Editing Han Yu (section)

==Biography==
Han Yu was born in 768,{{sfnm|1a1=Ueki et al.|1y=1999|1p=115}} in Heyang (河陽, present day [[Mengzhou]]) in [[Henan]] to a family of noble lineage.<ref name="pollard">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1QkljPvYOe4C&pg=PA31 |title=The Chinese Essay |editor= David E. Pollard |page = 31 |publisher=C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd |date=28 June 2000|isbn= 978-1-85065-537-4 }}</ref> His father worked as a minor official but died when Han Yu was two. He was then raised in the family of his older brother, Han Hui ({{lang|zh-hant|韓會}}).<ref name="indiana" /> He was a student of philosophical writings and Confucian thought. His family moved to [[Chang'an]] in 774 but was banished to [[Southern China]] in 777 because of its association with disgraced minister Yuan Zai. Han Hui died in 781 while serving as a prefect in [[Guangdong]] province.<ref name="pollard" /> In 792, after four attempts, Han Yu passed the ''[[jinshi]]'' [[imperial examination]]. In 796, after failing to secure a position in the civil service at the capital, he went into the service of the provincial military governor of [[Bianzhou]] until 799,<ref name="indiana" /> and then of the military governor of [[Xuzhou]].<ref name="barnstone" /> He gained his first central government position in 802 on the recommendation of the military governor. However, he was soon exiled for several possible reasons: for failing to support the heir apparent's faction, his criticism of the misbehavior of the emperor's servants, or his request for reduction of taxes during a famine.

From 807 to 819 he held a series of government posts, first in [[Luoyang]] and then in Chang'an. During these years, he was a strong advocate of reimposing central control over separatist northeastern provinces. This period of service came to an end when he wrote his famous [[Memorial on Bone-relics of the Buddha]] ({{lang|zh-hant|諫迎佛骨表}}) presented to [[Emperor Xianzong]]. The memorial is a strongly worded protest against [[Buddhist]] influence on the country.  The Emperor, offended by Han Yu's criticism, ordered his execution.  He was however saved by his friends at the court, and was thusly demoted and exiled to [[Chaozhou]] instead.<ref name="liu">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUqrApIdoWAC&pg=PA126 |title=An Introduction to Chinese Literature |author= Liu Wu-Chi |pages=126–127 |publisher= Praeger |year= 1990 |isbn=978-0-313-26703-1 }}</ref>  After Han Yu offered a formal apology to the Emperor a few months later, he was transferred to a province nearer to the capital. Emperor Xianzong died within a year, and his successor [[Emperor Muzong of Tang|Emperor Muzong]] brought Han Yu back to the capital where he worked in the War Office.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=blBTHAY_A4wC&pg=PA73 |title=Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400 |author= Tansen Sen |page= 73 |publisher=Manohar Publishers and Distributors |year= 2004 |isbn=978-81-7304-581-3 }}</ref> He was then appointed to a high-ranking position after he successfully completed a mission to persuade a rebellious military commander to return to the fold.<ref name="pollard"/>

Han Yu held a number of other distinguished government posts such as the rector of the [[Guozijian|Imperial university]]. At the age of fifty-six, Han Yu died in Chang'an on December 25, 824 and was buried on April 21, 825 in the ancestral cemetery at Heyang.<ref name=barnstone/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbv_AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1115 |title=Han Yu and the T'ang Search for Unity |author= Charles Hartman |page=115 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-691-61093-1 }}</ref>