[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty":3,"chapter-a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-chapter-44":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","A Literary Genius in the Song Dynasty",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2336427,4568,"Chapter 44: The Way of Poetry and Fu","a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-chapter-44",44,"\u003Cp>\"I apologize for keeping you waiting.\" Lu Beigu bowed deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Bian put down his brush and gestured for him to sit: \"Did you read the 'Spring and Autumn: Honoring the King and Revealing the Subtle' after returning yesterday?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I skimmed through it,\" Lu Beigu replied honestly. \"Master Taishan’s insights are profound, but many passages are still beyond my understanding.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No matter. Classical scholarship is not something achieved in a day.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Bian picked up a stack of paper slips from his desk and asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Today we discuss poetry and fu. Do you know why the imperial examinations test poetry and fu?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Beigu paused briefly, then answered: \"To assess the candidates’ literary talent?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Literary talent is only one part,\" Zhao Bian shook his head. \"Poetry and fu best reveal a person’s character, learning, and breadth of vision. Poetry expresses aspiration; fu embodies things. Without genuine feeling, one cannot produce fine lines; without broad learning, one cannot employ allusions; without an open heart, one cannot attain true depth.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pointed to the room’s shelves, crammed with copies of the 'Wenyuan Yinghua'.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Moreover, even setting that aside, from a practical standpoint: the court selects Jinshi precisely because it needs officials who can draft memorials and imperial edicts. Which of these official documents does not require the skill of parallel prose? That is the function of poetry and fu.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not all Jinshi are sent out to govern provinces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the contrary, many Jinshi remain in the capital to serve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And their postings generally follow three paths.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Either become the Emperor’s secretary, or tutor the imperial princes, or bury oneself in historical compilation to cultivate reputation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of these three, the first offers the fastest promotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout history, those with fine calligraphy and skill in drafting edicts, as close attendants to the Son of Heaven, easily win the monarch’s favor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, this path is far easier than toiling in the Hanlin Academy, burning oil lamps to compile histories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second path is one of slow promotion—but once promoted, it means a meteoric rise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The third path needs no elaboration: though slow, it is steady, and carries none of the risk of the second path, where one misstep can doom a lifetime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Bian’s meaning was clear: Lu Beigu need not necessarily follow any one path, but mastering this skill would benefit him not only in the examinations, but in his future career.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I understand.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Beigu nodded quickly; the advice was clearly valuable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing he understood, Zhao Bian no longer elaborated, only said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I heard from Li Pan that your poetry and fu are weak. Judging from your policy essays and memorials, it’s not due to lack of talent—you simply haven’t grasped the method and haven’t yet entered the door. If you gain even a little insight into the method, your improvement will be far faster than the rote memorization required for the Mo Yi section.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let’s first see your actual level.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Bian pulled out a sheet of paper: \"This is the fu topic from last year’s Meizhou prefectural examination. Write one according to examination rules and show me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Beigu’s heart tightened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu topics differ from policy essays.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Policy essays have loose structural requirements—they are argumentative essays, primarily testing the candidate’s viewpoint on the topic. As long as allusions are used appropriately and the logic is clear, it’s generally considered acceptable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But fu demands strict adherence to the formal meter and structure of the fu genre—no deviation allowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The problem was, Lu Beigu had never deeply studied the meters of poetry, ci, or fu!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ci he recited on the river in Luzhou, 'Shuilongyin', had serious metrical flaws if examined closely—but since it wasn’t an exam, Li Pan had ignored those details.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now he was being asked to compose a fu, harder than poetry or ci, with strict metrical rules—that was truly daunting!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this wasn’t even a county-level topic—it was a prefectural one!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prefectural examinations were nothing like county ones in difficulty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Generally, in Sichuan’s counties, only students ranked in the top five among two hundred in the county school passed the county examination, with a pass rate of about 2.5%.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>County exams were held annually; prefectural exams every three years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So in practice, when you, as the top student of your county school, finally passed the county exam and entered prefectural school, you’d find yourself surrounded not only by other county champions, but by students from over a dozen previous cohorts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You didn’t just compete with your peers—you competed against seniors with far more exam experience and years of study.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So what was the prefectural examination pass rate?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking Jianzhou as an example, based on quota numbers, the pass rate hovered around 1%. In Luzhou, where Lu Beigu was from, it was slightly higher—about 2%.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oh, if you counted by the number of juren, the figures might look better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the Song dynasty, juren status was a one-time achievement: merely passing as a juren meant nothing unless you had a quota to take the Ministry of Rites provincial examination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, juren status only proved you were among the top candidates in your prefecture in a given year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, there were some hidden influences: no one wanted to offend a juren, for who knew when he might become a Jinshi?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And under such abysmally low pass rates, every candidate who reached the Ministry of Rites examination was, in his own story, a genius.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet even geniuses had differences.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, being a genius was merely the threshold to encountering a truly extraordinary one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Beigu sighed inwardly and pulled his thoughts back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though this prefectural fu topic was far harder than a county one, he dared not refuse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took the paper and brush, spread them on the stone table in the courtyard, and focused his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After two quarters of an hour, beads of sweat formed on Lu Beigu’s forehead as he barely completed the fu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Bian took it and examined it closely; the stern teacher’s brow tightened further, until he finally sighed: \"The allusions are inappropriate; several parallel couplets are poorly matched; the greatest flaw is the meter. You wouldn’t even pass a county exam, let alone a prefectural one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Modern scholars writing papers don’t study these forms. Even if they do, their analysis stems from literary, aesthetic, or historical perspectives—not from actually composing them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Beigu himself didn’t know how, and his predecessor’s skill was abysmal—of course, this was the result.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing him hang his head, Zhao Bian held back the harsh words and offered one compliment instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But you have one strength—your prose flows coherently. That’s something many bookworms can never learn.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the saying goes, \"Teach according to individual aptitude.\" Knowing Lu Beigu was weak in poetry and fu, and having assessed his current level, Zhao Bian adjusted his teaching plan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took a manuscript from his desk: \"This is my early work on poetry and fu. It covers not only meter and allusion, but also my 'Three-Step Method.'\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"May I ask what the 'Three-Step Method' is?\" Lu Beigu accepted it respectfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"First step: establish intent. Second step: refine diction. Third step: polish characters,\" Zhao Bian explained. \"Examination time is tight; many rush to finish and end up riddled with flaws. This method uses twenty minutes to fix the theme and structure, another twenty to draft the piece, then fifteen minutes to scrutinize every word before finally copying it neatly. It seems more laborious, but in truth, it saves great effort.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Zhao Bian opened the manuscript and, using examples of different poetry and fu topics, gave Lu Beigu a detailed explanation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>——————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>① The 'Wenyuan Yinghua' was compiled under Emperor Taizong’s orders by Li Fang, Xu Xian, Song Bai, Su Yijian, and more than twenty others, initiated in the seventh year of Taiping Xingguo and completed in the third year of Yongxi; Emperor Zhenzong later commissioned several revisions. The complete work comprises one thousand volumes, continuing from the 'Wen Xuan' and concluding with the late Tang and Five Dynasties periods, selecting over two thousand authors and nearly twenty thousand works. Approximately one-tenth are from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, while nine-tenths are Tang-era pieces, categorized into thirty-nine genres including fu, poetry, gexing, miscellaneous prose, central secretariat edicts, and imperial edicts drafted by the Hanlin Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1385,"2026-06-20T21:44:14.864Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","b57a9e3f72b49774c91556879597ccf0be9753a7f48b111c92523968d2b0e74a","a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-chapter-45","a-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-chapter-43",56,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fa-literary-genius-in-the-song-dynasty-cover.jpg"]