A Study About Li Ciming

Li Ciming (1830—1894), with the name of Yueman given by himself at an old age and two Chinese style names of Aibo and Chunke, was born in Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing of Zhejiang Province). Expert in classics and history as well as poem writing, Li Ciming was best known for his diaries composed in forty years. His collections of poems include Poems Written at Baihuajiangfu Study, Poems Written at the Study of Apricot Blossom and Fragrant Snow, Poems Written in Yueman Hall, Chinese Rhythmic Prose Written in Hutanglin Hall, Poetry on Xiachuan Flower, and Poetry Composed after Touring Luo Temple. He was a prominent literary figure. Besides, as a representative of old poems in the late Qing Dynasty who is famous for his Chinese rhythmic prose and great academic accomplishment in historiography, Li Ciming was also an influential figure in Chinese cultural history. Although Li Ciming's Reading Notes Written at Yueman Hall is being widely cited and discussed by the present academia, this work's advantages and limitations together with Li Ciming's life story have rarely been explored in depth or described comprehensively, let alone a thorough identification of Li Ciming's accomplishment in various fields. Since Li Ciming's Diaries Kept in Yueman Hall is very long and boasts rich historical materials of his life, it is reasonable and necessary for us to conduct a research from the perspective of history of social life. Besides, the sharp contrast between Li Ciming's great reputation before death and declining fame after death is another important reason for our in-depth studies.This thesis is mainly divided into three chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to Li Ciming's life. Chapter Two explores his academic ideas, accomplishments, poetic theories, poems, ancient prose criticism and writing. The last chapter investigates Li Ciming's daily life as a litterateur.First of all, this thesis introduces Li Ciming's life experiences. Since his life experiences have always been overlooked in the previous studies, his academic ideas and literary theories have not been discussed with a fixed social background. Based on the reading of Li Ciming's Diaries Kept in Yueman Hall with over five million Chinese words for three times and the reference to other relevant historical materials, the first chapter aims at providing a more detailed portrayal of Li Ciming's whole life.Li Ciming's academic views and accomplishments are also worth exploring. As Li Ciming devoted his whole life to studying Han Learning and Song Learning, this thesis not only examines the differences between them, but also studies their confrontation in Qing Dynasty with the yardsticks of objectivity and de-moralization. Then this thesis comes up with Li Ciming's academic ideas that he was for objectivity but did not grasp the basic principle of de-moralization. He was neither influenced by western learning nor had a deep understanding of the essence of Qian-Jia School. Although his viewpoints on classics did not follow the academic standards of objectivity, they were still of significance. It can be said that Li Ciming was accomplished in the field of historiography and went down in Chinese history as a historian.Li Ciming's greatest success is considered both by himself and others to be in his poems. This thesis posits that the purport of Li Ciming's poetics that "only through learning something useful from the previous poems can new poems be composed" is not novel, but we can gain something precious from his poetics. Though his poems boasted a wide range of genres, a wide coverage of topics, and fresh and romantic styles, they imitated those old poems too much. Therefore, in this sense, his poems were rich in subject matter, but lacked depth and novelty.If we take a look at Li Ciming's ancient prose theory and writing on this basis, we may develop a new understanding. Basically his ancient prose theory is composed of some concrete criticism that can be applied to analyze various literary phenomena, but it lacks a consistent theoretical line. His ancient prose writing deserves great respect. Several texts written by him surpass those by his predecessors.Investigating one's daily life from the abundant original historical materials is a new orientation in current history field. Some people have been very successful in this field. Based on Li Ciming's dairies written in his youth, this thesis which explores his daily life as a litterateur is of importance to our better understanding of ancient Chinese scholars'life as literati.Even though he lived in an era when dramatic changes were taking place, Li Ciming did not develop a good understanding of the great changes that had undergone during the past three thousand years. Both his academic and literary ideas are restricted by conventions. Once in a while he was endowed by inspiration. Nevertheless, his novel ideas were restricted by the era in which he was living. He was fairly successful in poem composition, but he could not be considered to be a master. In a word, he was a typical traditional Chinese scholar who never responded to the transformational era in which he lived.