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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Selection Of The Scholars In Chinese Textbooks And Homogenization In The Canonization Process During The Republic Of China Period, Hongbo Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Ancient novels such as The Scholars, The Travel Notes of Lao Can, and The Water Margin were frequently selected into Chinese textbooks for primary and secondary schools during the Republic of China period. Because The Scholars was closely related to the Vernacular Movement and catered to the taste of young students, it came to be the most frequently selected novel, and its excerpt, "The Childhood of Wang Mian," became the most frequently selected story. During the Republican period, Chinese textbooks were arranged in accordance with the theme, language, and era of each work, and editors tended to select similar rather …
On The Factors To "The Extraordinary Out Of The Ordinary" In The Late Ming Dynasty, Gang Chen
On The Factors To "The Extraordinary Out Of The Ordinary" In The Late Ming Dynasty, Gang Chen
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Teasing "the extraordinary out of the ordinary" is a prevailing aesthetic taste in the late Ming dynasty, initiated by Li Zhi in the intellectual field and proliferated into the creative writing of novels and plays. This research delineates the development of this ideal in the Late Ming dynasty, and explains the reasons for the ideal from three aspects: zeitgeist, partisan contestation and literary claims. It hopes to explore the cultural implications and values with reference to the historical context.
On The Poetic Method "Duotai Huangu": A Clarification Of Misunderstandings, Changhong Zhang
On The Poetic Method "Duotai Huangu": A Clarification Of Misunderstandings, Changhong Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Duotai huangu(lit. grabbing the embryo and changing the bones) is an important proposition in classical Chinese poetics. However, in the process of transmission, some recipients are haunted by misunderstandings about its conceptual expression, connotation, and poetic value. These misunderstandings are mainly manifested in five aspects. First, the essence of the method of duotai is "to imitate" rather than "to see through" the original poems. Second,duotaiis often erroneously referred to as "tuotai", the meaning of which is fundamentally different from that ofduotai. Third, duotai and huangu are two correlated poetic methods separated by the degree of innovation. The conflation of duotai …
The Early And High Tang Poets' Inheritance And Development Of The Traditions Of Yanzhi O RYuanqing, Qinghai Liu
The Early And High Tang Poets' Inheritance And Development Of The Traditions Of Yanzhi O RYuanqing, Qinghai Liu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Two main conceptualizations of the essence of poetry before the Tang dynasty are yanzhi, expressing aspirations, and yuanqing, conveying emotions. Tang poets inherited and developed both traditions, and their poetry reflected the conceptualizations in different ways during different periods. Although Tang Emperor Taizong wrote poems in the mode of expressing aspirations and ordered officials to follow suit, a majority of poets believed in the mode of conveying emotions. During the reigns of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian, the court considered conveying emotions as the aim of poetry, while Luo Binwang and Wang Bo followed both modes of yuanqing and …
The Paragon Of Literati, The Decorum Of Essays, And The Signature Of Civil Administration: Remarks On The Term "Three Prose Writers Of Our Qing Dynasty", Yingde Guo
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The term "three prose writers of our Qing dynasty" was popularized after the compilation and spreading of Song Luo's The Anthology of Three Prose Writers of Our Qing Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. While this term was purely Song Luo's personal coinage, it was widely accepted by his contemporaries who considered Hou Fangyu, Wei Xi, and Wang Wan as the paragons of literati for their "civilian spirits", upright personality and responsibility for the country. Song's Anthology epitomizes the cultural origins and stylistic standards of classical prose, demonstrating literati's consciousness and efforts to define, mold, and exemplify the styles …
Function Words Through The Critical Lens Of Traditional Stylistics And Its Later Interpretations In The Early Modern Era, Fangzhou Chang
Function Words Through The Critical Lens Of Traditional Stylistics And Its Later Interpretations In The Early Modern Era, Fangzhou Chang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Essayists of the Tang and Song dynasties consciously celebrated the rhetorical effect of function words, which made function words an important subject in traditional stylistics. During the Qing dynasty, discussions on function words had two voices. In contrast to the school of philology's linguistic approach, the school of rhetoric focused on the style of writing to illuminate the rhetorical significance of function words. In the early modern era, Chinese scholars familiarized themselves with the categorization of Western learning and made attempts to reveal the characteristics of classical prose from a holistic perspective. By looking at function words' rhetorical effect in …
The Image Consciousness In Literary Criticism Of Fu In Ancient China, Jie Xu
The Image Consciousness In Literary Criticism Of Fu In Ancient China, Jie Xu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Image consciousness in literary criticism in ancient China is most prominent in the criticism of Fu (Rhapsody), which can be seen from Liu Xie's "describing objects as they appear" in "Interpreting the Genre Rhapsody" (501-2 A.D.) to Zhu Guangqian's comment that "Rhapsody is akin to pictures" in On Poetry (1943). The imagist representation in the criticism tradition involves a way of "picturely" thinking developed from the fusion of verbal and pictorial horizons, with theoretical basis in rhapsody's linguistic characteristic of graphic description and the aesthetic configuration on objects and images. The image-representing way of thinking and the graphic criticism of …
On The Theoretical Construction Of The Characteristics Of Tongguang Style Poetry By Tongguang Style Poets, Xiaowei Zhang
On The Theoretical Construction Of The Characteristics Of Tongguang Style Poetry By Tongguang Style Poets, Xiaowei Zhang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The Tongguang Style poetry, which had its origins in the Song School poetry during the reigns of Emperor Daoguang and Xianfeng (1821-1861), represented a profound innovative force within traditional poetry in both theory and creation. Tongguang Style poets also had systematically theoretical construction of the characteristics of their creation. They rebelled against the "orthodox form" in previous poetry and opposed Zhang Zhidong's theory of "qingqie" (explicit), by raising a set of binaries such as "qingqie" and "pise" (recondite), as well as "guangyi" (transparent) and "jianshen" (difficult). Zheng Xiaoxu also said that in modern society, "everything changes with disturbance outside and …
The Dissolution Of Dualism And The Reflective Nature Of The "Contestation Between The Tang And The Song Poetry" In The Qing Dynasty, Yunyun Tang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The "contestation between the Tang and the Song poetry" in the Qing dynasty is commonly viewed dualistically as a rivalry between the pro-Tang poetry group and the pro-Song poetry group. However, the said contestation was not an dispute over learning from the Tang poetry or the Song poetry in poetry writing practice, because their theoretical footings of the two groups do not cover the same ground to form a dualist opposition. At the core of the contestation are the dispute over the value of the Song poetry, and the discussions of traditional poetical concepts such as "poetry expressing ideals," temperament …
The Idea About Writing To "Convery The Truth" Of The Aixuan School In The Southern Song Period And Its Cultural Significance, Tianxi Zheng
The Idea About Writing To "Convery The Truth" Of The Aixuan School In The Southern Song Period And Its Cultural Significance, Tianxi Zheng
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The four generations of the epigones of the Aixuan School in the Southern Song dynasty laid equal emphases on wen and dao, the artistic and ideological aspects of literature. The importance of human nature rose to prominence in this process, and finally obtained the same position as the ideological requirement for writing to "convey the truth". The increasing focus on the nature of literature was a projection of the secularization of Neo-Confucianism from the Southern Song period. Despite the Neo-Confucian repression of literature, it was a special phenomenon that the Aixuan School insisted on its belief in literature and continued …
The Significance Of "Sense Of Beauty" In Eighteenth-Century British Aesthetics, Jialian Li, Yunfeng Lei
The Significance Of "Sense Of Beauty" In Eighteenth-Century British Aesthetics, Jialian Li, Yunfeng Lei
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Centering on "sense of beauty," the inner sense theory developed by Shaftesbury and Hutcheson is highly significant to eighteenth-century British aesthetics. However, due to linguistic and cultural differences, these two concepts have not been well received by the Chinese intelligentsia. By focusing on "sense of beauty," this paper aims to delineate the concept's development in eighteenth-century British aesthetics and evaluate its academic significance in the history of Western aesthetics, with the purpose of supporting the theoretical construction of contemporary Chinese aesthetics.
The Diversification Of Poetic Preferences In The Light Of The Ranking Of Su Shi And Huang Tingjian In The Late Northern And Early Southern Song Period, Guochao Liu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
As two prominent representative poets in the Northern Song dynasty, Su Shi and Huang Tingjian set the key of poetry of the Song dynasty. The ranking of Su and Huang against each other has always been contested in poetry criticism of the Song dynasty. The first wave of the contention culminated during the two Song Dynasties, when there appeared tour types of critics, namely, "Huang-esteemers," "Esteemers for both Su and Huang," "Su-esteemers" and "Censurer of both Su and Huang". The appreciation of Su and Huang's poems and the transformation of critical practices during this period reflected the diversification of poetic …
An Analysis Of The Phenomenon Of Titling Fu With Poetry In The Tang Dynasty, Haoyu Tang
An Analysis Of The Phenomenon Of Titling Fu With Poetry In The Tang Dynasty, Haoyu Tang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Poetry and fu (prosy ode) both flourished during the Tang dynasty, and thus with the mutual infiltration and development of poetry and fu, there was a phenomenon of using poetical lines in the title of fu, which influenced its content and purport. This phenomenon also reflected similarities and differences of poetry and fu in expressions and characteristics, and clearly revealed the trend of confluence of poetry and fu in the development of literary styles during the Tang dynasty. This article lists all the works in The Complete Fu of the Tang Dynasty that used poetry in titles and analyzes their …
Connotations And Characteristics Of The Public And The Private In Classical Chinese Poetics: A Case Study Of Zhang Xuecheng's Idea "Publicness Of Language", Qingyu Yan
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Issues of the public and the private have been discussed thoroughly in the history of thought, while it is yet to be developed in the field of literary history. Zhang Xuecheng's idea of "publicness of language" can be regarded as an inspiring beginning. From Zhang Xuecheng's perspective, the issues of the public and the private of classical Chinese poetics can be discussed from three dimensions, namely, ownership, originality, and authorship. The tendency of privatization and the balance between the public and the private in classical Chinese poetics is clear in the discussions on the formation of and response to ownership, …
The Receptive Dimension Of "The Music Of Today Derives From The Music Of Antiquity", Miaodan Chen
The Receptive Dimension Of "The Music Of Today Derives From The Music Of Antiquity", Miaodan Chen
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The discussion between Mencius and the King Xuan of Qi on music was aimed at political benevolence, and "the music of today derives from the music of antiquity" was not Mencius's deliberate theorization. As this concept has no further elaboration in its original context, it has caused intellectual controversies for later generations. Basically, scholars of the Song dynasty denied the notion from historical and Neo-Confucian perspectives, while those of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties accepted it by justifying the value of "the music of today." Among the supporters, there were two different voices, that is, to consider "the music …
Li Bai's Innovations For Linked Seven-Character Quatrains As Exemplified By "Songs Of The Emperor's Excursion To The West" And "Songs Of Of Prince Yong's Excursion To The East", Xiaojuan Xin
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Li Bai's "Songs of the Emperor's Excursion to the West" and "Songs of Prince Yong's Excursion to the East" present a chronological and structurally complete narrative, and initiate the mode of writing chronicle with linked seven-character quatrains in the Song dynasty (960-1729). These examples, with their rhetoric of allegory and multum in parvo, inherits the spirit of the yuefu poetry and insert their influence on the practice of Palace poetry by such mid-Tang poets as Wang Jian. These two series of poems, as Li Bai's creation of yuefu with new themes, not only exhibit Li Bai's efforts to create a …
Natural-Object Metaphor And Chinese Literary Criticism, Xiaoling Feng
Natural-Object Metaphor And Chinese Literary Criticism, Xiaoling Feng
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Natural-object metaphor is included in the metaphor system of Chinese literary criticism, with its historical progress of development and evolvement. Natural-object metaphor has its intrinsic theoretical basis and is connected with the genetic theories of Chinese literature, Chinese aesthetic tradition, and the epistemology and life view of Chinese philosophy. The natural-object metaphor has significance in many aspects of literary criticism. It connects the cultural world and the cosmological world, enriches literary expression and aesthetics, and links literary criticism and art criticism, which reflects the life consciousness and the lyric spirit in Chinese literary criticism and traditional aesthetics.
Reinterpreting The Concept Of Human In The Pre-Qin Classics Of Literary Theory, Jianzhong Li
Reinterpreting The Concept Of Human In The Pre-Qin Classics Of Literary Theory, Jianzhong Li
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
In the pre-Qin classics of literary theory, "human" is one of the most important and fundamental concepts. First, the significance of human in the pre-Qin era is diverse. While Confucianism interconnects "human" and "benevolence" and emphasizes the kindhearted dimension of humanity, Taoism, under the slogan that "Man conforms to nature," stresses the unfettered nature of humankind. As an alternative voice, Mohism devalues music and underlines the principle of abstinence. Secondly, the pre-Qin philosophers consider language to be the specialty that distinguishes human beings from other animals. Specifically, Confucians advocate "to achieve glory by writing," "to pass down the classics," and …
Collected Essays Of The Qing Dynasty And The Concept Of Literary History In The Early Twentieth Century, Hengchang Chang
Collected Essays Of The Qing Dynasty And The Concept Of Literary History In The Early Twentieth Century, Hengchang Chang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Dedicated to "preserving the essence of Chinese culture," Collected Essays of the Qing Dynasty was collaborated by many scholars, among whom Huang Ren possibly undertook the bulk of compilation. Known for its extensiveness, this anthology also features an author-centered editorial style inherited from Collected Poetry of the Ming Dynasty and possesses its unique characteristics. First, it incorporates the most recent articles to refresh the collection. Secondly, it achieves a balance between political practicality and aesthetic quality. Lastly, it encompasses copious articles on frontier geo-history and native-soil literature, which manifests the editors' conscious awareness of academic history. In general, the compilation …
Reconsidering Yan Shu's "Worldly-Wise And Self-Preserving" Personality, Mingzhen Shao
Reconsidering Yan Shu's "Worldly-Wise And Self-Preserving" Personality, Mingzhen Shao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Ouyang Xiu once evaluated his teacher, Yan Shu, with a verse, "Fifty years of affluence and leisure, always worldly-wise and self-preserving." However, the expression of "worldly-wise and self-preserving" has been misinterpreted as a criticism and further regarded as Ouyang Xiu's final evaluation of Yan Shu. In fact, neither "affluence and leisure" nor "worldly-wise and self-preserving" has derogatory meaning back then. On the philological level, "worldly-wise and self-preserving" (mingzhe baoshen) originates in The Book of Songs and is recognized by Zhu Xi as an accomplishment. In its original sense, people who are worldly-wise and self-preserving not only devote themselves to state …
Keywords In The Studies Of Regional Literature: A Case Study Of Jiangnan In The Qing Dynasty, Shining Luo
Keywords In The Studies Of Regional Literature: A Case Study Of Jiangnan In The Qing Dynasty, Shining Luo
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The study of regional literature is attracting wide attention, which attests to its validity. Researches have flourished in this field in recent years, but problems have also arisen, such as similar or identical cognition, expression and conclusions between researches. The study of regional literature often has implicit value-orientation, which, to a large extent, tends to simplify the thinking process and undermine academic significance. In order to change the homogenizing tendency, researchers need to know commonalities, divergences, and particularities. Besides, as every event occurs in a specific geographical space, researchers should also value the possibilities of regional literature studies from the …
Kuang Zhouyi's Monthly Lessons For The Annotation Of Cheng Meng'an's Ci-Poems: A Summary Review, Yuping Peng
Kuang Zhouyi's Monthly Lessons For The Annotation Of Cheng Meng'an's Ci-Poems: A Summary Review, Yuping Peng
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Learning how to compose ci-poems was an essential part of ci-poetry study. Therefore, revision and annotation played a very important part in ci-poetry learning, which was mainly conducted in two ways: the author's self-revision and discussion with teachers and friends. During the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, it was a fashion among young people to study ci-poems personally with a master, and thus the practice and theory of ci-poetry revision matured. A representative master in this period was Kuang Zhouyi. His monthly lessons for the revision of Cheng Meng'an's ci-poems in 1923-1924, which are still extant, …
The Genesis Of Wang Guowei's Theory Of "Jingjie", Zhi Geng, Pengcheng Kou
The Genesis Of Wang Guowei's Theory Of "Jingjie", Zhi Geng, Pengcheng Kou
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
There are three main methods in studying Wang Guowei's theory of "jingjie" (artistic conception) — a study based on Western knowledge, a historical study within the Chinese academic tradition, and a comparative study between the West and China. However, all these three methodologies treat jingjie as a static concept with presupposed connotation, which derives from a disjunction between their interpretative approach and the construction of Wang Guowei's jingjie. The idea of jingjie is an organic and dynamic theoretical system that takes both Western philosophy and Chinese literary theory as its premise, complicated by Wang's own creative and reading experiences, and …
State-Oriented Essays And "Author" Consciousness: Discourse Construction Of The Original Literary Criticism Of "A Discourse On Literature", Yuelin Zhang, Yang Yang
State-Oriented Essays And "Author" Consciousness: Discourse Construction Of The Original Literary Criticism Of "A Discourse On Literature", Yuelin Zhang, Yang Yang
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
"Literary self-consciousness" and "literary unconsciousness" were not issues that Cao Pi had realized, yet when contemporary people offer their critique of Cao Pi's literary views from these perspectives, there emerge such problems as "fitting Chinese cases into Western discourse", "interpreting ancient literature with contemporary ideas" and "fragmentation". In terms of literary discourse construction in the time of Jian'an, Cao Pi's "A Discourse on Literature" was the discourse construction of original literary criticism from the perspective of "state-oriented essays" and the discussion axis of "author consciousness", which was a total literary project based on national consciousness. Its concepts of "literary spirit", …
On The Classification And Significance Of Poetry By Elegant Ladies In The Ming And Qing Dynasties, Qingxiu Song
On The Classification And Significance Of Poetry By Elegant Ladies In The Ming And Qing Dynasties, Qingxiu Song
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Poetry by elegant ladies can be divided into three basic literary types, namely, Poetry by poetesses, by talented women, and by bluestockings. Poetry by poetesses is the most noteworthy group in the history of women's literature and has important literary value; Poetry by talented women is widely circulated in society because of authors' outstanding talent or legendary romance. Poetry by bluestocking takes over the important task of traditional poetics, emphasizing that "poetry is for conveying the truth". Therefore, the social value of this type of poems are greater than its literary value. By interpreting these three basic types, this article …
Su Shi's Temple-Visiting Poems And The Progression Of His Chan Enlightenment: With An Additional Discussion Of Three Types Of Northern Song Literati's Temple-Visiting Poetry, Shunchen Li, Chang Gao
Su Shi's Temple-Visiting Poems And The Progression Of His Chan Enlightenment: With An Additional Discussion Of Three Types Of Northern Song Literati's Temple-Visiting Poetry, Shunchen Li, Chang Gao
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Su Shi travelled extensively in China, with his particular interest in visiting temples. During his exiled and relegated periods, he composed a number of temple-visiting poems in places such as Fengxiang, Hangzhou, Huangzhou, and Lingnan. These poems manifest themselves in different literary tastes and aesthetic characteristics. They not only represent Su Shi's progress of Chan enlightenment but also embody the three paradigms of Northern Song literati's temple-visiting poetry, namely, realistic delineation of scenery, elaboration of truth and description of heart, and seeing the nature of mind.
The Trend Of Early Writing Training And The Establishment Of The Priority Of Talent In Literary Creativity During The Southern Dynasties, Licheng Xu
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
The Trend of early writing training among aristocrats during the Southern Dynasties is derived from the concept of "selecting officials by reputation" since the late Eastern Han Dynasty. After the Jin Dynasty, the demonstration of literary skills had become one of the main methods of gaining reputation, and aristocrats thus had to get adequate training in writing skills since their childhood. Because of the fear of early death, aristocrats in the Southern Dynasties inclined to start their political career at very early age, so they could promptly rise to the positions high enough to enhance their family interests. To get …
Why To Be Popular, How To Be Classic: An Analysis Of The Evaluation Function Of Media For Modern Chinese Popular Literature From The Perspective Of Market Operation, Juan Shi
Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art
Modern Chinese popular literature was influenced by the market, which thus differed from the New-vernacular literature in its standard of evaluation. By studying its production and consumption mechanism, it was evident that marketing operation connected all aspects for modern popular literature to become canonized. To study all issues of popular literature's evaluation from this perspective, we could return to the original historical context and systematically organize and understand all kinds of related issues (such as problems, ideas and incidents, etc.) of popular literature, which could be seen as a new methodology. A reflection of the role media played in the …