On The Heritance By Han Yu’s Proses From The Menciusi

Han Yu, as an important literary giant and an practical advocate of theclassical movement in the middle of Tang Dynasty, was uniquely prominentin poetry and prose writing. When he became an adult he was capable offully comprehending the Six Classics and all the works written by the mainphilosophical schools existing in the period of Spring and Autumn(722—481B.C.) since at his early age he had had the liking for reading andeven could memorize one thousand or sightly less Chinese charaters on asingle day. Later generations held him as head of the eight literary giantsduring the Song and Tang Dynasty because he explored the origin of thetruth about the knowledge and wrote practically in the ancient Chinesepopular before and during the early and late Han dynasty (206B.C—A.D.220).Han Yu acquired the ancient Chinese in prose writing from many sources ofnutrition in the previous times. In this respect he had asserted himself that atthe very beginning of his study he upheld the tradition of writing to suchan extent that he asserted himself by saying “I dare not to read the otherbooks writing to such an extent that he asserted himself by saying “I darenot to read the other books rather than the works written in the Xia(2070B.C.—1600B.C.), Shang (1600B.C.--1046B.C.), Zhou(1046B.C.--256B.C.) and Han (206B.C.—A.D.220) dynasties and I dare notaccept the other doctrines or theories instead of the ones advocated by the ancient sages.” It is easy for us to induce that Han Yu inherited theConfucianism through Mencius, which was originally advocated byConfucius, from the fact that Han Yu actually canonized Mencius’s theory inthe his own such academic activities as learning, reading, exploring the truthof life and especially in his words “It is only on the occasion that you readthe works by Mencius can you understand the sublimity of Confucianism.”Hence it was easy to know that the reason why he held in esteem Menciuswas that Mencius made the bridge between Confucius and himself on hisroad of cultural inheritance. Han Yu’s inheritance in prose writing fromMencius lied in the respects of ideological contents and artistic attainments.In contents he accepted the doctrine of following the example of the ancientsages advocated by Mencius and meanwhile founded his own theory of“Imparting Confucianism Systematically” by expounding upon theconnotation of Confucianism. On the basis of the doctrine advocated byMencius that human nature should be congenitally upright, Han Yu putforward the theory of “Three Sterotypes of Humanity”. Han Yu alsoadvocated many practical propostions in politics, economics and militaryaffairs in accordance with Mencius’s policy of “Benevolent Government”.In the criteria of choosing personnel for government, he accepted theMencius’s ideology of “Encouraging Persons of Outstanding Worth”. Inreligion, by inheriting the Mencius’s spirit of criticizing Yang Zhu and MoDi and following the Confucianism, he, unselfishly and bravely, advocated the manner of developing Confucianism rather than Buddhism and Daoism.By analyzing Han Yu’s works it can be known that he still bore theideological origin from Mencius although his attainment in writing prosehad gone by far beyond that of Mencius. The Mencius had its owndistingished features such as the existence of varied and refined structuresinside the sections each respective chapter, the freshly vivid depiction ofMencius through the dialogues and quotations, the noble spirit in Mencius’spersonality reflected in his eloquence in debates, the smoothness andclearness in meaning and lifelikeness in word choice due to his thesophisticated use of delicate metaphors although the works The Menciuswas in nature academic in language. Han Yu’s artisitc attainment in prosewriting can also find its own origin in The Mencius in the following aspectslike his agressiveness in debates, his robustness in momentum, and hisvariety in language styles—especially his smoothness resemblance to thelanguage in The Mencius but his careful structual design was very unique inwriting and arrangement and went well beyong The Mencius invariously different texuality. Hence Han Yu’s prose was delicate in contentand wanton in expression due to his extensive use of rhetorical deviceslike metaphors and analogies etc.Digesting Han Yu’s proses in contrast with The Mencius shallcontribute to our full understanding of the essence and nature of Han Yu’sproses. Confuciunist humanity was what Han Yu had inherited in terms of contents whereas a permanent heritage for posterity was what he hadprovided by prose writing in terms of literature. By the detailed comparativereading of Han Yu’s proses and The Mencius in turn sysmetically it is easilyfound that the former developing the latter by inheriting the Confucianismand the national psychology and spirit contaminated by the theory,especially in the official class who had seldom been free from its shackle.Through the earlier reseachers’academic fruits collected and sorted out, it isfound that Han Yu’s speculations and accounts of literature, Confucianism,politics, economics and religions were reflected, and his life experiences andfeelings were crystallized in his proses. All of the above mentioned willcontribute to the policy of our natianal affairs, economics, civilization andthe people’s livelihood, and will serve as a beneficial spiritual resource forthe current community of officials, thus bearing a profound ideologicalconnotation and a permanent literary worth.