On The Influence Of The Study Of The Book Of Songs In Han Dynasties On Han Prosodies

In this paper the content and style of the study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties, and the relation between the prosodies written by the prosody composers in Han times and the study of The Book of Songs are investigated. Based on this, a thorough discussion on the relation between the prosodies composed in Han Dynasties and the study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties is made. There are three causes for the prosperity of the study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties: (1) the completion of the evolution of The Book of Songs into a classic;(2) the invention of the methods of explaining and teaching The Book of Songs;and (3) the wide spreading of The Book of Songs in Qin and Han times. The rise of the study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties was marked by the appearance of the different versions of The Book of Songs collected by four scholars: Lu, Qi, Han and Mao. There are four features in the rise of the study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties: (1) the specialty of the researchers of The Book of Songs;(2) the same school origin of the four scholars;(3) different regions of the circulation of different versions;and (4) the same gist and method of treating The Book of Songs. Starting from the Emperor Wu, the four versions of The Book of Songs, especially the versions of Qi, Lu and Han developed greatly. But the development was not well balanced. Qi, Lu and Han were officially supported, and Mao was private. They developed different teaching systems and methods until the mergence of this four by Zhenxuan. Under this circumstance, the study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties was "mid-declining". From the material on The Book of Songs of these four scholars, the study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties was made around the thoughts of rites proposed by the Confucianists. According to Confucianism a state should be ruled by the order of importance or seniority, just like the relation between husband and wife, father and son, the ruler and the ruled. In interpreting The Book of Songs, the four scholars tried to explain the order of importance or seniority in detail, and they centered their interpretation on the relation between husband and wife, father and son, and the ruler and the ruled. In the process of interpreting and teaching The Book of Songs, the four scholars demonstrated their own characteristics: using history, divination and other ways to explain The Book of Songs. The ideas and ways of the study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties exerted great influence on the composition of Han prosody. Han prosody was the major literature in Han Dynasties, but because of some historical reasons some prosodies and prosody composers cannot be verified, and the remained should be classified. So, after discussing the basic style features of Han prosodies, the paper has classified and verified the prosody composers and their works systematically, especially the time and background of the prosodies written by someimportant composers. Based on this, the paper has made a systematic investigation into the background of the composers of study of The Book of Songs. The study of The Book of Songs in Han Dynasties exerted its influence on the composition of Han prosodies through the prosody composers, who were influenced by the study of The Book of Songs, so the prosodies written by them demonstrated explicit features of the study of The Book of Songs. Till now, there is no systematic study of the Han prosodies composers' origin of the study of The Book of Songs. Based on careful study of historical documents a preliminary inference of the Han prosodies composers' origin of the study of The Book of Songs is drawn. Finally, the influence of the study of The Book of Songs exerted on Han prosodies is studied in the perspective of theme, style and writing skills.