The Northern Dynasties’ Acceptance And Retroaction Of The Southern Culture

This dissertation focuses on the Northern Dynasties’ acceptance and retroaction of Southern Dynasties culture. It is divided in two parts. In part1, we will talk about how the upper classes of Northern Dynasties’society gradually accepted the intellectuals fled from Southern China. While in part2, we will discuss several specific issues, such as the preservation and adoption of old style poetry in Northern Dynasties, as well as the imitation and transformation of the new poetry created in the Qi and Liang Dynasties, etc.The upper classes’ attitude to the southern intellectuals and southern culture changed about3times during the Northern Dynasties. In the first phase, i.e. the period of Emperor Xiaowen, the intellectuals of Qing and Qi region, who were identified as a branch of Hebei culture circle, were entrusted with important posts in the cultural reform, while the southern refugees, no matter generals or not, were stationed along the southern border, and rarely got chance to attend in cultural affairs. In the second phase, the southern intellectuals came from the southern China finally got opportunities to take up important posts in the inner circle of government. However, in the third phase, as a result of the barbarization of the rulers, the southern ones were ruled out from the political core. Generally speaking, the rulers’attitude to the southern fugitives changed basing on their political motives, cultural settings and current states of their countries.In a fairly long period, the northern poets failed to reform or create any style of poem in their poetry creation. What they did is adopting several kinds of ancient styles or folk styles. Indeed, it obstructed the development of northern literature. But objectively, it made quite a lot of ancient styles of poetry preserved in northern China, while they were already dismissed in the poetry innovation proceeded in Southern Dynasties. In the last20years of Northern Dynasties, there were quite a few poets moved from Liang into Northern Qi. The northern poets affiliated with them and learned a lot about the rhyme and form of poems written in Qi and Liang Dynasties. However, after mastering the new style of poem, the northern poets didn’t get rid of the old ones. Instead of that, basing on their literature theory and politic conception, they enriched the new style, and reform the old ones as well. They also proved their theory with some writing practice. What they did laid the foundation for the innovation of poem in early Tang Dynasty.Aside from the cultural influence of the Southern Dynasties in the Northern Dynasties, the north China also effected the south in some respects. For example, the Buddhist ideology of the Northern Wei Dynasty was introduced into the southern China, and set off a series of reactions in the categories of culture, religion and politics.