An Old Man as a Peasant and a Scholar— LU You’s Identity Consciousness in His Late Years

In the16th years of Chunxi(1189) , LU You lived in the countryside after his retirement. Ever since then, he had accepted the offer of a post as Cilu five times. And till the4th year of Jiatai(1204) , he once again became an official. In his late years, LU You associated himself with largely peasants and called himself a peasant from time to time. Such change of i- dentity consciousness was quite obvious. As a matter of fact, his acceptance of such identity underwent a long and complicated
process. Till the first year of Jiading(1208), he“no longer had any doubt about his identity as a peasant all his life”. Such complicated process originated from his longing for fighting against Jin to gain the revival of Song Dynasty. He accepted such i- dentity because of his hatred of the officialdom, the simple and primitive custom in the countryside and love from the unsophis- ticated peasants. The more important reason lay in the change of scholars’ values under the reformation background of Tang and Song Dynasties.