A Study On The Style Of Yang Xiong 's "Legal Proverbs"

Fa Yan, a philosophical book of Yang Xiong, who was not only a distinguished writer, but also a thinker, and a philosopher and a linguist in the Western Han Dynasty, was written as a book of quotations. It was of great importance for its concentrating on Yang Xiong’s thoughts, and reflecting the development of Confucianism in the late Western Han Dynasty, through which we can understand the thought process and the social development of the Western Han Dynasty.Considering the contemporaneous factors and the social thoughts and Yang Xiong’s own characteristics, this paper will first explain the background of Fa Yan and then summarize the features of its type of writing through analyzing the characteristics of its structure, language and the way of expression. And on the basis of these advantages, the stylistic function will be discussed in the paper.The book of Fa Yan was written under the specific background of the contemporaneous factors and the social thoughts. The emperor Wu of Han Dynasty adopted the proposal of "belittling and rejecting other ideas, only Confucianism", which was suggested by Dong Zhongshu, and then the Confucianism was at the supreme position, since when the study of Confucian classics became increasingly flourishing. However, the development of Confucianism was not only challenged by other schools but also faced with the obstruction of the internal debate. What was worse more, the study of Confucian classics in the Western Han Dynasty was gradually being of divination and mystery and secularization and instrument. Confronting these circumstances, Yang Xiong realized the study of Confucian classics was difficult to continue, and he was affected by the imitation atmosphere of the literature creating in the Western Han Dynasty, so he created Fa Yan to rebuke those quibbling and to save the doctrine of the sage.Though Fa Yan’s type of writing was an imitation to The Analects, which was collected by the disciples of Confucius, they were different, especially in the arrangement. With clear structure and a distinct theme, Fa Yan centered on the respect to the sage, and highlighted the doctrine of the sage, and also constructed a Confucian value system that focused on feudal ethics, in order to express his respect and appreciation to the sage and their thoughts.Besides, the language in Fa Yan differed greatly from The Analects, in which the language was simple and natural and easy to be understood. While in Fa Yan, sometimes the sentences were too brief or the sentences were deliberately created by Yang Xiong to make them difficult to be understood because of his thought that the doctrine of the sage were broad and profound, which meant they couldn’t be easily understood. Although in such cases, the language in Fa Yan was still flexible and refined with its changes in styles and the abundant uses of rhetoric, which was closely related to his writing prose with the ode style.Quotations, a type of writing, was the primary form of writing in prose in pre-Qin, which often used the method of discussion and reasoning as its main ways of expression. In the book of Fa Yan, Yang Xiong expressed his views by talking alone or a question-and-answer format with a certain people, and sometimes he conveyed his statements directly without any explanation, while sometimes he used many kinds of methods, such as analogy, comparison, and reference to help him illustrate his points. At the same time, there was often a spontaneous outpouring of his happiness or sadness between the lines, which made them become much more sincere and convincing.It seemed not surprised for Yang Xiong to choose quotations as the type of writing in Fa Yan for the two reasons. The first reason was his highly respect to Confucius, so he imitated the writing form of The Analects, and the other was the distinctive stylistic function in saving the characters’ languages, sculpturing the characters, establishing the paragons, and educating the descendants. Yang Xiong had the sense of studying real problems for the purpose of application, and he was also eager that this book could be helpful in realizing his ambition of being remembered by later generations.