The Study On Chidu Literary Of Yuan Hongdao

Yuan Hongdao is the representative figure of the literary reform movement in the late Ming Dynasty,and he is also the representative of the scholars of the public security school.They advocated "the soul" and "informal grid sets" in literature,and "truth" and "straight from the heart" in literary aesthetics.In Late Min g,the epistolary literature with its unique style b ecame popular in Chin a.In the changes and reforms in the epistolary literature,Yuan Hongdao played a key role.Chidu is a brief and concise kind of the ancient letters,which is supposed to be personal privacy.Chidu mainly expresses affective interaction and narrations.It is characterized by the reflection of the temperament and thoughts of the writer.Therefore,Chidu has been a carrier of scholars' inner heart.Yuan Hongdao was one of th em,using Chidu to express his m ind.His literary art and tas te were reflected incisively and vividly.Under the influence of the literary thought in the late Ming,the practical style of the Chidu becam e more emotional and artistic.Chidu was adapted by some scholars including Li Zhi.It became a key category in short sketch in the late Ming with new features.The main content of the Chidu by Yuan Hongdao is as follows: bitterness of being an official,talking about poem s and article s,Zen enlightenm ent,friends,sightseeing tours,etc.Based on the Chudu written by Yuan Hongdao in 3 key periods in his life,this study analyzes the changes of his thoughts.The Chudu written when he was is W u Zhong mainly express the bittern ess of being an of ficial and the longing for personal pleasure,which is against to the Confucian thought of saving the nation and the people.This period witness the transition of Yuan's thoughts from Confucianism to Buddhism.The Chudu written wh en Yuan lived in Beijin g reveal the key transition of Y uan's thoughts from Buddhism to Taoism.The Chudu written when Yuan lived in seclusion in Gong'an reveal Yuan's thoughts from Taoism to Confucianism.Yuan's thoughts are the combination of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism.His thoughts o n filial piety are rooted from the Confucian view.His pursu it of solitude and peace came from the thoughts of Taoism.His indifferent to fame or gain is from the thoughts of Buddhis m.So Yuan hongdao's thoughts are not only re lated to yangming philosophy,Buddhism,Taoism,but also related to the thoughts of Yang zhu.Based on the analys is of Chidu written by Y uan Hongdao,the paper is to probes into the developing process of his thoughts in different periods.It also analyzes the social current that has great im pact on his thoughts and the de veloping progress of typical scholars in the late Ming.Y uan Hongdao was greatly influenced by Li Zhi a nd Jiang Yingke.Li Zhi was the first teacher that introduced Yuan to the literary thoughts.Li Zhi ‘s thoughts was critic ally inherited by Y uan.As a key member,Jiang Yingke contributed a lot to poetry writing and th eoretical research of Gong' an school of thoughts.Compared to those old and dull articles,Y uan's letters revealed his true feelings.They were mostly the trivial things in daily life and his ideas.From them we can see his literary attitude and life values.In this way,the study of Yuan's Chidu is is of great value and significance to gain a better understand ing about his whole life.Y uan's Chidu is vivid reflection of his thoughts.Yuan Hongdao intended to break the bondage of ethics and enlightenment and pursue the freedom without block,but he eventually failed to jump out of the traditional cycle.He is a typical representative of the scholars who were with great self-awareness and independent personality and at loss in the time of group consciousness.Yuan Hongdao converted the pr actical style of Chidu to a charming literature genre expressing the inner spirit.As for the aesthetic value,the Chidu by Yuan Hongdao is com parable with those of the fam ous literature m asters such as Su Shi.Yuan's Chidu is expressive and im pressive with a natural a nd flowing style of writing and great passion.Metaphors and colloquialism are commonly used in Yuan's Chidu,which make them well received by both the highbrows and lowbrows.In Qing dynasty,the scholars paid m ore attention to the practical value of the literature works.The Gong'an School' s pursuit of the expressiveness of the spirit did not meet the political dem and of the qing dyna sty.Their literature thoughts gradually fade out people's attention and finally disappeared.There are three main reasons for the decline of Chidu.Firstly,Chidu were regard ed as useless in political indoctrin ation.Secondly,the writing style of Chidu was cont rary to the m ain style in Qing dynasty.Thirdly,the content of Chidu was regarded as imprecise.Despite the criticisms from the main stream of literatu re,many scholars think highly of the Gong'an School and the Chidu written by Y uan.Some scholars compiled and published a book entitled the works by Yuan Hongdao to help more readers know more about Yuan Hongdao and his works.Yuan Hongdao and his works regain ed public attention and popularity for the following reasons.Spiritual lite rature was promoted as a weapon to criticize the old literature traditions.In addition,the appreciat ion and analysis of Chidu in the Ming dynasty can positively influence the the development of modern prose.The research on Yuan Hongdao and Gong'an School is gradual and fruitful.The studies on Yuan Hongdao since the 20 th century focus on the literariness,ideo logical content and works study.However,the studies on his Chidu are comparative inadequate.Yuan's Chidu counts more than half of his works,but th e studies on his Chidu share a fairly small proportion of the studies on Y uan and his works.The previous studies on Yuan Hongdao in China are m ainly about hi s literary thoughts,literary innovation,prose creation and aesthetic ideas,ignoring the value of his Chidu.T o know Yuan's whole life,Chidu should be a key content.Hence,Yuan Hongdao's literature can be studied as a key issue.In this pap er,the Chidu literary of Yuan Hongdao will be g iven in-depth exploration and analysis,which is also the focus of the study.