Ouyang Xun – the Systematist Praising the Emperor

Abstract

Ouyang Xun is an outstanding cultural figure of the early period of Tang Empire, best known as the creator of his style of calligraphy. Nevertheless, it is also known that he was an exceptional polymath and a person close to the ruling house of empire, and such social status along with his competence manifested themself in different areas of Ouyang Xun’s work; this article examines two of its aspects: taxonomy and writing of official documents glorifying the emperor. In the first area, Ouyang Xun acted as the main compiler and author of the great encyclope­dia Yiwen leiju. Here he contributed to the expansion of the set of topics covered in such reference books. In particular, it was in this collection that the headings devoted to the topics of Buddhism and Taoism appeared for the first time. In the second area, Ouyang Xun became the creator of the earliest known official document, which explicitly stated the relationship of the ruling house of Tang and Lao-zi. In addition, this document continued the tradition of considering Lao-zi as the founder of Taoism and formed the image of Taoism as a doctrine close to Confucianism based on the classical literary heritage.