A Study On The Clan Culture And Literature Of The Xu's Family Of Donghai County In Southern Dynasties

The Xu's family of Donghai County came to gain their prestige from Song Period of Southern Dynasties. In the nearly one hundred and seventy years historical process of Southern Dynasties, there emerged five prime ministers coming from the Xu's family of Donghai County and were canonized as the title of three Excellencies. Powerful and renown as they were, they played a very significant role in the political life at that time. Taking advantage of the high political status and superior economic condition, the Xu's family of Donghai County strengthened their family education and developed their family culture, making it ranked high in the noted cultural upper class in Southern Dynasties. The Xu's family nourished not only some erudite persons and literature masters such as Xu Mian, Xu Chi and Xu Ling, but also many influential poets and writers such as Xu Xiaosi, Xu Fei, Xu Peng, Xu Junqian, Xu Xiaoke and Xu Boyang. They wrote essays and poems to psalm, which developed their clan culture and made significant contributions to the culture of Southern Dynasties and even to the Chinese culture.Besides the introduction, six chapters are included in this dissertation.The introduction is divided into 3 parts. Firstly, it accounts for the reason and significance for choosing the Xu's family of Donghai County in Southern Dynasties as the research object by exploring the history and current situation of the cultural family study. Then, it explains the adpoted researching methodology of the historical documents and statistics. Meanwhile, it also postulates the framework and research routes of the combination of the overall review and case study taken in the dissertation.Chapter 1 explores the historical origin of Xu's family in Donghai County. The Xu's family came from ancient Xu state which was founded and developed in Qilu (Shandong). The ancestor of Xu's family is Xu Yan king who was called the king of benevolence. The formation of Xu Yan king's benevolence was closely related to the Dongyi (East barbarians) culture and had great influence on the later scholars. In this chapter, the author also studies the famous figures of Xu's family from the cultural aspect, pointing out that there are many people with the surname of Xu in Qilu, most of which are scholars. During the period of Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, there appeared a great number of distinguished families of Xu, among which the Xu's family from Donghai County was the most famous one.In the second chapter, it studies the political status and life experience of the Xu's family of Donghai County in Southern Dynasties. It was the branch of Xu Xianzhi who had been active in politics during Song and Qi Period of Southern Dynasties. The status of kinsman of the emperor as well as the remarkable achievements made the Xu's family prosperous and eminent. However, ruthless killing accompanied the eminence. The violent death of three ministers finally led to the decline of the branch of Xu Xianzhi at the end of Qi Period. During Liang and Chen Period, when the representatives of Xu's family were Xu Mian and Xu Ling, they had lost the glory of intermarriage to the royal family. However, they strove to lead the family to prosperity again with their steadfast achievements and profound culture. Between Chen Period and Sui Dynasty, the Xu's family of Donghai County unavoidably declined as the aristocratic class gradually collapsed.Chapter 3 surveys the family tradition, cultural preferences and literature achievements on the whole. The Xu's family of Donghai County enthroned Confucianism from generation to generation. They embraced a family tradition of filial piety, simplicity, loyalty, righteousness and in pursuit of achievements. In addition, they were actively adapted to the alterations of Taoist school, Metaphysics and Buddhism. In literature respect, the Xu's family in Song and Qi Period displayed different features compared with that in Liang and Chen Period. The former period was the preparation time for their clan culture and most works were practical writings, while the latter period witnessed the full bloom of their clan culture. During Liang and Chen Period, the scholars not only appeared in great quantity, but also emerged some famous figures such as Xu Mian, Xu Chi and Xu Ling. The members of Xu's family were highly skilled in pure literature and they could create elegant practical writings which embody the beauty of literature as well.Chapter 4 is dedicated to the study of Xu Mian. Xu Mian was not only a judicious prime minister, but a well-known master in culture and literature during Liang Period. His growth and success was closely connected with the clan education as well as the traditional culture education. Xu Mian made friends with many scholars and recommended the talents, which enhanced his reputation and made great impact on the flourishment of the culture and literature at that time. The relationship between Xu Mian and Xiao Tong was just like father and son. Xu Mian fostered and influenced the ideological and cultural tendency of Xiao Tong, and in particular, he exerted great influence on his compilation of The Selection of Literary Works. Xu Mian was a great scholar, who was in charge of the massive compilation of Five Rites and enabled the ritual study to develop more profoundly and systematically. Besides, he guided the scholars to compile the 700-volume reference book Hua Lin Bian Lue which was convenient for the scholars to look through the information. Its compilation is a great event in the history of reference book, which has made direct or indirect influence on the later compilation of reference books such as Xiu Wen Dian Yu Lan, Chang Zhou Yu Jing, Bei Tang Shu Chao, Yi Wen Lei Ju, Imperial Reading of the Taiping Era, Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau and so on. Xu Mian was a successful genealogical scholar as well. With his elegant poems and smooth, refreshing essays, Xu Mian was indeed a talented writer.Chapter 5 studies Xu Chi and other important literators of Xu's family. Xu Chi, who preferred new-style poetry, was the promoter of Palace-style poetry. He educated and influenced at first hand two important Palace-style poets: one is his student Xiao Gang, the other is his son Xu Ling. With Xu Chi being the helmsman, Xiao Gang and Xu Ling being the skippers, Palace-style poetry gradually prospered as many scholars in Eastern Palace (the palace where the prince lived) imitated and participated. It witnessed that Xu Chi played an important part in the formation and development of Palace-style poetry. Xu Fei and his wife Liu Lingxian were also the main members of the Xu's family of Donghai County. The love poems they wrote to each other were full of deep affection and lingering charm. Sometimes, Xu's poems also displayed a feature of primitive simplicity and novelty, while Liu's poems with a style of simple beauty mainly describing the boudoir repining and the female. In addition, although the poems of Xu Junqian belonged to amorous poems, they were original and full of varieties, representing a high artistic level.Chapter 6 is mainly devoted to the studies of Xu Ling. The family and marriage played an important part in Xu Ling's growth and success. Xu Ling and Xiao Gang had a wide acquaintance with the scholars in Eastern Palace and bestowed poems on each other, which enhanced the bloom of Palace-style poetry. His communication with the northerners promoted the cultural exchange between the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In addition, Xu Ling actively elevated the literature talents and exerted great impact on their development. The main achievement made by Xu ling was parallel prose characterized with the usage of allusions. Taking The Preface of New Versification upon the Jade Station as an example and with the application of the statistical method, the dissertation examines the proportion, resources and features of the allusions used by Xu Ling in his parallel prose. Although New Versification upon the Jade Station, whose compiler is Xu Ling, is a collection of amorous poems, yet it possesses a high ideological and artistic value.The conclusion points out that the Xu's family of Donghai County was a celebrated cultural family in history, whose reputation was widespread in Southern Dynasties, even in Donghai area. They made significant contribution to the development of the culture and literature at that time.