The knowledge being used as a skillOn the Northern Dynasties tendency of Yan Zhitui

Abstract：As an important scholar at the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Yan Zhitui drifted between the northern and the southern China in his whole life. The cultures of the northern and the southern China all influenced his thoughts. But he was often regarded as a southerner, and his thoughts as the southern school. Due to the severe political reality in the Northern Dynasties, Yan Zhitui took the knowledge as a skill and regarded it as a way to survive in troubled times. This paper will discuss his thoughts from the aspects of the knowledge being used as a skill, thinking highly of scholars while downplaying the literati, and attaching importance to the philology while opposing the metaphysics, investigating the Northern Dynasties tendency in Yan Zhitui's thoughts. Thus, we can reflect on the fusion of the north and south during the turning period between the Northern-Southern Dynasties and Sui-Tang Dynasties.

Keyword：Yan Zhitui;Yan Shi Jia Xun;style of study;Northern Dynasties tendency;