From Ouyang Xiu to Su Shi: Multiple Variations of Ping Shan Tang Writing

Ouyang Xiu's poems and articles during his time as governor of Yangzhou show a subtle change in his mentality at this time. In the trend of zhongle(众乐) written by the literati of Qingli(庆历), the Ping Shan Tang built by Ouyang Xiu bears the "dule" memory which is different from the trend. At the beginning of Jiayou, Ouyang Xiu wrote Chao zhong Cuo(朝中措) when he sent Liu Chang to Yangzhou, exhorting him to enjoy himself in time, revealing the "dule" connotation of Ping Shan Tang. In the face of the humanistic connotation given to Ping Shan Tang by Ouyang Xiu, Mei Yaochen, Liu Chang and Wang Anshi show different attitudes of adaptation, avoidance and confrontation when singing harmony. In the second year of Yuanfeng(元丰), when Wang Anshi's new learning was flourishing, Su Shi passed Ping Shan Tang on his way to Huzhou and wrote Xijiangyue(西江月) to remember Ouyang Xiu, which obfuscated his political demands for Confucianism to re-clean the atmosphere and reverse the situation. Through the writing of Su Shi and others, Ouyang Xiu's beautiful politics and spirit become the reference of Ping Shan Tang. The multiple variations of Ping Shan Tang's writing inspire us to regard the literary landscape as a two-level symbol system and re-examine the related concepts.