Study On Ci-poet Mao Heting

Mao Heting was a renowned scholar in modern times with outstandingaccomplishments in Confucian Classics, history and philosophy. His frequent socialactivities, abundant theories and practices as well as efforts in collating and compiling hasmade him an important figure in modern ci-poetry circle. By far, the attention has not beenpaid enough to the poet. In order to fully present his lifetime and also make a relativelyobjective and fair evaluation of his accomplishments and status in the ci-poetry history, thearticle conducts meticulous research based on the searching and reading of the relevantliterature information.The first chapter introduces Mao Heting’s family and lifetime. The first two sectionstells how the Mao Clan and his two grandfathers have separately influence him on hispersonality and academic orientation while the third section divides Mao’s lifetime intofour phases and highlights his achievements as an official and a scholar. The article alsocorrects some mistakes in his chronology.The second chapter introduces his social activities in three different times. He earnedpraises from Tan Xian and Wang Pengyun in his youth and was close to Ye Yanlan and PanFeisheng in Canton. He developed friendship with poets like Zheng Wenzhuo and LiuBingzhao while he was living in Suzhou. He joined the Oushe and Wushe Club in the1930s and1940s and had frequent exchanges and arguments with members like XiaJingguan, Long Yusheng and Xia Chengtao. After1949, he joined the Zhishe Cluborganized by Guan Genglin and provide help and guidance to younger poets like WangDong, Chen Feishi and Xiang Dicong in his later years.The third chapter concludes his core thoughts on ci-poetry. Mao has built a series oftheories in his lifetime study on ci-poetry, many of which have been hotly debated for thetime especially his harsh attacks on the prevailing theory of four tones. The article will alsokeep an eye on the controversy sparked by his theories.The fourth chapter introduces two types of his ci-poetry works. The love poetry showsthe writer’s inherent complex of regarding himself as a born genius and celebrity while hisfriendship with modern artists produced a number of ci-poems on paintings. The article aims to highlight the particular style and artistic characteristics of his works by dig intothese two themes of his ci-poetry. A large number of Mao Heting’s ci-poems have been lost.The article found more than seventy ones not seen in his collections of ci-poetry, asspecified in the appendix.The last part concludes Mao Heting’s contributions in ci-poetry writing, theorybuilding and collating and compiling and makes a judgement on his status in the ci-poetryhistory and looks into the future of the study of the poet.