Poem Three Injection Study

Wang Wei's poetry has been thought highly of since Tang Dynasty and enjoyed the fame of "The Best Poet" at that time. There have been only three annotation books of his poetry from Tang and Song Dynasty to Ming and Qing Dynasty:the first is the Quasi-Annotation of Wang You Cheng's Poetry Anthology compiled by Gu Qi-jing in Ming Dynasty which is the earliest existing annotation version on Wang Wei's poetry; the second is the Annotation and Interpretation of Wang You Cheng Poetry Anthology compiled by Gu Ke-jiu, which appeared a little later than Gu Qi-jing's version, and the third is the Annotation of Wang You Cheng Poetry Anthology, compiled by Zhao Dian-cheng in Qing Dynasty.Gu Qi-jing and Gu Ke-jiu's versions appeared in the background of the prevalence of Wang Yang-ming's Doctrine and Zen Buddhism in Ming Dynasty. The mainstream of poetry annotation at that time was to interpret the poetry from subjective perspective. When the modern scholars discuss the poetry annotation in Ming Dynasty, they usually put their attention to the subjective research approach at that time, and ignore the others'annotation approaches. Actually, along with the prevalence of subjective interpretation of the poetry in Ming Dynasty, some reflection on this approach had also come into existence, and the appearance of Gu Qi-jing and Gu Ke-jiu's annotation versions were the evident proof to show the appearance of the new annotation approach. The two Gus'annotation versions take on distinct annotation characteristics different from the mainstream subjective interpretation. Gu Qi-jing's version is inclined to the literal annotation, and its annotation emphasis is laid on the annotation of such elements as the sense of Chinese character, noun and object, geography, official ranks, and Buddhism theories, and on the revision of poetry with the effort to quest for its literal meaning. This approach is inherited from the intellectualism tendency in Song Dynasty. The two Gus'annotation practice offers adequate evidence for the pluralism of poetry annotation in Ming Dynasty.The Gu Qi-jing's annotation version, in particular, assumes the evident characteristic of textual criticism. But it is universally believed that textual criticism began to appear in Qing Dynasty and the academic approach in Ming Dynasty was seldom performed from the perspective of textual criticism. As a matter of fact, the scholars in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, while revising and reflecting on the Wang Yang-ming's Doctrine and Zen Buddhism, began to pave the road for the scholars in Qing Dynasty. Gu Qi-jing'version is the epitomizing demonstration of the textual criticism in Ming Dynasty on literary works. Gu Qi-jing's annotation approach to emphasize extensive collection of various evidences, his critical attitude to unwillingly draw the conclusion without enough evidence, and his skeptical spirit to challenge the previous fallacy blaze a trail for the textual criticism scholars in Qing Dynasty. However, the annotation in Ming Dynasty was quite redundant and full of various fallacies, which illustrated its disadvantage of copious quotation.Zhao Dian-Chen's version appeared at the early days of Qian Jia academic period. At this time, textual criticism had been the academic mainstream of Qing Dynasty, with no exception of Zhao Dian-cheng's version. His annotation approach emphasizes adequate the evidence collection, the verity and concreteness of the quotations, and the diversity of textual criticism approach whether in interpreting the sense of word, the history and geography, and the decrees and regulations or in discussing the artistic feature, writing style and the rhythm of Wang Wei's poetry. He made the outstanding achievement in correcting the previous fallacies. The former scholars, when expounding the textual criticism in Qing Dynasty, either limited it in Confucian Classics, such as Jiang Fan, and Pi Xi-rui, or emphasizing the achievement in Confucian Classics and Historical Classics such as Liang Qi-chao. They all ignored the achievement of textual criticism in literary works. This is definitely a pity. Actually, the practical and realistic spirit of annotation in Qing Dynasty also influenced the annotation and interpretation of poetry. Zhao Dian-cheng's practice clearly demonstrates the achievement of textual criticism in Qing Dynasty in literary worksThe following paper, on the basis of analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the three versions and from the perspectives of annotation style and content, synchronicly compares the two Gus'annotation versions, and diachonicly compares the Gu Qi-jing's annotation version and Zhao Dian-cheng's annotation version.From the above synchronic comparison, the distinction of two Gus'annotation versions can be found. Gu Qi-jing'version mainly demonstrates the annotation idea of understanding the writers and their times, which is clearly exemplified in his compilation of Wang Wei's life chronicle. Gu Ke-jiu's version, on the other hand, demonstrates the annotation idea of imposing his own intention on the writer's will, which can be exemplified from his peculiar annotation style, and his annotation content with emphasis on subjective interpretation. Obviously, the two Gus'annotation versions partially quote Liu Chen-wong's annotation approach prevalent in South Song Dynasty, which shows the influence of the mainstream annotation idea. In spite of the above facts, both the two Gus'versions reflect the annotation tendency different from subjective interpretation. From the diachronic comparison, the inheritance of Zhao Dian-cheng's annotation version form Gu Qi-jing's annotation version can be found. Both follow the annotation idea of understanding the writers and their times. Hundred of items in Zhao Dian-cheng's annotation version are quite similar to those in Gu Qi-jing's version. In comparison with Gu Qi-jing's annotation version, Zhao's version is more critical, comprehensive, and accurate. The comprehensive supplement and correction of Zhao's annotation version to the defects and fallacy in Gu's version adequately demonstrate positivism tendency in the textual criticism in Qing Dynasty. The relationship of innovation and inheritance between Gu's annotation version and Zhao's version is also the reflection of the textual criticism development from Ming to Qing Dynasty. Such aspects in Ming Dynasty as the research spirit and approach, and the method in choosing research content influence greatly the textual criticism in Qing Dynasty. The textual criticism in Qing Dynasty, on the basis of copious quotation in Ming Dynasty, lays more emphasis on positivism. It corrects many fallacy of the textual criticism in Ming Dynasty in textual criticism approach and spirit, and develops itself to a perfect system, which makes textual criticism yield unusually brilliant results in Qing Dynasty.