Yue Guang

Yue Guang (Chinese: 樂廣; died 29 February 304), courtesy name Yanfu (彥輔), was a Chinese calligrapher, politician who was one of the pure conversation leaders in the Jin Dynasty, and an individual with a literary reputation by others at that time.

Yue Guang was born to a poor family and lived in the lowest social class, but was appreciated by several high-ranking government officials due to his moral integrity and ability in his childhood. With their assistance, Yue Guang began his political career and served as assistant minister, archer coordinator, and tutor of the crown prince. He was later involved in a complicated political struggle, and his leader lost trust in him because of his identity as the father-in-law of another political party’s leader.

In the late period of Cao Wei, politics became increasingly corrupt and class contradictions became more apparent. At the same time, there was a confrontation and struggle between the two groups led by Cao Shuang and Sima Yi, which the latter won. In the second year of Xianxi [zh] (265), Sima Yan forced the last emperor of Cao Wei, Cao Huan, to abdicate the throne and establish the Jin dynasty.

Western Jin (266-316) is one of two main divisions in the history of Jin, which was established by Sima Yan, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Jin. After the kingdom of Wu was eliminated to improve the poor situation left by the war, Sima Yan took Luoyang as his capital and adopted a series of measures throughout the country, such as focusing on agricultural production and protecting the interests of the gentry. These measures contributed to freeing the people from the war and making the country work on development. While emphasizing the development of production, Sima Yan strongly opposed extravagance and advocated frugality. Yue Guang was promoted to a higher position during that period.

After a period of stable development, the royal family of Western Jin gradually decayed. Sima Yan became immersed in his achievements and forgot what he advocated. In order to dominate the country and bolster the power of the Sima clan, most of his relatives were awarded different lands, which resulted in the War of the Eight Princes, since every prince wanted to rule the whole country rather than only part of it. A succession of crises caused higher taxes and destroyed the social economy. However, the ruling classes were still busy contending for power and after the War of the Eight Princes, the hidden class contradiction broke out. Eventually, the common folk began to revolt against the domination. At the same time, with the uprising of the five barbarians, Western Jin lost control of northern China.

When Yue Guang was eight (by East Asian reckoning), his father, Yue Fang, served as staff officer of Xiahou Xuan. After being familiar with him, Xiahou Xuan said to his father, "Yue Guang will become a famous officer in the future, it is rare to behave so decently in his age."

After his father's early death, Yue Guang was left poor and alone. He devoted his energy and time to studying, but was unknown at that time. He was modest and never looked forward to enjoying luxury, which helped him earn a reputation for being frugal and hard-working. In addition, he was good at analysing things with terse and lively language, but he always kept silent while being asked something he did not understand. He was later recommended as a scholar and invited to become Wei Guan's sons’ tutor because of his reputation.

Yue Guang served as county magistrate of Yuan City and was promoted to being the princess's tutor, then later the master of Henan. Finally, he served as assistant minister. While evaluating employees, Yue Guang preferred to point out their advantages first, then the disadvantages would be realized by themselves without mentioning it. He had been regarded as one of the leaders of Qingtan in Western Jin and famous for his literary reputation all over the country.