Lodging in the Mountains and Rivers: The Kuaiji Hermits in Medieval China

The Kuaiji Hermits in Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties presented the characteristics of lodging in the mountains and rivers and enjoying themselves with poetry and classics, which was inherited by later Kuaiji Hermits. After "Yongjia Turmoil", the Han Chinese moved from the north to the south and the economy and culture in south China developed rapidly. At the same time, a lot of hermits appeared in the Kuaiji region, which became an important part of the southern Eremitic Tradition. The beautiful mountains and rivers in Kuaiji not only provided a comfortable environment for life, but also provided a creative space for their literary writing and aesthetical imagination. The southern hermits portrayed and reshaped the mountains and rivers with poetry and prose, which endowed the nature with spiritual meaning and stimulated the visits and trips of later literati. Finally, the southern mountains and rivers formed their own humanistic tradition.