View source for Guo Pu

{{short description |Chinese writer, historian and poet}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Guo]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{infobox chinese
|title = Guo Pu
|piccap= Guo Pu
|pic = File:Guo Pu.jpg
|p=Guō Pú
|c=郭璞
|l=(personal name)
|w=Kuo<sup>1</sup> P'u<sup>2</sup>
|gr=Guo Pwu
|mi={{IPAc-cmn|g|uo|1|-|p|u|2}}
|y=Gwok Puk
|j=Gwok<sup>3</sup> Pok<sup>3</sup>
|ci={{IPAc-yue|gw|ok|3|-|p|ok|3}}
|poj=Kueh Phok
|wuu=Kueʔ Poʔ
|mc=kwak pʰuwk
|s2=景纯
|t2=景純
|l2=(courtesy name)
|p2=Jǐngchún
|w2=Ching<sup>3</sup>-ch'un<sup>2</sup>
|gr2=Jiingchwen
|j2=Ging<sup>2</sup>-seon<sup>4</sup>
|y2=Gíng-sèuhn
|poj2= Kíng-sûn
|mc2= kjǽng dʒwin
}}
'''Guo Pu''' ({{zh|c=郭璞}}; AD 276–324), [[courtesy name]] Jingchun ({{zh|c=景純|p= Jǐngchún}}), was a Chinese historian, poet, and writer during the [[Eastern Jin]] period, and is best known as one of China's foremost commentators on ancient texts.  Guo was a [[Taoism|Taoist]] mystic, [[Geomancy|geomancer]], collector of strange tales, editor of old texts, and erudite commentator. He was the first commentator of the ''[[Shan Hai Jing]]'' and so probably, with the noted Han bibliographer [[Liu Xin (scholar)|Liu Xin]], was instrumental in preserving this valuable mythological and religious text.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mair|first=Victor H.|title=The Shorter Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature|url=https://archive.org/details/shortercolumbiaa00mair_510|url-access=limited|year=2000|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-231-11998-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/shortercolumbiaa00mair_510/page/n109 77]|chapter=2}}</ref> Guo Pu was the well-educated son of a governor. He was a natural historian and a prolific writer of the [[Jin dynasty (265–420)|Jin dynasty]]. He is the author of ''[[The Book of Burial]]'', the first-ever and the most authoritative source of [[feng shui]] doctrine and the first book to address the concept of feng shui in the history of China, making Guo Pu the first person historically to define feng shui, and therefore, Guo Pu is usually called the father of feng shui in China.<ref>Zhang, Juwen. [http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=5879&pc=9 A Translation of the Ancient Chinese 'The Book of Burial (Zang Shu)' by Guo Pu (276-324)]. Retrieved 11-07-2007</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hokming.com/fengshuimaster-legendmaster-kksck.htm|title=風水大師郭璞先生的寶典--葬經, 關鍵字「風水大師」「葬經」.風水, 風水口訣, 風水大師, 風水師、風水師傅、風水設計, 風水, 陰宅風水, 青囊奧語-揀風水樓-風水用品-風水布局-風水瑞獸-風水師-風水課程|website=www.hokming.com}}</ref>

==Life==
A native of [[Wenxi County]], in what is now southwest [[Shanxi Province]], Guo studied [[Daoist]] [[occultism]] and [[Divination|prognostication]] in his youth, and mainly worked as a prognosticator for various local officials and leaders, interpreting omens and portents in order to predict the success or failure of various endeavors.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|pp=301-302}} In AD 307 a [[Xiongnu]] clan invaded the area and Guo's family relocated south of the [[Yangtze River]], reaching today [[Xuancheng]] and eventually settling in Jiankang (modern [[Nanjing|Nanjing, Jiangsu]]).{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|pp=301-302}} Guo served as an omen-interpreter to military leaders and Eastern Jin chancellor [[Wang Dao]] before being appointed to official court positions in 318 and 320. Guo's mother died in 322, which caused Guo to resign his position and spend a year in mourning.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|pp=301-302}} In 323 Guo joined the staff of warlord [[Wang Dun]], who controlled much of the modern [[Hunan]] and [[Hubei]] areas, but was executed in 324 after he failed to produce a favorable omen toward Wang's planned usurpation of the Eastern Jin throne.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|pp=301-302}}

==Influence==
Guo was likely the most learned person of his era, and is one of the foremost commentators on ancient Chinese works.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|p=302}} He wrote commentaries to the ''[[Chu Ci]]'', ''[[Shan Hai Jing]]'', ''[[Mu Tianzi Zhuan]]'', ''[[Fangyan (book)|Fangyan]]'', ''[[Erya]]'', [[Sima Xiangru]]'s "''Fu'' on the Excursion Hunt of the Son of Heaven", and three ancient dictionaries: ''Cang Jie'', ''Yuanli'', and ''Boxue''.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|p=302}} Guo's commentaries, which identify and explain rare words and allusions, are often the only surviving sources of these glosses, and without which leave the original work mostly incomprehensible to modern readers.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|p=302}} In particular, Guo's commentaries to the ''Erya'', ''Shan Hai Jing'', and ''Fangyan'' are considered sufficiently authoritative that they are included in all standard versions of those texts.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|p=302}}  Without his glosses and commentaries, large portions of these texts would be unintelligible today.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010a|p=184}}

Guo was also an accomplished poet, and his 11 surviving [[fu (poetry)|''fu'' poems]] display his extensive command of the ancient Chinese language.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|pp=302-303}} One of them, entitled "''Fu'' on the [[Yangtze River]]" (''Jiang fu'' 江賦), used the image of the Yangtze to praise the restoration of the Jin dynasty, and established his reputation as a leading literary figure.{{sfnp|Tian|2010|p=204}}  His best known poems are a series entitled "Wandering as an Immortal" (''youxian'' 遊仙), of which 14 survive.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|pp=302-303}} The bibliography monograph of the Records of the [[Sui dynasty]] list Guo's works in 17 volumes; by the [[Tang dynasty]] only 10 volumes remained, and by the end of the [[Song dynasty]] all of Guo's writings not included in the ''[[Wen Xuan]]'' had been lost.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|pp=302-303}} All that remains today are his writings from the ''Wen Xuan'' and reconstructions from quotations in other surviving works.{{sfnp|Knechtges|2010b|pp=302-303}}

==References==
===Footnotes===
{{reflist|25em}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|35em}}
* {{cite book | first=David R. | last=Knechtges | author-link=David R. Knechtges | chapter=From the Eastern Han through the Western Jin (AD 25&ndash;317) | pages=116–198 | editor-first=Stephen | editor-last=Owen | title=[[The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1: To 1375]] | year=2010a | location=Cambridge | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] | isbn=978-0-521-11677-0 }}
* {{cite book | first=David R. | last=Knechtges | author-mask=3 | chapter=Guo Pu 郭璞 | title=Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One | editor-first1=David R. | editor-last1=Knechtges | editor-first2 = Taiping | editor-last2 = Chang | location=Leiden | publisher=Brill | pages=301–307 | year=2010b | isbn=978-90-04-19127-3 }}
* {{cite book | first=Jonathan | last=Pease | chapter=Kuo P'u 郭璞 | title=The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Volume 2 | editor-first=William | editor-last=Nienhauser | location=Bloomington | publisher=Indiana University Press | pages=71–74 | year=1998 | isbn=957-638-516-4 }}
* {{cite book | first=Xiaofei | last=Tian | chapter=From the Eastern Jin through the early Tang (317&ndash;649) | pages=199–285 | editor-first=Stephen | editor-last=Owen | title=The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1: To 1375 | year=2010 | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-11677-0 }}
* Wei, Fengjuan, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929110315/http://203.72.198.245/web/Content.asp?ID=63780&Query=1 "Guo Pu"]. ''[[Encyclopedia of China]]'' (Chinese Literature Edition), 1st ed.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=26209| name=Pu Guo}}
* [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/personsguopu.html www.chinaknowledge.de entry on Guo Pu]
* {{Internet Archive author |name=Pu Guo}}
* [http://www.silkqin.com/12more/lore.htm Qin Lore]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060712040139/http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_26304.htm Guo Pu]
* [http://www.trinity.edu/sfield/Fengshui/Zangshu.html ''The Book of Burial''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201756/http://www.trinity.edu/sfield/Fengshui/Zangshu.html |date=2016-03-03 }}

{{Jin dynasty historians}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guo, Pu}}
[[Category:276 births]]
[[Category:324 deaths]]
[[Category:4th-century executions]]
[[Category:4th-century Chinese historians]]
[[Category:People executed by the Jin dynasty (266–420)]]
[[Category:Jin dynasty (266–420) historians]]
[[Category:Jin dynasty (266–420) poets]]
[[Category:Jin dynasty (266–420) Taoists]]
[[Category:People executed by the Jin dynasty (266–420) by decapitation]]
[[Category:3rd-century Taoists]]
[[Category:4th-century Taoists]]