Tao (132 1 year ~ 1407) was born in Huangyan, Taizhou, Zhejiang. Legend has it that he is a descendant of Tao Yuanming in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Father Tao Zhe, whose real name is Mingyuan, was born in Xiao 'ao Mountain. Tao spent his childhood in Huangyan, and then traveled to northern Zhejiang with his father. Practitioner Qian Bi (word Boquan, Huating). Tao's teacher life had a great influence on him, which made him develop a modest, studious and enterprising character from an early age. He studied calligraphy with his uncle Zhao Yong since childhood, and realized the true meaning of calligraphy, especially good at seal script.
As a teenager, Tao was very clever and familiar with the four books and five classics. Dragon, on the other hand, has been guided by Du Ben and Zhang Jian, famous Confucian scholars, and has made great progress in learning. When he first took part in the imperial examination, he was still young, and all his relatives and teachers thought that with his knowledge, he had both fame and fortune and an immeasurable future. The result of the exam was a failure, which was not only unexpected, but also a heavy blow to Tao. From then on, he did not seek official advancement, but concentrated on reading. I read all kinds of ancient books, learned everything about astronomy, geography, yin and yang arithmetic, and became a great "saint" with rich knowledge, but completely different from ordinary literati.
Around the eighth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1348), Tao and his family went to Huating to escape the chaos. In the north of Songjiang, south of Surabaya (now south of Sijing Town), I bought build house, which is called "Nancun Caotang". According to the Records of Songjiang Prefecture written by Zheng De in Ming Dynasty, Nancun in Yuan Dynasty was "deep in the forest, and Nanpu was in front", which was a clean place. Tao lives in seclusion here, tilling the fields, teaching and educating people, and living a poor life. Shao Hengzhen, Tao's good friend, vividly described the life of Nancun Caotang and Tao in A Brief Introduction to Caotang: Caotang "has books on the left and right, and there are many mulberry, hemp and bamboo before and after." "Plant hundreds of chrysanthemums around the house." "Looking around is flat, and you can see the victory of Jiangshan far from home. There is a sericulture and fishing camp at four o'clock, and there is fun to read and talk in the morning and evening. " Tao is often "short and brown" and sings pastoral songs alone. Instead of working hard, he enjoys it. "Forever fallow, rest in the shade, tuck your knees and sigh, drum up your belly and sing". After work, every time I meet a festive occasion, I will have a drink and sing a poem of my own. When I am proud, I will clap my hands and laugh. He also often got together with friends such as Yuan Kai, Shao Hengzhen and Sun, celebrities of Huating at that time, or talked about classics, learned from each other and wrote poems and lyrics. Or take a boat trip, and if you wander between Sancha and Jiu Feng, enjoy tea and drink. Among them, he and Sun, a native of Sijing, are the most friendly. When the wind is clear and the waves are calm, they go boating in Nanpu, writing lyrics with Zong Yi, and Ming Dow plays on the flute, which sounds like gulls.
Tao Zong Yi is usually reticent. Once he meets a close friend and talks about articles and knowledge, he is eloquent and full of fun. "As far as ancient and modern figures are concerned, they have been tireless for thousands of years."
Tao Zongyi is diligent in reading and writing. I always carry a pen and ink with me, even when I work in the fields. When you are fallow and resting under a tree, you will write down all kinds of historical materials, documents, social rumors, reading experiences and so on, and store the manuscript in the urn. He wrote 10 years before and after, and accumulated 10 cinerary casket manuscripts. Later, with the help of students, it was transcribed into a book, with a volume of ***30, called "Nancun Dropping out of Farming". Legend has it that when Tao abandoned farming, he "refused to do anything, picked a leaf of books, saved an angel and buried it in his roots, which was unpredictable." If so, it will take ten years, and then ten years. One day, I will send all my treasures to my disciples, extract them and record them, and I will get a number of articles, totaling 30 volumes. " Therefore, some people say that Tao treats leaves as paper, and Nancun's dropout record is a book written on leaves. According to conventional analysis, some people occasionally lack paper, perhaps using leaves as paper, but the reliability of collecting 10 leaves manuscripts is very small. Let's not argue about the truth of this matter for the time being, but we can say that folklore expresses people's sincere praise for Tao's diligence.