Hou Fangyu Poetry Study

Hou Fangyu was a renowned litterateur in late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, and also a member of the "four highbred highbrows of late Ming Dynasty". Boasting an old and well-known family background, Hou received orthodox Confucian education and was later influenced by the sociopolitical cliquism in late Ming Dynasty. As a result, he continued to participate actively in social activities after the death of Ming Dynasty. After the turn of the two dynasties, Hou was strongly influenced by escapist Taoist ideas, and his self-identification as a subject of the "late" Ming Dynasty. His unwilling collaboration with the newborn Qing Dynasty caused a deep regret that he never extricated himself from. The above-mentioned factors combined to give his works a psychological intricacy. Hou displayed enigmatic personal influence in his days, but he died quite young (in his late thirties). His life was a legend as well as a tragedy. The present paper attempts to arrive at an objective evaluation of Hou's works through a holistic analysis of his life experience, theoretical origins and stylistic preference of his literary production. The present paper holds that the tragedy of his life was caused by his personality, and that this was also a historical necessity. He enthusiastically advocated the artistic style of the famous essayists in Qin, Han, Tang and Song Dynasties and...