developed during the Warring States which was denounced immoral by Confucius himself (Lewis, 2007). However the bureau was eventually demolished due to reforms and money saving policies at the end of Western Han (Lewis, 2007).