Fan Zhongyan's Yueyang Tower has become a masterpiece through the ages. "Worry about the world first, and enjoy the world later" has also become a well-known saying. All people with lofty ideals who take the world as their responsibility take this sentence as their motto. Fan Zhongyan lived a hard life and was deeply loved by the people. Wherever he goes, he has made outstanding achievements. What he thinks about is the sufferings of the people. It can be said that he is immune to himself and helps the world. In the sixth year of Qing Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan was relegated to Henan, and Teng rebuilt Yueyang Tower, which made Fan Zhongyan write The Story of Yueyang Tower, expressing his feelings of worrying about the country and the people.
I remember when I was studying this article, my favorite sentence was "Don't be happy for things, don't be sad for yourself". What an open-minded mind it is to reach this level. We may struggle for fame and fortune all our lives, but when we look back in our twilight years, if we pursue these things all our lives, then I think it is a failure, because you can never enjoy a quiet and plain life for a moment. Fan Zhongyan experienced splendor, tasted blandness, and finally told the world not to be happy or sad because of the quality of foreign things and his own gains and losses. This is the feeling of success in life.
If Fan Zhongyan's The Story of Yueyang Tower shows optimism with the theme of "worry", then Ouyang Xiu, a magistrate of Chuzhou who is in the same era and has almost the same experience with him, shows his mood in a "happy" way. Ouyang Xiu was born in poverty and studied hard to become a success. His poems swept away the splendor of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, and his words were sparse, beautiful and deep. Fan Zhongyan was demoted in the same year, far away from the capital. They even wrote Yueyang Tower and Zuiweng Pavilion in the same year. Although the two articles have different styles, they have the same ideas. Ouyang Xiu was demoted as the prefect of Chuzhou and was deeply loved by the local people. Ouyang Xiu himself feels very gratified, because his leniency has enabled the people to live a happy and peaceful life. "Zuiweng Pavilion" describes the deep and beautiful natural scenery of Chuzhou. The local people live and work in peace and contentment, and the magistrate boarded Zuiweng Pavilion, enjoying themselves with the people. At first, only the word "Surrounding Chu as a mountain" was used to describe the mountains around Chuzhou, which became a quatrain in the history of prose. Everyone is familiar with the sentence "The meaning of drunkenness is not in wine, but also between mountains and rivers".
Ouyang Xiu claimed to be an alcoholic. Even though he was demoted, his love for drinking remained the same. "People who can enjoy the same thing when they are drunk, and who can express themselves in words when they wake up are too defensive." The drunkard's good mood does not seem to be affected by secular pressure, and his suffering has been "happy". How can it be said that this is not an open mind?
Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu, who had the same experience in the same era, both left their masterpieces for future generations, and their ideas were of great significance. Whether it is the "worry" in Yueyang Tower or the "joy" in Zuiweng Pavilion, it is actually expressing a kind of "ancient benevolence" that "does not delight in things, does not grieve for oneself".