Sima Ai, as regent, pays attention to reforming the government, and he sees the importance of formally honoring Emperor Hui while maintaining resemblance to impartial governance.
He continues to try to share power with Sima Ying.
However, in autumn 303, Sima Yong, dissatisfied that his plan had not come to fruition, persuades Sima Ying to again join him against Sima Ai.
While Sima Yong and Sima Ying have overwhelming force, their forces cannot score a conclusive victory against Sima Ai.
Chinese poet Lu Ji leads a Taoist and Buddhist-influenced movement toward a more individualistic and uninhibited literary style.
After Wu’s subjugation by the Jin Dynasty in 280, Lu Ji, a direct descendant of the founders of Eastern Wu and son of the general Lu Kang, had moved with his brother Lu Yun to the capital, Luoyang, where he has become prominent in both literature and politics and has been made president of the imperial university.
According to Achilles Fang, quoted in Eliot Weinberger (ed.
), The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry (New Directions, 2003: ISBN 0811215407), p. 240, “ He was too scintillating for the comfort of his jealous contemporaries; in 303 he, along with his two brothers and two sons, was put to death on a false charge of high treason."
Lu Ji wrote much lyric poetry but is better known for writing fu, a mixture of prose and poetry.
He is best remembered for the Wenfu ("On Literature"), a piece of literary criticism that discourses on the principles of composition.
