The Study Of Nalan Chengde’s Circle Of Friends

Nalan Chengde(1655-1685)is a famous poet and writer in Qing Dynasty.As an aristocrat of Qing Dynasty,he grew up under the influence of two cultures.He was intelligent and eager to learn literate and martial arts,knowledgeable in classics and history,and excellent in poetry.In the 15 th year of Kangxi(1676),Chengde became a Jinshi.One of the reasons for the change of his character was the failure to enter the Hanlin Academy.In the 17 th year of Kangxi(1678),Chengde began to serve as the third class imperial bodyguard.In the 21 st year of Kangxi(1682),Chengde went to Qinghai to scout and pacify,which made a positive contribution to stabilizing the local situation.He showed positive attitude to life in his early years,but gradually became pessimistic in his adulthood.Unfortunately,he died young.By making friends with scholars,Nalan Chengde became a great master of Ci and learned a lot from Confucian classics.According to the visible literature records,there are 92 people in Nalan Chengde’s circle of friends.Chengde’s friendship has a very obvious regional tendency,and the proportion of its friends in Jiangsu,Zhejiang and Shanghai is as high as three-quarters.His friends are mainly officials,accounting for two-thirds,which is consistent with its status as a noble blood of Manchuria.Nearly half of its friends are the same age as his father,and only Cao Yin is younger than him.With Xu Qianxue as the central figure,Chengde made friends with Gu Zhenguan,Jiang Chenying,Yan shengsun,Qin Songling,Zhu Yizun,Chen Weisong and other lifelong friends and colleagues by taking the opportunity of the mid-term examination in the 12 th year of Kangxi(1673)to the Jinshi in the 15 th year(1674)and the“Bo-Xue-Hong-Ru” scholars in the 17 th year of Kangxi(1678)and the 18 th year(1679).He also established further relationship with Wu Zhaoqian,Jiang Jingqi,Ma Yunling,etc.Gu Zhenguan had the closest friendship with Chengde.At first,he contacted Chengde with the purpose of finding support and rescuing Wu Zhaoqian.Chengde’s sincerity moved him,and his cynical personality also influenced Chengde.Yan Shengsun was unworldly,unimpressed by power.He experienced Chengde’s transformation from being frivolous in his youth to frustrated in his middle age,but his words were vague,which seemed to have a hidden meaning.Xu Qianxue,as a teacher of Chengde,had a great influence on him.Zhu Yizun was the founder of the Ci school in Western Zhejiang.Although he had different ideas from Chengde’s Ci school,he had much guidance on Chengde’s Confucian classics.Chengde’s friendship with Cao Yin and Zhang Chunxiu was a model of Manchu Han integration in the early Qing Dynasty.Jiang Chenying had a strong character,but Chengde still tried to protect him.Chen Weisong and Chengde shared a common topic in Ci poetry,but Chen Weisong died and Chengde didn’t say a word.Their friendship didn’t end well.In the process of communication with many Confucian Scholars,Monks and Taoists,Chengde gradually accepted Han folk traditional customs.Chengde’s talent of Ci is very high.At that time,Nalan’s Ci had a great reputation and its literary status was universally recognized.However,there is a great contrast between Chengde’s status and the unspeakable pain in his Ci.The formation of his style originats from the influence of his teachers and friends,and gradually forms an independent style.The early death of Chengde may mean the premature death of a Ci school.Chengde is an umbrella,surrounded by many famous scholars,so that they have a secret space to exchange academic thoughts and express real ideas.Although Chengde himself is not a master of Confucian Classics,he made friends and worked with people of like mind around and made contribution to the study of Confucian Classics by virtue of the Tongzhitang Classics Interpretation,which is the beginning of the series of Confucian Classics in Qing Dynasty.This achievement will last forever.