A Study Of Field Of Literature In China’s Middle Ages

China’s Middle Ages is a period in which cultural categories underwent differentiation, development, and prosperity. During this period, literature achieved tremendous development in its interaction with power, society, and culture. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s field theory, this dissertation treats the developmental process of mediaeval literature as one in which field of literature took initial shape, began to operate autonomously, and experienced subversion and adjustment, with a focus on scrutinizing the motivating factors for the development of literature.The concept of field is utilized in the present study with a view to investigating effectively the various interacting forces in the developmental process of literature, and the emperors’literary activities offer an optimal window to show the relationship between literature and power. Therefore, this dissertation takes as the main line the mediaeval emperors’literary activities and attempts to reveal the relationship between the evolvement of the mediaeval field of literature and the ebb and flow of the power of literature.The present dissertation includes four parts: introduction, body, conclusion and appendices. The introduction part expounds the research goal, research methodology, research perspective and main points of view. The conclusion part sums up the whole dissertation and explains briefly the after effect of the evolvement of the mediaeval field of literature. The appendices contain two brief tables so as to enable a perceptual and comprehensive command of the general picture of the mediaeval emperors’literary activities: Chronicles of Mediaeval Emperors’Literary Activities, and Compendium of Mediaeval Emperors’Literary Associations.The body part is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is entitled The Field Perspective of Research on Medieval Literature. The formation of the relatively autonomous field of literature in the medieval period is the product of the contradictive interaction of the field of culture. It is precisely this complicated interaction of various forces in the field of culture that remarkably enhances the power of culture contained in literature and consequently motivates the great leap forward of literature. This chapter elaborates where the field theory and research on the medieval literature correspond to each other, analyzes the social needs for literature and the morphology of field of medieval literature, and explores the power pattern of the three kinds of actors in the field of medieval literature, namely noble and educated people, the common persons and imperial clansmen. No power can exist without the testimony of legitimacy. The legitimacy of literature in the age of consciousness of literature is sharply divided into two layers, which is the essential feature of the existence of the power of medieval literature and exerts important influence on the development of medieval literature.The second chapter is entitled Wei and Jin at the End of Han from 2nd Century AD to 4th Century: Initial Formation of the Field of Literature. The formation of the field of Wei and Jin Literature at the end of the Han Dynasty is the natural product of the contradictive interaction of the political and cultural fields at that time. This chapter caries out in-depth analyses of issues such as the inherent intense relations in the cultural field at the end of East Han, of the cultural connotations of Hongdumen Academy, of the initial formation of the field of literature during the Cao Wei Period, of the Western Jin Dynasty and Wei Dynasty transfer and the vicissitudes of the field of literature, and comes up with penetrating interpretations of the functions and mechanisms of the emperors’literary activities during this historical period in the initial formative process of the field of literature.The third chapter is entitled Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen from the 5th and 6th Century AD to the Regime in South China: Towards the Autonomous Operation of the Field of Literature. During the Nan Dynasty, with the ever increasing functioning of the characterization of literature, the field of literature began to operate autonomously, and as a result, emperors lay more and more emphasis upon literature. The founding emperor of the Song period in the Nan Dynasty wanted very much to be educated and cultured. Then in the Song and Qi Period in the Nan Dynasty emperors strived to be within the field of literature. In the Liang Period in the Nan Dynasty, it seems that emperors started to assume control over the field of literature. The literary activities of the emperors in the Nan Dynasty boosted the field of literature towards autonomous operation. The emperor’s literary activities in the Chen Period of the Nan Dynasty clearly show the existence of insoluble inherent contradictions in the autonomously operating field of literature at that time.The fourth chapter is entitled The Northern Dynasties to Sui from the 4th Century to the 7th Century in Northern China: The Reconstruction, Subversion and Adjustment of the Field of Literature. After the ethnic unrest in China in the 4th century, literature in the north began to declined, and the field of literature vanished. The policy of following Han culture and system adopted by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei Dynasty and his putting stress on literature started the reconstructive process of the field of literature in Northern Dynasties in China. The policies of following Han culture and system and emphasizing culture and education led to Xianbei’s division and the divided attitudes toward literature on the part of the ruling classes constrained the trends and operations of the field of literature in the north. Yuwen Tai and Su Cuo’s policy of“Be based on local culture”stresses the political and ethical functions of literature, and, assuming the stance of restoring ancient ways, subverted the cultural advantages of the two powers, namely Southern Liang and Northern Qi in Shandong. Rulers of Northern Zhou and Sui Dynasty swayed between between the two layers of the legitimacy of literature and adjusted the field of literature, and this adjustment process was not completed until the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, the demands for literature of the field of politics and needs of the field of literature springing from its autonomous operation began to agree increasingly with each other, and literature began to assume unprecedented strong power.