A Study On The Xin’an Lu Family And Its Literature In The Ming&Qing Dynasty

The Xin’an Lu family was once noted in midland China (the areas of Henan Province today) during Ming and Qing Dynasty for its accomplishments in literature. It rose to fame toward the end of the period of Emperor Shenzong, Ming Dynasty. Up to the period of Qianlong’s reign, more than one hundred years have witnessed its brilliance in imperial examinations, belief in the idealist philosophy and practicing of loyalty and filial piety. Its high-mindedness and literature made it well-known; its posterity inherited the literary aptitude and eventually became a well-established literature family in Henan.A study on this family, therefore, has enormous implications for family literature research as well as midland China’s general local literature during Ming and Qing Dynasty.Drawing on available achievements, this study offers a brief overview of this family’s basic facts of historical progression while attempting to pinpoint its characters and to provide reasonable explanations for these characters within the context of family literature and local literature. Studies on family literature are concerned with the family members’literature achievements, bringing to academic attention the family members and their literature works as a whole.Efforts are made first to identify the affinity between family members’literature and their family background in the attempt to show how family inheritance played an at once complicated and important role in this family’s literature.Next, I fit this case study into its original historical periods and trace its developments in order to come up with a complete picture of the family members’ literature, account for the enormous influence of family inheritance and regional characters upon its literature, and acknowledge the unique distinction and contributions it had made to the literary history in midland China during Ming and Qing Dynasty.