| Poetry on history (yung-shih shih) is an important elite genre of classical Chinese literature. In the thousands of works written in it, the Confucian intellectuals in traditional China articulated their fundamental conviction about history and human life, that is, history is the manifestation of Tao (Way of Heaven) on earth, and the "Last judgment" in which the Confucian moral standard is to be applied to every human being; man must always think in history, because he inescapably lives in History.;Chapter I scrutinizes the critical importance placed on both history and poetry in Confucianism, thus demonstrating why this particular literary genre could acquire for itself such a great cultural significance.;Chapter II investigates the processes of moralization and symbolization. In this poetic genre, history is categorized, measured, and evaluated predominantly from the viewpoint of Confucian morality, for various categories of which specific historical personages become symbols.;Chapter III examines the processes of spatialization and eternalization. Moralized and symbolized, history is detemporalized and spatialized. The Confucian morality as the essence of history is presented as a timeless entity. Concomitant with this is eternalization--the historical proves to be the human, and the past becomes eternal. History is forever relevant to the present and future.;Chapter IV analyzes the processes of aetheticization and religionization. Poeticized, history is aestheticized. An aesthetic judgment is delivered upon the historical events and personages at issue. The true (historical factuality), the good (Confucian morality), and the beautiful (poetic aestheticity) are in this genre synthesized into a "Trinity of values" which represents the highest value and ideal in Confucian humanism, and therefore gains a great momentum for its further transcendence--religionization. History becomes the "ultimate concern" of a Confucian, and it will deliver the "Last judgment" upon his entire life. To pass this trial of history successfully is believed to be more important than to preserve one's own life.;Finally, the Conclusion summarizes the major points and suggests some implications which this study could have to other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. |
