Research On The Literature And Culture Of Wei Family Of An Yi In He Dong During Wei And Jin Dynasties

As an aristocratic family, the Weis of Anyi in the Hedong region had played a crucial role in political, military, social, and cultural areas during Wei and Jin period. The thesis focuses on the rise and decline of the Weis to seek the causes behind it, discusses the ecological environment and characteristics of its family culture, and analyzes the literary works of the families and literary features of their works.During the period of Ming emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei Hao, one of the Wei family members, was nominated as the county governor for his mastery of Confucianism. Before he came to his governing county from Dai county, He died at Anyi of the Hedong region where a piece of land was granted by the emperor as his graveyard later. Therefore, his descendants lived there since then. In Wei and Jin period and the period of Jin Wu emperor, the political and military achievements of Wei Kai and Wei Guan made the family rise rapidly, but after a short thrive the family declined sharply. The decline can be attributed to two points: first, the failure of Wei Guan‘s political life; Second: the early death of the family’s offspring.The ecological environment forming the family culture of the Weis lies on: the favorable and unique natural environment, the affluent economy which nourished the people lived there, and the solid cultural background of Confucianism which could be dated back to the Yao period. What’s more, new academic and cultural thoughts appeared at that time owing to the politics of then, typically manifesting as metaphysics, a philosophical sect in Wei and Jin period. With all those reasons, the Weis’ family culture can be characterized by the following aspects: first, taking both Confucianism and Taoism as the heritage of family culture; Originated from Confucianism and absorbing the doctrine of Taoism later, metaphysics was also combined as a part of the family culture. Second, the spirit of law. Third, the achievements of art and literature including calligraphy and articles.The literary works of the Weis’ of Anyi can be categorized into three parts: first,the official documents, mostly for politics, featuring the practical content, the elegant words and the reasonable style, which reflect the good Confucian cultivation of theWeis; Second, the individual articles, both for public and private use, featuring short size and delicate design, which show the talent and literary cultivation of the family;Third, the theories of art and literature, such as Si Ti Shu Shi(a work of calligraphy theory) written by Wei Heng and Bi Zheng Tu(a book about calligraphy) written by Wei Furen which are regarded as the norms of calligraphy, and with decent and grace wording the profound aesthetic ideology is reflected from those works as well.