Who are the Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest?

During the reign of Wei Zhengshi, seven people, Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Dan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Wang Rong and Ruan Xian, often got together under the bamboo forest in Shanyang County at that time and enjoyed themselves to the fullest, and were known as the seven sages of bamboo forest.

According to Mr. Chen Yinque's textual research, the comparison between internal classics and foreign books was popular in the late Western Jin Dynasty. In the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was named Tianzhu Bamboo Forest, and adding seven sages became seven sages of bamboo forest. Bamboo forest is neither a place name nor a real bamboo forest. The works of the Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest basically inherited the spirit of Jian 'an literature. However, due to the bloody rule at that time, writers could not express their thoughts directly, but could only express their thoughts and feelings subtly and tortuous through metaphors, symbols and myths.

The Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest are not only famous in literature, but also famous restaurants. His deeds are recorded in ancient documents, as well as in famous paintings handed down from ancient times and unearthed cultural relics. A picture of seven sages of bamboo forest carved with brick murals was found in the tomb of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Xishan Bridge, Nanjing. In the photo, people are sitting in the bamboo forest with wide sleeves and robes and open collars. Ji Kanghe and Ruan Xian beat Ruan, raised their glasses, and Ruan Ji and sat on the floor, with glasses in front of them. Xiang Xiu seemed drunk and sat down. The picture of seven sages painted by Shi Daoshuo, a painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, is also based on the seven sages of bamboo forest. Tang Changyun's Portrait of the Seven Sages vividly depicts the unique charm of the Seven Sages. In addition, the Shanghai Museum has a collection of "Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest" by Sun Wei, a painter of the Tang Dynasty, also known as "The First Picture of High School". This picture is in color and incomplete. There are only four figures left: Dan Tao, topless, kneeling on his knees; Wang Rong, sitting barefoot and full of wishful thinking; Liu Ling, with a glass in his hand, who wants to vomit; Ruan Ji, with a dusty tail fan in his hand and a grinning face, all come to the fore.

The Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest lived in the dark ages of Jin Dynasty. Because he was dissatisfied with the rulers of the Jin Dynasty, he often drank too much, left the world independent, respected the theory of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and talked too much. As Du Fu said, they sang and broke the news. Besides drinking, their main purpose is to hide in the wine country to avoid disaster. Ye Mengde, a poet in the Song Dynasty, said: Jin people talk a lot about wine, but as for drunkenness, they don't really care about drinking. Time is hard to cover, but alcohol can alienate the world. Since, this strategy has been spread to Ji, Ruan, so I want to use it completely, thinking that drinkers should not drink too much, and drunken people are not really drunk! The seven sages of bamboo forest used wine to drown their sorrows, escaped political persecution and personnel disputes, and often made some bizarre and crazy moves.

Liu Ling is famous for her good capacity for drinking and binge drinking. Chinese odyssey, with a capacity for liquor, is a drunken star in ancient China. The legend that Du Kang got drunk in Liu Ling is widely circulated among the people.

According to records, Liu Ling seldom talks, but likes to drink. Often binge drinking, for many days, Liu Ling often drown his sorrows in wine, and ordered people to take a shovel and leave it behind, telling them that if I was drunk, I would be buried on the spot. Liu Ling's wife saw that he was a heavy drinker and tried to persuade him. Liu Ling told her: I can give up drinking, but I can't make up my mind. We can only give up by the power of ghosts and gods. Go buy wine and meat and worship the gods! The wife was so happy that she immediately prepared wine and vegetables and asked Liu Ling to swear to ghosts and gods. Unexpectedly, Liu Ling made a wish before the gods: Give birth to Liu Ling, and in the name of wine, have a glass of welcome and five fights for luck. Don't listen to what women say! After that, I took wine and meat, ate and drank, and in a flash, I was as drunk as mud. One day, his wife brewed a big barrel of wine. Liu Ling saw the wine and asked for some more. His wife said that when the wine is ripe, I will make you drunk. When the wine was ripe, his wife asked Liu Ling to have a drink. Liu Ling excitedly opened the lid of the wine, and the wine was fragrant. Liu Ling couldn't help bending down to drink. His wife pushed him into the jar and pressed the lid on at once. She said angrily to Liu Ling in the bottle, I want you to drink enough this time! Three days later, Liu Ling's wife listened to the silence in the jar, quickly opened the cylinder cover and found that the wine in the jar had bottomed out. Liu Ling sat on the distiller's grains with his head down. His wife thought that Liu Ling was dead, and she screamed at once. Unexpectedly, Liu Ling slowly raised her head and smiled and said to her, Didn't you promise to make me drunk? Why do you let me sit here now? His wife is so cynical that she knows she can't get him to stop drinking, so she can only make him get drunk day by day.

Liu Ling is broad-minded and not bound by ethics. She often gets drunk, takes off her clothes, and walks around naked while drinking in the house. One day, someone visited Liu Ling. When he saw his state, he laughed at him and said, "You are also a member of the moral code. It seems that such behavior is really inappropriate. " Hearing this, Liu Ling rolled his eyes in ecstasy and said, I take heaven and earth as my home and my house as my clothing. How did you get into my pants? The guests were speechless.

All the seven sages in the bamboo forest are addicted to alcohol. Ruan Ji is also one of the giants among drunkards. In order to escape the interference of chaotic political situation, he borrowed wine to eliminate disasters. It is said that Si Mazhao, Emperor Wen of the Jin Dynasty, proposed marriage to his son Sima Yan through Ruan Ji. Ruan Ji dared not directly refuse, so he had to get drunk for more than 60 days and slept soundly every day, so that Si Mazhao could never find a chance to speak. There is a small hotel near Ruan Ji's home, and the female shopkeeper is quite attractive. Ruan Ji often goes to drink, and when he is drunk, he lies beside the female shopkeeper and sleeps soundly. Although she is drunk, she never goes off the rails. When his mother died, he was playing chess with someone, and his chess friends advised him to go home quickly. Ruan Ji insisted on playing chess, and then he drank three fights and cried, vomiting blood and almost fainted.

It is said that the chef of the infantry battalion is good at making wine and has stored hundreds of bottles of wine. Ruan Ji took the initiative to ask Emperor Wen of Jin to fill the vacancy of a captain, which made Liu Ling very unhappy. Ruan Ji smiled and said to Liu Ling: The captain has 300 bottles of wine at home, which is enough for us to enjoy. From then on, the two men hid in the captain's house every day to drink until they drank all the wine. Ruan Ji unequivocally offered to resign. Zhong Hui, Si Mazhao's counselor, tried to hurt Ruan Ji, but Ruan Ji got as drunk as a fiddler every day, so Zhong Hui could not be accused together with Luo Zhi. Ruan Ji escaped one disaster after another under the cover of wine.

Ruan Xian is the nephew of Ruan Ji, and his hobby for wine is no less than that of his uncle Ruan Ji. People who don't make friends in the world know that there is a banquet. According to Shi Shuo Xin Yu, Ruan Xian often meets with his people to drink. Instead of ordinary cups and lamps, he used a big basin to hold wine, and everyone sat around and drank freely. One day, while everyone was sitting around drinking, suddenly a group of pigs came running and drank water around the basin. Ruanxian saw it, but he didn't hurry. He casually drank with the pig and enjoyed himself.

Ruan Xian's son Ruan Fu is also an alcoholic. He is short and bald. His wit is extraordinary and he is deeply loved by the emperor. The emperor once put a dozen wine bottles on his hat and played Ruan Fu indoors, which meant that the short wine bottles were similar to Ruan's pregnant figure. As soon as Ruan Yun entered the room, he pretended to be surprised and said, Why are all the brothers sitting here? Come home with me as soon as possible! So he returned home with wine, which made the emperor clap his hands and laugh. Later, he was impeached for replacing the golden mink given by the emperor with wine. Ruan and his son can be described as buffoons.

Dan Tao is even better at drinking. It is said that Dan Tao gave up drinking eight times and never touched a drop of wine. Once the emperor invited Dan Tao to drink. In order to prove Dan Tao's eight measures, people took out eight measures of wine for Dan Tao to drink. While Dan Tao wasn't looking, he secretly added some wine. Dan Tao drank enough and never drank again. The emperor was also surprised.