Fan Ch’eng-Ta Literacy Work

Fan Ch’eng-Ta had a talent of writing and at a tender age of 17 years, his talent was realized and asked to submit his poetry work to Ministry of Rites. After his graduation, Ch’eng-Ta worked at local posts and being a Confucian where he largely involved himself in the welfare of the people and political welfare, revolution of northern part of China from the Chin Dynasty. He was compassionate to his people and royal to his country and this made him rise to high rank quickly but later dismissed after claims from opponents.

Later he returned in office under Emperor Hsia-tsang and carried a Chin mission that saw him to his first travel diary, writing 72 poems about the journey. He lost office again and returned later, recording high findings in a local gazette and also in another travel diary, Riding in the Luan-bird. Ch’eng-Ta was assigned to different roles incuding government matters but retired due to ill health. This shows how willing and hardworking he was to the community.

The author engulfed in writing poems which emphasized on purity in morality among others which intense observation of the social life. His poetry was shifted to the focus of field and garden genre -Nature beauty. Several of his poems reveal his Chan’s Buddhism interest. He was largely influenced by Liu Tsung-yuan styles of describing and Su Shi Philosophical attitudes. He is also regarded as a famous calligrapher and adopted this descriptive style and largely manifested it in his writing.

The author uses intense observations and descriptions in his writing. He was curious about wonders of nature and was very observant. This is confirmed when he stopped over the river, viewed and vividly described the Eyebrows Mountain. He explores the plants and animals in the mountain and is amazed by their beauty. He gives a clear description of specific plants and animals and this shows his passion towards nature. He explored the Temple of Brilliant Image and endured all the cold as he climbed further in the name of curiosity and learning more about nature.

Buddhism kept his spirit high and often offered incense at the chapel. He was inquisitive about the Halo but it was past the time it comes. Luckily, it came and he observed it at a close distance, narrated all the events and described them in a clear manner. He says he saw a guard halo with rings of various colors and its shadow at the center of the clouds. Further he narrates of the aftermaths of the occasion, rays of golden light and the tranquility of the mountains. His descriptive nature makes one build mental pictures of the occasion. He further ascends and describes surrounding mountains, gives an outline of their shapes, appearance and their aesthetic part.

On return to the chapel, a mist covers the cliff and a heavy rain falls. All this is explained by a monk and he observes a Buddha halo again, this time three rings containing green, red, blue and yellow colors. He enquires more from the monk who explains to him on how to capture the body halo. Another halo appears and he marvels at the brilliance of nature at the moment. He describes the trees and flowers as glittering which is beyond looking.

Fan did most of his writing during his journeys around the country. He wrote many poems in his adventures which were mostly on the political issues and about the culture of the people, particularly Buddhism religion.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Stassberg, R. E. (Ed.). (1994). Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writing from Imperial China.

United States of America: University of California Press. Available at http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=SrstoswsLzkC&pg=PA213&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false (accesed on 26/03/2013).