A Study On Hou Fangyu

Hou Fangyu, one of the Four Literati of the late Ming dynasty, a member of the Three Famous Prose Writers of the early Qing dynasty, exerted a wide social influence during the previous two dynasties. The thesis has been divided into five chapters, mainly addressing the following topics.Chapter one: studies the relationship between Hou Fangyu and the Fu Society. Due to the tradition of the Shangqiu literati and Hou's good education both from his family senior members and teachers, probably, Hou had become one of the members of the Fu Society in its fledging times. As a result, in Chongzhen 12 years (1639) Hou Fangyu was made the leader of the said Society because of his personal and social factors.Chapter two: Hou Fangyu founded the Xueyuan Society. The literati in Shangqiu, a place where many men of letters have lived since ancient times, have the tradition of forming societies. Establishing the Queyuan Society in Chongzhen 1 year, they also took part in the activities held by the Ying Society to the north of the Yangtze River, a branch of the Fu Society. In addition, with the literature activities promoted by the local officials in Shangqiu, the achievements of the scholars won wide renown from the places on the south of the Yangtze River. In Chongzhen 13 years, Hou Fangyu founded the Xueyuan Society at his hometown Shangqiu.Chapter three: discusses the relationship between Hou Fangyu and Ruan Dacheng. The persecution from Ruan was one of the big events in Hou's lifetime. Though Hou did not write the Critical Essay of Staying in Nanjing to Avoid Riots and Rebellions together with other men of letters, there were contradictions between Hou's fathers and Ruan, so Hou refused to soften the relationship between the scholars, writing the said Critical Essay, for Ruan when he was the leader of the Fu Society. What is more, Hou participated in the activities of the Guomenguangye Society and criticizing Ruan while watching operas, etc. to attack Ruan. Consequently deeply hatred existed between these two men.Chapter four: depicts the friendship between Hou Fangyu and other scholars of the Fu Society. Being modest, Hou made many a friend. In this chapter, several other members of the Fu Society, namely, Chen Zhenhui, Fang Yizhi, Wu Yingji and Chen Zilong, each of whom had a great impact on Hou, will be investigated.Chapter five: describes the influences of the Fu Society upon Hou Fangyu's literature accomplishments. Having joined the Fu Society which contributed a lot to Hou's literature attainments, the young man became the leader of it at the age of 22. In this chapter, Hou's achievements will be analyzed from the two perspectives of literature thought and literature creation. As far as the first respect is concerned, Hou agreed with other scholars of the Fu Society on the idea of "learning from the prose writings of Qin and Han dynasties and poems from 705 to 781AD of Tang dynasty" by the Seven Literati, and he laid emphasis on the meaning of the times and social role of literature and on the unity of perseverance, knowledge and fate of the times as well. The style of his articles and poems embodies the style of the writers of the Fu Society, a combination of the former classical works and historical facts and high spirit and imposing writing manner.