A Research On Fictions Of Classical Chinese In Song Dynasty

There are more than two hundred kinds of fictions of classical Chinese in Song Dynasty, which are as many as Tang Dynasty because all the people like to produce and read them. In short, there are more excellent works of chuanqi in North-Song Dynasty than those of zhiguai in South-Song Dynasty. The leading works are qing suo gao yi and yun zhai guang lu.But there are more excellent works of zhiguai in South-Song Dynasty than those of chuanqi in North-Song Danasty. The leading work is yi jian zhi.On the one hand, zhiguai and chuanqi stand for different culture of themselves .On the other hand, they embody the same spirit of the times. Comparing with the works of past times, some aspects of works in Song Dynasty are better than those of works in Tang Dynasty, but some aspects are not so good as those of works in Tang Dynasty, and these works also exert a great influence on later works.As an important era in the history of fictions of classical Chinese, the research on fictions of classical Chinese in Song dynasty is a weak link. Though the history of fictions pay more attention to them than that of past, there are some articles showing sound judgment, a few treatise are written out. There are more fields which need further research, for example, to research form cultural background and from their characteristic of art and so on. This is the reason I choose the area as my research aim.Chapter one introduces the research of these works at present and reasons of producing of these fictions in Song Dynasty. Then the thesis discusses the fourperiods of development of fictions of classical Chinese in Song Dynasty.Chapter two researches the characteristics of five types of fictions in Song Dynasty. The first is ling-guai type, which is full of various imagination .The second is zhao-ying type, which advocates fatalism of individual. The third is xian-shi type, which describes figures of Taoism and Buddhism as ordinary people. The fourth is li-qing type, which proposes the marital ideas of feudal society. The fifth type is xian-neng-xia-yi type, which depicts heroic figures vividly.Chapter three researches the characteristics of art of fictions of classical Chinese in Song Dynasty. The author at first analyses the aesthetic feeling from four respects of their plots: smoothness, coherence, continuity, terseness, then analyses the character of humor of the works.Chapter four probes influence of the Confucian School, Taoism and Buddhism upon fictions of classical Chinese in Song Dynasty. Section one analyses the influence of the idea of Gods will and the idea of virtue from the Confucian School. Section two analyses the influence of the idea of Buddhism. Section three investigates how the works carry on the details from past Taoism fictions and magic arts of Taoism. Section four studies the influence of fusion of the Confusion School, Taoism and Buddhism. The last section studies the regional distribution of these fictions.Chapter five researches the characteristics of folk custom of fictions of classical Chinese in Song Dynasty. Section one studies the geomantic belief in works. Section two studies the divination in works. Section three studies the taboo in works.