From The Ming Taizuwenji To See The Emperor With The Prescribed Direction Of The Literary On The Early Ming Dynasty

Zhu yuanzhang had left a large number of literature creations that explicitly expressed his utilitarianism on literature. With regard to quality of his creations, they have had been criticized by most researchers for too much preaching and neglecting the literary artistry. But when we read the Ming taizuwenji by connecting with the historical data at the early Ming Dynasty, we found that the literature works made by Zhu yuanzhang had exerted its utilitarianism to best, and had set a special literary character on the early Ming Dynasty. As he faced with complex literary and the literati that refused to cooperate with court after the Yuan fell down in particular, the perspective of literature that expressed by Zhu yuanzhang and the Ming taizuwenji had greatly changed the creation pattern and literati's mind. On the one hand, the Ming taizuwenji advocated elegant creations and the literature idea of laying particular stress on utility and practice, in order to lead the prosperity of literature then. On the other hand, he insisted on governing the country with literati. Ming taizuwenji committed to regulate the literati's mind so that they could be responsible for society rather than a by-stander. A special literary character was formed thereby. The literary was deep into dreariness just because of this oversimplified mode. Lacking in literary understanding and respect to the literati, Zhu yuanzhang affected the literary by the strength of the authority as an emperor. He stokes some region's literati whose literature creations were not fitted to the new atmosphere. More importantly, Ming taizu ruined the independence of the literati, which caused the pure aesthetic literary slump over the whole Hongwu period. The literary that catered to authority prospered.