The Research On The School Of Literatis And Their Literary Thoughts In Sichuan Area During The Late Tang Dynasty And Five Dynasties

This dissertation centers upon the school of literatis living in Sichuan area andtheir literary thoughts during the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties (mainlyinvolving the early Shu Dynasty and late Shu Dynasty). Its contents mainly coverthe whole process of their evolution from the school’s birth, personality as a wholeand their thoughts on literary writing. Furthermore，the dissertation makes a deepstudy of the impact of the religious and regional cultures on the evolution of theliterati school’s literary thoughts in the area of Shu. In addition, thoroughlyinvestigated is the deeply remote influence of the school’s thoughts about literarywriting in the literary circles during the Southern Tang Dynasty and the NorthernSong Dynasty since the school of literatis lived at the turn of literary trends from theTang Dynast to the Song Dynast. In all, the dissertation consists of six chapters.Chapter one is about the overall research on the school’s birth stance,personality and literary thoughts in the area of Shu in the late Tang Dynasty. Firstcomes a thorough study of the school’s birth stance and personality in the area ofShu in the late Tang Dynasty. The second is about a profound analysis of the school’scult complex over an earlier luminary poet in the middle Tang Dynasty—Du Fu, andthe school’s literary thoughts of emotionally recalling life experiences and reflectingsocial reality. Meanwhile, there is a comprehensive reflection of the later emperors’fond dreams of rejuvenation in the late Tang Dynasty and the school’s literary trendof upholding elegance by returning to the past. There also exists the author’sendeavour in a profound insight into the school’s exploration and depiction ofinnermost worlds and their imitation of the celebrated poet Jia Dao in pursuit of hispoetic attainment in florid lexical precision.Chapter two is a thorough study of the birth stance, personality and literarythoughts of the literati school in the middle of the early Kingdom of Shu during theFive Dynasties. Firstly, the birth stance of the school of literatis in the middle of thekingdom under the regime of the early Dynasty of Shu, their personality as a wholeand the characteristics of their activities are generally investigated. Secondly, bypenetrating into the school’s ideology, mentalities and values, the dissertationexplores the degeneration of the school’s personality from their acquisition of“official rank” through scholarly honour to their acquisition of “fame and wealth”,from their “adherence to their moral matrix” to their “comformity to their historictide”, and from abandoning themselves to their sexual lust. Thirdly, based on acomprehensive study of the school’s literary thoughts by considering such influential restrictions on their literary thoughts as the turbulence of current political situations,the development of current economy, the degeneration of the school’s holisticpersonality and the gradual contamination of the common practice by the lieratis inearlier dynasties, their literary preferences are investigated as the main leading trendof the current literary society, like simplicity as well as vulgarness in expression andsuperfciality in understanding. Meanwhile, thoroughly investigated is their suchliterary inclinations as fabulously and depressedly expressing love and otheremotions, frequenting houses of ill repute and returning to the dominant aulicliterary style existing in the Six Dynasties.Chapter three is about the overall research on the school’s birth stance,personality and literary thoughts in the late Kingdom of Shu (933-965) during theFive Dynasties. The literary forum under the regime ruled by the two kings with thelast name Meng has its own characteristic development. Therefore first comes theoverall review of the constituents, birth stance, holistic ideological personality of theliterati school. Secondly is about the interaction between the connotations of the poetWuhu’s poetry thoughts like “highly rhyming” or “choosing florid words”proclaimed in his works The Collection of Talents’ Literary Styles and the literarytrend in the early Kingdom of Shu duing the Five Dynasties. Furthermore, basedon the reflection of compiling features, criteria of selecting rhymed verses or ci andcompiling policies of the works The Collection of Rhymed Verses: Pondering amongPalace Flowers compiled during the early Shu Dynasty, the interaction between thegreat works and the current literary trend is discussed at depth; and morover aprofound insight is made into the poetry aethestics reflected in the literati school’sunconsciousness as a community represented by the works.Chapter four is a thorough discussion of the impact of the religious culture onthe school’s birth stance, mental personality and literary thoughts in the earlyKingdom of Shu in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. Firstly, on thebasis of the overall review of the development of religion, the wave of the worshipof Buddhism by the current world, the school’s preference religion, and the impact ofthe transmission of Buddhism in the area of Shu on the school’s lives and theirliterary thoughts are explored. Secondly, comprehensively involved are thetransmission and reception of Daoism in the same place, the school’s addiction forimmortals and the impact of the former on the school’s lives and tendency ofbringing immortals or Daoism into their literary writing.Chapter five is about the relationship between the regional culture in the area ofShu and on the school’s literary thoughts in the late Dang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. Firstly, a comparative study is made of the relationship between thefollowing different cultural domains respectively called Ba, Shu and central Chinaand the distributions of different schools of the literatis. Secondly, a diachronic andsynchronic research is overally made on the school of literatis in the area of Shuunder the three different regimes of the late Tang Dynasty and the early and late ShuDynasties in terms of the diachronic and periodic evolution of their culturalcognition and reception of the holistic regional culture in the domains called Ba andShu. And an overall exploration is made of the relationship between the culture inthe plain of the Shu area and two such distinctive cultures—the mythic appeal of thelocal mountainous literature in the area of Shu and the local flavor in the literature inthe pastoral area. A careful study of the relationship between the taste reflected inThe Book of Songs or Sao in the Kingdom of Chu and the sentiments over bamboosin the literature in Gorge Ba and the Shu area. In addition, an extraordinary aethesticquality penetrating in Rhymed Verses in Palace by Madam Pistil—the cultural viewcharacteristic of the locality of Shu was shown. Therefore, at the end of this chapterattached is a special section about her verses as a special regard.Chapter six is about the thorough analysis of the influence of the school andtheir liteary thoughts on the literary forums during the Southern Tang Dynasty andthe Northern Song Dynasty in a dynamic perspective of cultural contrast. Firstlydiscussed is the effect of the rhymed verses in The Collection of Rhymed verses:Pondering among Palace Flowers in the early Shu Dynasty on the forum of rhymedverses during the Southern Tang Dynasty by analyzing the cognition and reception ofthe poets’ mode of writing in the former dynasty by the poets in the latterone.Secondly is a profound investigation into the birth stance of the school of theadherent literatis of the Shu Dynasty ruled by King Mengs in the literary forumduring the Northern Song Dynasty and their mentality of personality. Next comes thedisussion of the echo of the school of adherent literatis with origin of the area of Shuin the poetry trend represented by the liking of the poets for the Style of Bai andStyle of the late Tang Dynasty in the Northern Song Dynasty. In addition, last comesthe anaysis of the remote impact of the school of poets in the area of Shu on theaesthetic literary writing and poetry cult for elegance during the Nothern SongDynasty.