In my opinion, there were many strange phenomena in the Tang Dynasty. As far as literature is concerned, there are at least two strange phenomena in the Tang Dynasty. First of all, Tang poetry is the brightest pearl in the history of China literature. However, in the Tang Dynasty, there were no newspapers or magazines that published poems, no poets or professional writers who received salaries from the government, and no writers' associations attached to the courts were established.

Another reason is that although there was no modern remuneration system at that time, newspapers, publishing houses and booksellers all paid authors' remuneration or royalties according to the number of words, quality and sales, many writers in the Tang Dynasty made a lot of money, and even became rich through writing.

I want to talk about the latter phenomenon. Although there was no remuneration system in the Tang Dynasty, most writers could not exchange their works for money. However, in those days, there were indeed a group of writers who made a lot of money through creative activities. The source of their money is not royalties, but gifts from others. When rich, rich people are generous and natural.

According to the literature, at least the following writers who got rich by writing appeared in the Tang Dynasty:

Wang Bo, one of the four outstanding writers in the early Tang Dynasty, wrote very well, not only with high speed, but also with gorgeous style. Many people asked him to write articles for them, so his family was rich.

Li Yong is not only a good writer, but also a first-class calligrapher. Celebrities in palaces and temples all over the world asked him to write articles with money. Li Yong wrote hundreds of such articles in his life, "A gift is worth one million dollars." Du Fu described the luxury of Li Yong's family in his poem: "There is a dry character hanging on the door and four descendants are illuminated on the tablet. A large number of coral hooks are woven by kirins. Purple scorpion followed the sword several times without hesitation. " According to "Biography of New Tang Dynasty", it is generally believed that no one can compare with Li Yong since ancient times, because he earned so much money by writing articles.

Han Yu is a master of writing articles, and many people ask him to write epitaphs. His grave made a lot of money. Han Yu wrote an article "Pinghuai Xi Monument". Tang Xianzong gave Han Hong a stone carving, and Han Hong gave Han Yu 500 silks. Han Yu wrote about Wang Yongbei, and Wang Yong's son gave Han Yu a BMW with a saddle and a white jade belt. Liu Yuxi, a close friend of Han Yu, wrote in his eulogy after his death: "Hou's monument, your watch, the price of a word, is as gold as a mountain."

Master Huangfu wrote "Fu Xian Temple Monument" for Pei Du. Pei Du gave him a lot of horses and chariots, but Huangfushi was still very dissatisfied. He said: "The inscription is 3,000 words, and each word has three horses, which is too few!" So Du smiled and gave him nine thousand silks.

In addition to these people, there are Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Ou Yangxun, Xiao Hua, Wei Guanzhong and Bai Juyi. Has been beautified a lot. Among them, Bai Juyi's poems were exported to North Korea, and Korean businessmen used to buy new poems from Bai Juyi with the money from selling Korean ginseng. In the Tang Dynasty, especially in Tang Wenzong and Chang 'an's Li Angchao, the wind of searching for inscriptions prevailed and seemed to form an active market. Once a noble person dies, their door is like a busy city. People shouted and tried to buy inscriptions and epitaphs, whether the families of the deceased wanted to accept them or not. Sometimes, if the descendants of the deceased can't get the inscriptions and epitaphs of some master writers, they will be regarded as unfilial by the world. Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen have been friends for decades and are connected by flesh and blood. But after Yuan Zhen's death, his family asked Bai Juyi to write an epitaph. After writing, Yuan Zhen's family will present Bai Juyi's domestic slaves, chariots and horses, whereabouts, silver saddles, jade belts and so on. Worth 6.7 million yuan. Bai Juyi thought of his relationship with Yuan Zhen and refused. Yuan Zhen's family refused and sent it to him several times. Bai Juyi had to accept it and give it to a temple.

Now that the market has been formed, there will be transactions and impossible transactions. Tang Muzong asked Xiao Ni to write an inscription for Wang Shizhen, but Xiao Ni refused, because Wang Shizhen had nothing to write, so she accepted the gift after writing, which violated her conscience. Wei also flatly refused to write an inscription for his son, saying that he would rather starve to death than write an epitaph for him. During Du Fu's settlement in Chengdu, a neighbor and friend once left home and asked for money to write an inscription.

Looking at the rich list of writers in the Tang Dynasty, it is not difficult to find a problem: many famous writers have gained great wealth through writing, but not all famous writers can get wealth through writing. The best poets, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei and Li Shangyin, have never received any gifts. It can be seen that the amount of money obtained is not necessarily proportional to artistic achievements.