Ming Dynasty "songs Of The South" Comment

Literary evaluations and annotations is a form of literary criticism and a cultural phenomenon with unique Chinese features. The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) is the burgeoning and blooming period for literary evaluations and annotations. Chu Chi is a classic with great literary values and enough attention should be paid to its evaluations and annotations in the academia. That is also one of the reasons why the present dissertation takes the evaluations and annotations of Chu Ci in the Ming Dynasty as the major object of study. Based on a systematic comparison of different versions, this dissertation intends to make an in-depth study on the development, forms, versions, and critics of Chu Ci evaluations and annotations. Based on the afore-mentioned analysis, this thesis tries to give some literature references and theoretical back-up to the history of Chu Ci evaluations and the whole branch of literary evaluations and annotations.This dissertation consists of four chapters. Chapter One is an overview of Chu Ci evaluations and annotations of the Ming dynasty. There is a close relation between the flourish of the evaluation of Chu Ci and the blossom of literary evaluation in the Ming dynasty. Although at the very beginning, the evaluation of Chu Ci had already combined together "annotation", "revision", "transliteration", and "evaluation", it was not until the periods of Wang Li and Tian Qi that the evaluation of Chu Ci became flourished with more emphasis on literary elements and more involvement of noted critics.Chapter Two mainly focuses on the form and the textual value of different versions of Chu Ci evaluations. The form mainly refers to two categories: one is the very form of the evaluated version of Chu Ci, the other is the original version of Chu Ci on which the evaluated ones are based. The forms of evaluated versions are really complicated, so are the original ones. However, it is just because these complications that demonstrate the multidimensional textual values of the evaluations of Chu Ci.Chapter Three is a study on two literary critics. Chen Shen and Sun Kuang are major critics who represent two different periods of the evaluations of Chu Ci in history. Although the evaluations made by Chen Shen consist of many annotations, they still manifest his endeavors of the literary interpretations and appreciations of Chu Ci. The evaluated version made by Sun Kuang came into being in the late Wang Li Period. Because of Sun Kuang's seasoned experience in literary evaluations and his sharp mind in literary appreciations, his evaluated version of Chu Ci embodied the very achievements of the evaluations of this ancient classic in the Ming dynasty. In addition, this chapter also examines the family origin, life stories, and works of the above two critics.Chapter Four is a case study of the evaluation of Chu Ci in Ming dynasty. Being the first version of the evaluation of Chu Ci in the Ming dynasty, Chu Ci Zhang Ju edited by Feng Shaozu contributed a lot to the evaluation of Chu Ci in Ming dynasty in terms of forms of evaluation, contents of evaluation, and choice of different critics. This chapter makes a thorough study on the above-mentioned issues and other related ones.