Interaction Between The Imperial Houses Of The Southern Dynasties And The Clans Of Literati And Officialdom Of The Southern Dynasties In The Area Of Literature

With the investigation on the interactive relationship between the southern Dynasties imperial family and the Shizu with regard to politics and economics, it is further reveals in this thesis that there also exists an interrelation between them in the field of literature. the Shizu in the southern Dynasties, compared to those in the two Jin Dynasties, turns out to possesses less political power whereas the imperial authority is in large measure strengthened. Emperors of the Southern Dynasties set out to weaken, restrict, or even attack the a family of power and influence in feudal china and Shizu when at the same time the imperial power is being reinforced. The Shizu, however, is still a strong force in economy, maintains the advantageous position in culture, and has a rather high social status. These result in their being a comparatively influential group. Accordingly, the emperors have to be on good terms with and make use of the Shizu for the sake of political stability. On the other hand, although it fight against oppression from the imperial house, the Shizu's incompetence force itself to depend upon the emperors in order to stay in its originalstatus. In a word, the imperial house and the Shizu are in a state of both conflicts and interdependence, namely, a state of dynamic balance.Such interplay exerts influence upon literature. There are mainly three points: a) the Shizu is forced to embark on the literary course due to its declining political power ; b) the imperial house and the Shizu affect each other in the area of literature, which leads to an interactive relationship. The thesis then gives detailed accounts of this relation: a) it is interactive with respect to their respective attitudes to literature. On the one hand, the Shizu's focus on literary creation has an impact on the emperors. The imperial house in turn be comes interested in and advocates literature, and start to write poems and prose. On the other hand, the advocating of literature by the imperial house adds to the Shizu's descendant's enthusiasm in literary creation. Consequently, an interactive mechanism thus comes into being, promoting literature in the upper class and aiding to build up a 'literature-loving' society; b) it is also interactive concerning their respective status in literature. Because the imperial member pay special attention to literature, their literary status is constantly improved to the extent that they tend to win the better hand of the Shizu. Simultaneously, the Shizu literary status descends in contrast. It is not because the Shizu has been beaten down in literature but because there comes a tendency that the whole upper class is scholarized; c) as to literary creating and study, the imperial house and the Shizu are interdependent. This impart a tremendous impact upon literature in the Southern Dynasties : a) enthusiasm in literary creating and study is reinforced, which contributes to constructing a 'literature-loving' society and to scholarize the upper class; b) it greatly promote the Southern Dynasties' literature to renew itself, which makes the Southern Dynasties' literature unique in the literary history of china.