Counterpoint Variations

From the beginning of Qing Dynasty, a great number of scholars degraded the comments on The Book of Songs from Ming Dynasty's scholars. Therefore, The History of the Ming Dynasty and The Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature hadn't attached any importance to Zhongxing's works. What's more, Gu Yanwu, Qian Qianyi and some other scholars didn't admire Zhongxing's viewpoint and way of life. In Qing Dynasty, Zhongxing's comments on The Book of Songs suffered from a lot of criticism from the scholars. However, Zhongxing's way of making comments also make a very important influence on the later generations. Even in Qing Dynasty, Yao Jiheng, Fang Yurun, Cui Shu and some other scholars inherited the way of thinking from him. In the recent years, people start paying attention to Zhngxing's work. Different perceptions were posed from regarding his work as literature to Confucian classics.This essay focuses on Zhongxing's comment on The Book of Songs that consists of the first and the second editions. Six chapters make up this essay. In the first chapter, introduce the content of Zhongxing's comment on The Book of Songs briefly. In the second chapter, introduce Zhongxing's personal material and his main works. In the third chapter, make an analysis on the version and style from the viewpoint of philology. In the fourth chapter, analyze the reasons for the change of research focus in the late of Ming Dynasty. In the fifth chapter, analyze Zhongxing's way of making comment and the features of his comments. In the last chapter, appraise the value of Zhongxing's works and make a comment on different Dynasties' scholars' viewpoints briefly.