| The Classic of Poetry,as the start of Chinese ancient poetry,is in full blossom in the pre-Qin era.It is composed of 305 songs,which show us people’s life two thousand years ago and cover the days from first years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle years of the Spring and Autumn Period.The desire for food and sex is part of human nature.There are nearly one hundred descriptions of food in the Classic of Poetry,with vivid or plain words,in solemn or lively ways,which all represent the unique thought and culture in the Western Zhou Dynasty.Food belongs to the study on natural objects while tableware the study on the artificial objects,which together cover various aspects and related research can only be found in the monograph and paper of some scholars.It is rarely to see studies on the description of food in the Classic of Poetry.Therefore this paper tries to analyze the value and cultural implications embedded in the descriptions of food by thoroughly studying the text of the Classic of Poetry from multiple angles and layers,and discuss the mind and thought of people living in the Zhou Dynasty.The paper includes three parts,namely the introduction,main body and conclusion.The introduction lists the past study results on the objects,folk customs and food in the Classic of Poetry,elaborates the reason for choosing this topic and states the innovation and study methodology of the paper.The main body is composed of three chapters,and the main contents are summarized as follows.Chapter 1 provides the descriptions of food in the Classic of Poetry,which check and explain the names of food and tableware by studying the Origin of Chinese Characters,the Erya,the Shiming,the Mao Shi Zheng Yi and other literature.The interpretation can be divided into two categories,on diet structure and tableware respectively,which analyzes the meaning,feature and impact of the food by studying the words and ways of food description in the poetry.Chapter 1 holds that the food description in the Classic of Poetry shows different diet structure from modern society where cereal and dish are separated,but the distinction between cereal and dish in the pre-Qin period are quite vague and clearly represents different social status of diners.Chapter 2 discusses the value of food description in the Classic of Poetry from aspects of literature,aesthetic appreciation and cognition.On literature,the paper focuses on the complicated symbolizing meaning and ingenious narrative skills of food descriptions,especially those represent the mood and desire of the people.On aesthetic appreciation,the paper tries to dig into the life attitude of Zhou people who care more about intrinsic feelings and pursues from their simple food and dedicate tableware.On cognition,the paper explains Confucius’ s idea of knowing more names of birds,animals,plants and trees and its promotion to the agricultural civilization.Confucius’ s education on poetry lays more emphasis on the aesthetic and social implications represented by objects.Chapter 3 discusses the cultural implications of food descriptions in the Classic of Poetry.First,it states that diet manner descried in the fete and banquet poem shows the strong rational spirit and consciousness for norm of Zhou people.Second,it discusses the role of Zhou etiquette in maintaining social hierarchy,strengthening cohesion and harmony among people and respecting and providing for the aged people,etc.Third,it states the ideology of Zhou people represented by the food descriptions in the Classic of Poetry,that is respecting the God,protecting the people and cherishing the morality and harmony.Food,etiquette and music described in the Classic of Poetry are out of the needs of the ruling class,whose ultimate purpose is to maintain the ruling of Zhou household and propagate the ethic held by the ruling class.From this perspective,there is a clear tendency in describing food in the Classic of Poetry.The conclusion summarizes the paper and points out the problems and defects that may be found in the paper. |
PDF Full Text Request