Picture of Yuan Dexiu Playing the Qin

Yuan Dexiu, courtesy name Zizhi, was from Henan. He was born in the first year of Long Live Tongtian, the reign of Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty, and died in the thirteenth year of Xuanzong Tianbao, at the age of fifty-nine. When you are young and lonely, you should be filial to your mother. If you are promoted to Jinshi, you will be proud of your mother and enter the capital. After he was promoted to the throne, his mother died, and he ate on the side of the tomb in the hut without salt and cheese, so he borrowed sterile mats. My family is poor, so I ask for Lushan Order. Resign at the age of one. I love Lu Hun's beautiful landscape and live there. Tao Ran plays the piano to entertain himself. Every time Fang saw it, he sighed and said: "Seeing Zizhi's brows makes people lose all their ambitions for fame and wealth." After his death, his disciples gave him the posthumous title of Mr. Wenxing. Scholars are highly qualified and call it Yuanlu Mountain. Dexiu's "Ji Zi Ting Yue Lun" and "Jian Shi Fu" were praised by experts in the old Tang Dynasty.

Recently, a music magistrate was discovered in the history books who used music to educate, change customs, and build a harmonious society. Although his position is not high, he is unique. This peculiar seventh-grade luther master is recorded in the Old Tang Book, New Tang Book, and Zizhi Tongjian. He is Yuan Dexiu, the magistrate of Lushan County.

According to the New Tang Book and the Old Tang Book, Yuan Dexiu, also known as Zizhi, lived in Luoyang and was the elder brother and teacher of the Tang Dynasty poet Yuan Jie. The Yuan family has been clean and honest for generations. Although Yuan Dexiu's father once served as the governor of Yanzhou, when he died, except for an ancestral guqin, the family was left with nothing.

Yuan Dexiu lost his father when he was young and his family was poor. However, he was talented and intelligent. In addition to being rich in economics and loving the guqin, he also traveled thousands of miles to Beijing to take the exam on his back, carrying his mother on his back. He was known everywhere for his virtuous and filial piety. After Yuan Dexiu was elected as a Jinshi in the 21st year of Kaiyuan, he served as the magistrate of Lushan County. From then on, this musical master, who was proficient in music, followed the classic theory of governing the people without being good at etiquette; changing customs and changing customs without being good at music, and found a unique way to explore the way of governance.

When people mention the guqin, they think of Yu Boya in the Spring and Autumn Period. It is a pity that this qin sage only had Zhong Ziqi as his close friend. When Zhong Ziqi died, Yu Boya had no choice but to throw down his qin to thank his close friend. During the Kaiyuan period, Yuan Dexiu, the magistrate of Lushan County, built a qintai in Lushan and played the guqin with the people. He has many close friends who are the windows of music and governance.

Why are common people all close friends of Yuan Dexiu? According to historical records, Yuan Dexiu married Qixian throughout his life and never married. His salary was mostly used to support the elderly and orphans and to help the poor people. After serving as the county magistrate in Lushan for three years, he took the piano in his arms and retired to Luhunshan Village. When the people of Lushan saw their parents and officials leaving empty-handed, they crowded together and said goodbye with tears in their eyes.

Yuan Dexiu managed Lushan without missing a beat through his music education as simple as flowing water. Because of his well-connected government and the love of the people, there was no need for jailers to go to the countryside to urge him to collect the imperial grain. As long as Yuan Dexiu took the harp and played a song to celebrate the harvest, the people in the county would rush to tell each other to pay the imperial grain. This good governance of Qintai with benevolence and integrity at its core has been praised by literati for thousands of years. The poet Yao Yu wrote in a poem about Qintai: Qintai is a hundred feet tall and supports the sky. I am here today to recall past years. Thinking about Zizhi in her free time from politics, how many emotions are attached to her. During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Shan taught Chen Zi and wrote in his poem "Good Governance at Qintai": A wise prince is virtuous and loves the people deeply, and he plays the piano quietly on a hundred-foot high platform. A piece of Qingfeng string is up-tuned, and the voice is filled with harmony and energy. Boya used to be a good friend? Shan's father was not easy-going back then. High mountains and flowing water are not the only pleasure, I still admire the music of De.

If we carefully examine why the seventh-grade luthier Yuan Deok-soo is famous in history, in addition to his musical education, there are also excellent historical opportunities. Because when Yuan Dexiu was building a piano platform in Lushan to entertain the people, the music of the Tang Dynasty was at its peak of glory under the strong advocacy of the romantic emperor who pioneered the Liyuan. Yuan Dexiu was also fortunate to personally lead the folk singers to participate in the Tang Xuanzong Held in Luoyang, the eastern capital, it was the first regional literary and artistic performance recorded in Chinese history.

In the 23rd year of the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, in order to celebrate the great victory at the frontier fortress, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty personally visited Luoyang, the eastern capital, and ordered the governors and county magistrates within three hundred miles to go to the eastern capital with all the singers and dancers. Perform performances in front of the Wufeng Tower, and the winner will receive a heavy reward. After receiving the edict, the governors and county magistrates from all over the world hurriedly selected beautiful women and rushed to make vehicles and clothing. The governor of Huaizhou was even more ingenious. Not only did he have hundreds of singing girls wear silk brocades, rings and pearls, but also the cattle pulling the carts were dressed in red and colorful, pretending to be rhinos, elephants, tigers and leopards.

Only Yuan Dexiu, like a chicken standing in a group of cranes, personally carries the guqin and brings only a few folk singers to Luoyang to perform. Yuan Dexiu sings to reflect the suffering of the people and lament the hard-won gains of every meter and millet. Yu Ge. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was probably tired of listening to the songs praising virtues. He suddenly changed his taste and suddenly felt refreshed. He praised the village songs presented by Lu Shan repeatedly and said to the prime minister around him: If all the officials in the world were like the governor of Huaizhou, they would spend money like water. The people will inevitably suffer disaster. So Xuanzong rewarded Yuan Dexiu greatly and reduced the position of Huaizhou governor to the people.