Confucian Yet "refined," The Concept Of Heritage And Change In Literary Theory,

Confucianism is the imposing doctrine that dominates China down to the middle of the twentieth century. Accordingly, its literature view centered on "ya" plays a very significant role in the development of the Chinese traditional culture. By tracing the origin of the concept of "ya" and analyzing the changes of its connotations, the paper attempts to give a detailed account of the evolution of the aesthetic view from the pre-Qin period to the Six Dynasties.The paper includes the following four parts:Chapter One traces the origin of "ya". The transformation from a character representing a bird in the Qin area to a character symbolizing aesthetic concept is clearly depicted by analyzing the concrete meaning of elegance from the context in the pre-Qin books and records. Meanwhile the tendency of favoring "ya" by Confucianism in pre-Qin peorid is shown and the aesthetic meanings about "ya" are revealed and summarized.Chapter Two mainly discusses how the concept of "ya" advocated by Confucianism assumed an orthodox position and what changes occurred to its connotations in the Han Dynasty. On the one hand, because of the ruling position of the Confucianism in Han dynasty, literature was attached to study of Confucian classics. The Great Preface to the Books of Songs constructed a comprehensive view of "ya" which was accepted by the Han Confucianists. Therefore, the view about "ya" advocated by Confucianism established its dominating position. On the other hand, the dichotomy between elegance and popularity was given more emphasis back then. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty ,"ya" gradually took on the meaning of elegance and gracefulness which was not accommodated by the Confucian canons. The historical tradition and moral values implied in "ya" began to wear thin and the leaning towards aesthetics became more evident.Chapter Three elaborates the evolution of "ya" during the special period of the Wei and Jin Dynasty. With the downfall of Confucianism and the coming of the era of literary consciousness, "ya" no longer served as the uniform literary standard but as the aesthetic criteria of a certain genre. Though the influence of Confucianism was weakened greatly, "ya " did not exit from the historic stage totally and it still controlled and prescribed people's literary consciousness to a certain extent. Meanwhile, the scholars in Wei-Jin period renounced traditional Confucian ethical code and lived up to different ideals. The idea that regards rites as "zheng" and obeying rites as "ya" was replaced by a taste of "ya". This new concept of "ya" emerging under the influence of Wei-Jin metaphysics ran counter to the rites of Confucianism. In fact, it is a revolt against the orthodoxy "ya" of Confucianism.Chapter Four focuses on the integration of the various ideas about "ya "in the essays of literary criticism in the Southern Dynasties. Against the background of unprecedented proliferation of literary works and diversified aesthetic thoughts, literary criticism developed greatly in the meantime. By analyzing and summarizing the old, diversified concepts of "ya", the literature theorists put forward their own ideas of "ya".History tends to move ahead in a spiral fashion. The history of the evolution of "ya" from the pre-Qin period to the Six Dynasties demonstrates vividly that it also follows a path spiraling ahead. The aesthetic ideas developed in the course of history constantly enrich the former concepts of "ya". It is safe to say that "ya", which occupies an important position in the traditional literature theories, have played a very significant role in the development of the classical literature.