A Study Of The Literary Thought Of The Eastern Zhejiang School In The Qing Dynasty

The era of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was an era of social chaos and great changes,as well as an era in which the ideological and cultural changes were in constant fluidity.Intellectuals in this infinitely variable era are full of internal tension in their real life,spiritual world and academic research.The research object of this paper is the school of the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty,which was born in this context.The school was founded by Huang Zongxi in the early Qing Dynasty and continued into the middle of the Qing dynasty.Representative scholars include Huang Zongxi,Li Xin,Wan Sida,Vance Tong,Quan Zuwang,Shao Jinhan and Zhang Xuecheng.However,the research field is widely involved in philosophy,classics,history,literature,ethics,astronomy,geography,etc.It is an academic school with independent academic spirit and distinctive academic personality.Although the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty was not dominated by literature,it had a large number of literary creations and criticisms,and formed a systematic and mature literary thoughts,which was rare in the academic schools of the Qing Dynasty.Due to the shading of his achievements in the study of classical historiography,the focus on literary thoughts from the academic circles is obviously not enough.In the existing studies,the comprehensive research on the literary thoughts of the school is even weaker.The unique contributions to the school's ideology in literature,its status in the history of literary theory in Qing dynasty,and its influence on the literary theory in the future are all lacking systematic discussion.Based on this,this paper takes the literary thoughts of the East Zhejiang School in Qing Dynasty as the research object,trying to find out the common literary purport in the overall understanding of the scholars' literary thoughts,show their different literary concepts and answer the above questions.The whole paper is divided into eight parts,and the contents of each part are as follows:The introductory part expounded causes of this selection and the significance ofthis research.This thesis studied the literary thought of Eastern Zhejiang school in the Qing Dynasty mainly for two reasons.First,as an important academic school in the academic history of the Qing Dynasty,Eastern Zhejiang school was abundant in literary achievement.Their systematic discussion and thought on literary problems provided a unique historian's perspective for literary theories in the Qing Dynasty and they were an integral part of research on literary theories in the Qing Dynasty.Second,current research on the literary achievement and literary thought of this school has yet to be further developed.In addition,this thesis sorted out the current research situation of the literary thought of Eastern Zhejiang school in the Qing Dynasty and explained its own research ideas,research methods and basic framework.Chapter 1 systematically sorted out the academic origin and historical and cultural background of Eastern Zhejiang school in the Qing Dynasty,analyzed its academic spectrum,academic positioning and academic spirit and explored the role of literary activities in the academic system of this school.In terms of its academic origin,Eastern Zhejiang school in the Qing Dynasty inherited from the eastern Zhejiang school in the Southern Song Dynasty and the mind studies of Wang Yangming and Liu Zongzhou.This school was born in the epochal upheaval of changing from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty.The turbulent social realities,sharp ethnic conflicts and ruler's repressive policies constituted its social background;the ideological trend of returning classic study to origins and the popularity of humanistic pragmatism in the Qing Dynasty provided a cultural context for its existence;the thriving of realology and the emerging of textology provided an academic background for its existence.With a broad academic vision,Eastern Zhejiang school in the Qing Dynasty was a folk academic school dominated by classic study and history.Its academic spirit was mainly manifested as humanistic pragmatism,integration between classic study and history,emphasis on innovation and truth-seeking from facts.Literary activities were a major component of the academic activities of this school.Poetry writing was not only a survival means and communication field for adherents of a former dynasty but also an important part of school education.Under special conditions,literature also plays a role of recordinghistory and supplementing history.The second chapter focuses on the main concept of "the integration of literature and Taoism" of East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty.It reveals the ideological connotation of the "Tao" and the praised "articles containing Taoism".The first section combs the historical evolution of the meaning of "Tao",focusing on the differences between the "Tao" of Confucianism and the "Tao" of historiography,and revealing that the "Tao" theory of the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty contains both the metaphysical morality and the physical governance that shows a value orientation based on the present.The second section mainly elaborates on the two forms of the relationship between Chinese and Taoism in ancient Chinese literary theory.The first is the separation of literature and Taoism,which is represented by the theory of "dangerousness of Taoism carriers";the second is the unity of literature and Taoist ideology,represented by "understanding of Dao" and "articles are real carriers of Dao." From the changing perspectives of the relationship between literature and Taoism,we can observe that the concept of "the integration of literature and Taoism" of the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty and Han Yu's theory of "Ming Tao" and Zhu Zi's concept of "the integration of literature and Taoism" came down in a continuous line,but it is also a new idea based on the practical use of scriptures.In the third section,the author mainly elaborates “articles containing Taoism” promoted by the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty from different perspectives.“Articles containing Taoism” took “Tao” as the origin of the article,the starting point of the article and also the purpose of the article.In essence,it is the article that is practical and has a strong realistic and utilitarian color.The writing method of “articles containing Taoism” is based on “Tao”.For the literatis,they should first experience the “Tao” and then write articles,which is the way of a combination of classics,history,and literature.“Articles containing Taoism” is a kind of literary genre that unifies articles and the “Tao”,and pursues inner harmony.The quality of an article is reflected by the degree of fusion of articles and the “Tao”.As the highest ideal of the East Zhejiang school in the Qing Dynasty,"articles containing Taoism" has its philosophical foundation that lies in the idea of "integration of Taoism and humanbeings".The third chapter mainly discusses the connotation of "the article of qi" put forward by the East Zhejiang School in the sociological dimension in the Qing Dynasty,and explores the relationship between the article and the "qi".From the era context of the Ming and Qing dynasties,the East Zhejiang school advocated "the article of qi" and gave it a specific meaning.The first section teases out the evolution of the theory of "qi" in ancient China.From the theory of vital energy generation in the Han dynasty to the vital energy ontology in the Song Dynasty,and then to its subjectification and spiritualization in the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the ancient theory of "qi" evolves from objective materiality to subjective spirituality,which has important significance for build relationship between "qi" and literature.The second section analyzes the specific meaning given by the East Zhejiang School to the “qi”.The spirit of loyalty is the basic connotation of “qi”,and the masculine spirit and awe-inspiring spirit of “Yuan Qi” is a vivid presentation of the heroic personality of the East Zhejiang school.The third section specifically discusses the generation mechanism of "the article of qi".It is actually the result of the struggle between yin and yang in misfortuned period.The East Zhejiang school advocates that “Yang lies underneath Ying,and if there is a conflict between them,a crash of thunder will happen”.This type of article is more masculine and solemn,but also better reflects the spirit of struggle and ethnic uprightness that shows the resistance to evil and no surrender to the doom.However,the opinion of the East Zhejiang School on the“articles of qi” is not entirely consistent.Compared with Quan Zuwang,the theory of Huang Zongxi reveals more dynasty survivor atmosphere.The fourth chapter focuses on the analysis of the "temperament" poetics of the East Zhejiang school in the Qing Dynasty and explains the creative development of the "temperament" in the school."Poetry is the expression of temperament" is the core concept of the poetic theory of the East Zhejiang school.This seemingly old statement has been given new connotations by the school.The first section analyzes the tendency of "emphasis on feeling" in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and the manifestation of this tendency in the field of poetics,that is,the upsurge oftemperament poetics.At the end of Ming Dynasty,the temperament poetics respected the sentiments and weighed the sentiments,referring the sentiments to the literary ontology.However,the “sentiments” of the poetics was to get rid of the individual temperament and secular sentiment bounded by social ethics.The concept of temperament literature has changed significantly after the vicissitude of dynasties,and the Yunjian,Xiling and Yushan poets put equal emphasis on temperament and style.The second section revolves around the relationship between temperament and emotion proposed by Huang Zongxi.He stipulates “temperament” as the “sympathy”of the heart and establishes the moral attribute of “temperament”,which is different from the natural humanity proposed by the Yangming academy.In terms of temperament and emotion,Huang Zongxi advocates that the two exist in one unity.He believes that emotion is the natural reflection of the heart,and temperament is the"neutralization" state of emotional expression----temperament hides in emotion,and there is no self-existent temperament.The integration of temperament and emotion advocated by Huang Zongxi is indeed a kind of moral emotion that fits into Confucian ethics.The third section specifically analyzes the "poetry is the expression of temperament and emotion,and the two words are the origin of poetry.It is also the key to the success of poetry creation.Huang Zongxi made a strict specification on“temperament”.He differentiated “emotional feelings” and “non-emotional feelings”as well as “temporary temperament” and “eternal temperament.” He proposed emotional temperament,and put more emphasis on "eternal temperament" with group and public nature.On the basis of Huang Zongxi's temperament theory,the later East Zhejiang School emphasized the "positive nature" and won a place for women's writing from the perspective of "everybody has emotions and emotions can speak."Chapter V discusses the thought of literary source of the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty.The East Zhejiang school takes the study of various schools as the origin of the article and regards "scholastic ability" as a necessary condition for creation.The first section analyzes the “six arts of literary source” of eastern Zhejiang scholars.Huang Zongxi emphasizes that “composition is based on scripture.” Zhang Xuecheng elaborates the idea from the perspective of the evolution of the articles ofsix arts,the articles from various schools and the articles of collected works.The purpose of the article,the nature and techniques of the article,and the changes in its style all highlight the source relationship between the article and the six arts.The second section elaborates the relationship between the article and history.The East Zhejiang School is based on historiography and emphasizes that the writing of the article should be involved in the history.Zhang Xuecheng believes that "the ancient Chinese words come out of history".Its principles and methods are included in the historiography,and the rise and decline coincide with the development process of historiography.These all fully prove the close relationship between the article and history.The third section discusses the relationship between literature and learning of the East Zhejiang School.The word “learning” proposed by the school refers to both the study of Confucian classics and the “bamboo sawdust” type of miscellaneous studies.They use books to accumulate knowledge---which is the official way to study.But as for the relationship between the article and study,they emphasize that it's unnecessary to show personal knowledge in the article,but it's necessary to nourish your article with your knowledge.Zhang Xuecheng put forward the principle of "learning is the origin of writing" from the perspective of the integration of Taoism,learning,and writing.He praised writing with accumulated knowledge,which embodied the academic ideal of writing.The sixth chapter analyzes the thoughts of literary changes of the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty,and discusses them from three perspectives: "literary changes are inseparable from current political situation","literary changes can influence the situation" and "the ancient and modern literary changes".The first section explores the relationship between literary changes and social factors such as times and conventions.The East Zhejiang school associates the rise and fall of literature with the destiny of the society,and believes that the end of the trouble times provide conditions for the flourish of literature.The style also changes with times.Zhang Xuecheng used Fu and the novel as an example to demonstrate the relationship between the change of the two literary forms and the change of the times.The change of style reveals the relationship between the literary appearance,style and the times.Linked with the changing dynasties,the East Zhejiang scholars often wrote articles full of the feeling of sorrows.The second section discusses the internal motives of the literary changes.The East Zhejiang school realized that decline right after flourish was the inevitable trend of literary evolution and the abuse of articles is also an important reason for the literary changes.The changes from the articles of six arts to the articles of the various scholars and then to the collective articles present the constantly improved rules of literary aesthetics.Although in Zhang Xuecheng's opinion,this is an indication that the article is getting worse and worse,it does capture the trend of the evolution of literature.The third section focuses on the analysis of the ancient and modern view of literature of the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty.In keeping with the view of coherent history,the East Zhejiang School upholds the attitude of “article is what it is,regardless of the times it belongs to” in terms of literature.The attitude is embodied in the true nature of Huang Zongxi and Zheng Liang's personality and in the creator's "discretion" proposed by Zhang Xuecheng.In the issue of learning from ancients,the East Zhejiang school advocated“teaching its intentions but not its traces” and opposed the pursuit of similar imitations,emphasizing learning the “true spirit” of the ancients,that is,temperament and knowledge,and based on this,giving criticism to the retro fashion of imitating ancients.The conclusion analyzes the historical value and limitations of the literary thoughts of the East Zhejiang School in the Qing Dynasty.In view of the overall pattern of the literary theory of the Qing dynasty,the literary thoughts of the East Zhejiang School have an indelible value in boosting the Confucianist turn of the literary theory in the early period of the Qing dynasty,turning to the Confucianism and opening the ancient culture.At the same time,the literary theory of the school also has its obvious limitations: As a whole,its literary thought is still confined within the framework of traditional Confucianism,so it has a strong ethical color;it focuses on the external study of literature,so the attention to the aesthetic law is insufficient;it focuses on inheriting and deepening the topic of traditional literary theory,and failed to put forward new groundbreaking issues.Despite this,the literary thoughts ofthe East Zhejiang school in the Qing Dynasty could be used as a rich theoretical resource and deserve our review and revisit today.