Tian Xi was a famous statesman
and literary man at the beginning of the Song Dynasty. He was an honest and
straightforward official who was heart and soul concerned about the country and
its people, whose memorials to the emperors Taizong and Zhenzong had a great
reputation in the court. His poems formed a unique style in the poetic circles
at that time; he was also a pioneer in the Ancient Prose Movement in the
Northern Song Dynasty. There were roughly four previous studies on the
chronicle of Tian Xi. Based on the previous studies, the author of this book
sorts out data of Tian Xi’s life story from dozens of documents, examining and
correcting these data and arranging them in order. By keeping the merits of
previous studies and analyzing their limitations, this book tries to reproduce the
life story of Tian Xi to the maximum extent, providing significantly valuable
historical data. It is a good reference for the studies on Tian Xi as well as
the Song Dynasty literature, and a detailed and accurate annalistic biography.
Jiang Xiliang works
in the Administrative Office of Beijing Language and Culture University. With a
BA degree and a master’s degree, Jiang is now a Ph.D. candidate in the Chinese
Department of Peking University, his research focusing on Song Dynasty
literature. He has hosted the university academic project “Research on the Life
Story and Literary Works of Tian Xi in the Beginning of the Song Dynasty”
(project No. 12YBG025), published the academic paper “A Comparative Study of
the Methods of Westerners Entering China in Late Ming Dynasty and an Analysis
of the Historical Background” (Chinese
Studies, Vol. 13, June 2011), and co-edited the textbook China Panorama (Guo Peng, Cheng Long
& Jiang Xiliang, eds., Higher Education Press, 2010 Chinese Edition, 2011
English Edition).