Wei Jin Dynasties Food Culture And Literature

China can definitely take pride in its long history of food culture, and there is nodoubt that Chinese diet has had tremendous impacts on China’s culture and history.One of the earliest Chinese civilizations, the civilization of rite and music started fromZhou and Han Dynasties, is derived from diet. To Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, as thesupply of diet raw materials became more abundant, people’s dietary structurediversified, and they were keen on pursuing, tasting, and exploring more deliciousfood. Under this new dietary trend, the demeanour of scholars in Wei, Jin and SixDynasties also underwent a subtle change, which subsequently stimulated thedevelopment of the literature. The prosperity of the food culture during this periodhad provided a wealth of sources for the creation of literary works. Many kinds offood began to be symbolized as the intellectual’s grace and were endowed withtypical literary characteristics. For example, they were fond of crabs, alcoholic drinks,tea, Brasenia, goat cheese, etc., and their fondness invariably reflected the uniquerelationship between the food culture and literature in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Apartfrom the new species brought in from cultural exchange appearing in poetryfrequently, eating utensils and tableware also gradually attracted the attention of theliterati, which had greatly promoted the development of chanting poetry and prose.What is more noteworthy is that the food culture also contributed to theprocess of literary criticism in Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, and especially had a greatimpact on the establishment of the aesthetic category,"taste". The principle inpoetry judgment,“light, fresh, and diverse”, is a good proof that the taste of poetry isconnected to that of diet, and it’s also the premise that “taste” plays an importantrole in literature theoretical research. To “Judge poetry by the taste", developedthrough the elaboration of Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, Liu Xie et al, and obtained itsindependent significance of pure aesthetics in Zhong Rong’s Grades of Poetry, hasgreat impact on the history of Chinese aesthetics and literary criticism.The study on the literature and food culture of Wei, Jin and Six Dynastiesenables us to understand the customs and conventions at that time more deeply, comprehend the meaning to convey in the literary works, as well as to make usbetter grasp the mutual influential relationship between literary creation and foodculture.