Popularity And Evolution Of 'Hsi-yuan Ya-chi' Paintings In The Middle And Late Ming Dynasty

Voluminous studies on “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” in history have focused on history occurrence,cultural connotations and so on.The literary gathering is a way of daily replying writing activities,interspersed with elegant and sophisticated cultural medium,such as poems and songs,music,chess,calligraphy and painting.As a famous literary gathering in Yuanyou period of Northern Song Dynasty,the cultural connotation of “Hsiyuan Ya-chi” contains not only the elegant and poetic quality of general literary gatherings,but the “passionately talking about world affairs,regardless of personal danger” quality of Yuanyou literati.For thousands of years,the copying and admiring of “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” painting remain continuously.Especially during late Ming Dynasty,with the development of commodity economy,the spread of literary gathering practices and the transition of literati living space,the literary gathering paintings,especially the “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” paintings experienced an unprecedented prosperity in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.Some representative painters mainly analyzes the cultural connotation of the “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” paintings from three levels,accurately and fully reflects the mentality of the literati of late Ming dynasty: 1)material : the elegance of gathering scene props;2)celebrities: lofty realm of gathering participants;3)Confucian: aspiration of contributing to the society of Yuanyou period literati.The first two levels of refined material and elegant celebrities are of major concerns for many copyists,whereas the interpretation of literati's responsibility disappears gradually.Based on historical data of the middle and late Ming Dynasty that records gathering activities and cultural background,such as local chronicles as well as the literati's notes,this study analyzes the spiritual connotation of many literary gathering in the middle and late Ming Dynasty through the change of the literati's mentality,so as to clarify the evolution in connotation of “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” paintings in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.The collation and analysis of these historical data is evidenced to be significant to explore the transformation process of literati's self-advertised cultural phenomenon and of literati's "elegance" and "vulgar" mentality under the background of commodity economy and political reform in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.Understanding the cultural connotation of “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” and its evolution in the middle and late Ming Dynasty has important value and significance on interpreting the era meaning and the influence of “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” paintings.The paper is organized as follows: The first part introduces the history of “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi”,restoring the cultural connotation of “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” in Yuanyou period through the historical expression of literary gathering paintings,the historical background of “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi”,the participants contradicting psychology,and the copying by later literati for “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” theme from "emotion" and "reason".The second part analyzes the reason why “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” paintings are popular in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,including the transition of literati living space,the change of the mentality of literati and the spread of literary gathering activities.The third part mainly analyzes the new changes and their reasons of “Hsi-yuan Ya-chi” paintings in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,mainly reflected in the three levels of interpretation: material,celebrities and Confucian.By studying popularity and evolution of ‘Hsi-yuan Ya-chi' paintings in the middle and late Ming Dynasty,we can better understand literary gatherings and literati identity.On the one hand,the ancient literati is synonymous with elegant and delicate.On the other hand,the responsibility and dedication is not the quality of the literati in every era.This leads author to rethink the meaning of “literati”,whether it is “make yourself neat and clean” or “love the world”?...