The History Of The Reception Of Wang Yisun’s Ci In The Qing Dynasty

Wang Yisun,a famous poet living between the late South Song Dynasty and thebeginning of the Yuan Dynasty,was not a productive writer.He wrote only about60pieces of ci,all of which were collected in the Hua Wai Ji.However,the quality of hisworks were quite high, which caused a strong response in the Qing Dynasty. Currentlythe research on the reception of his works is not rich.My thesis will focus on the historyof the reception of Wang Yisun’s ci in the Qing Dynasty,with a dynamic vision, fromboth diachronic and synchronic level, combined with social and cultural background ofthat era,to analyse the causes and to summeraize the law of literary reception.The first chapter analyzes the socio-political and cultural background and literarydevelopment in the Qing Dynasty,which were the base and soil to the reception ofWang Yisun’s works. The Qing Dynasty was the second dynasty ruled by a minority inChinese history. The rulers had a strong control of ideology and cultrue.The feudalsociety stepped on the road toward its end. After thousands of years’ development, theancient Chinese literature entered in a period of a overall summing up. After thedecline in the Yuan and Ming Dynsty, Ci regained its vitality and brilliance in the QingDynasty.The second chapter discusses the reception of Wang Yisun’s works in the earlyQing Dynasty. In this period, the the Yangxian School and the Zhexi School coexisted.Zheci School, found by Zhu Yizun, gradually became the mainstream in the Ciarea.These two Schools’ reception of Wang Yisun’s works had a common ground—thesimilar life experiences as surviving poets of the former dynasty. Wang Yisun’sworks,accorded with the view of Zhexi School, began to gain much attention.Chapter three probes into the reception of Wang Yisun’s works in the middle QingDynasty.In this stage Zhexi School still had many followers.While the ChangzhouSchool, led by Zhang Huiyan and later Zhou Ji,emerged and developed qucikly. TheChangzhou School emphasized on the ideological connotations of ci and the literarymeans of Bi,Xing,and Jituo.They admired and appreciated Wang Yisun’s works very much. Zhou Ji even selected him as one of the "four great masters of Ci of SongDynasty",which accelerated the widespread of Wang Yisun’s works.The last chapter elaborates the reception of Wang Yisun’s works in the late QingDynasty.The Changzhou School was still the mainstream in the Ci area,of whom theso-called "four great masters of Ci of the late Qing Dynasty" enjoyed the highestreputation.As the source of their literary creation and theory, Wang Yisun had a greatimpact on them.And Chen Tingzhuo,another important figure of ChangzhouSchool,paid extremly high praise to Wang Yisun.So far, after a long course ofreception in the Qing Dynasty, Wang Yisun and his works were finally promoted to thehighest rank of Ci.