Sixue And Literature In Tang Dynasty

The education in Tang Dynasty was hold by both the government and the society. The former system is called guanxue, while the latter sixue. As its name suggests, sixue is a type of civilian education in contrast to the official one. Mainly it takes the forms of personal lectures, family teaching, private schools or colleges, etc. The thriving business of sixue, by research, derived from the decline of guanxue and the influence of imperial examinations. To some extent, sixue supplied a gap of guanxue by its variety of forms, abundance of content and its social popularity. As an important means of cultural transmission, the role of sixue is indubitable.As sixue as the point of view, the dissertation is to explore the interactive relationship between sixue and literature. Particularly, some literary phenomena will be elucidated in the view of sixue, which would concern the academic background of literary evolution, localization and familialization of culture, and so on. In addition, the cultural psychology of literati will be well considered.Firstly, personal lectures and literature. The schools of academic lectures, in terms of scale, were represented by Hefen School of Wangtong, Spring and Autumn School in mid-Tang and Anthology School in the early age of Tang. The lectures held by Wangtong in the area of Hefen mainly taught the Classics, from which the practicability of literature was handed down by the historians and politicians in the early age of Tang. The upheavals during mid-Tang brought about innovational thoughts. Under the trend of thoughts, different wings of Spring and Autumn School, namely Dan, Zhao and Lu, ascended the historical stage. Their critical spirit of politics, namely "to learn is to care politics", exerted great influence on the school of allegorical poetry and the movement of ancient prose led by Yuan (Yuan Zhen), Bai (Bai Juyi) and many others at that time. The Anthology School got its prime time in the early age of Tang. Moreover one's talent was judged by his literary accomplishment in the imperial examinations, therefore the literati all took Anthology as a classic to such a degree that the book was possessed almost by everyone so that their writings carried the style in Qi and Liang Dynasties.Secondly, familial education and literature. Familial education was an important part of sixue. Influenced by imperial examinations, the well known clans in Tang Dynasty all dedicated to the teaching of verse and they formed a dense atmosphere of learning encouragement by the aid of familial disciplines such as in Du Fu's On My Son'Birthday, Du Mu's To My Nephew A'Yi in Midwinter, and Lu Tong's To My Son 'Having Offspring, to name just a few. Otherwise, the families and family members well known for literature were prevailing as examples as Family Cui in Boling, Family Yang in Hongnong and Family Dou in Pingling. Thirdly, reclusive learning and literature. After An-Shi Civil War, with social disorder and guanxue's decline, most scholars retreated to mountain areas to prepare for imperial examinations. Nevertheless, their works mainly took serenity and solitude as themes, obviously affected by the traditional escapism, Buddhism and Taoism. In addition, many novels of Tang Dynasty narrate the adventures and fortunes of the reclusive scholars. Through the close examination, we can further the understanding of the cultural connotation of reclusive learning.Furthermore, the private (primary) schools or colleges, although not the main form of sixue, cast salient impact on literature. The colleges served as the place for learning and research, at the same time, for publication of the learners who expressed their desire for merits as well as their reclusive affections. Incidentally, the private (primary) schools or colleges promoted the dissemination and transmission of literature of Tang.All in all, sixue of Tang Dynasty, whatever the forms it took, attached great importance to the teaching and learning of poetry and literature, which provided opportunities for transmission and acceptance of literature. The prosperity of Tang's literature, of course, is a complicated matter; however, it is undoubted that sixue and its literature-oriented tradition are very important causes.