The Study Of Fuzhou Stone Literature Inscriptions In Song Dynasty

Originating from the time of ancient Min clan(the time nearly from the Xia and Shang Dynasties to the mid-Warring States period)and developing in the Han and Tang Dynasties,Fuzhou stone inscriptions reached the peak in Song Dynasty.With their large number,Fuzhou stone inscriptions in Song Dynasty is rich enough to spread in various areas like culture,education,economy,and the Buddhism.Many stone inscriptions have both literary and historic values,playing the role of leak filling for paper documents.Therefore,an increasing number of scholars have paid their attention here.For example,Chen Qiren,a writer in late Qing Dynasty,in his book The Introduction of Fujian Stone Inscriptions,recorded thousands of stone inscriptions from Jin Dynasty to Song Dynasty and gave an detailed description of their orientations,the height of precipices,as well as the number,style and size of words on stone inscriptions.Besides,he also added a brief introduction of other concerned information.So the book can be regarded as a good textbook reflecting the culture,history and local conditions and customs in Fuzhou from one aspect.In contemporary times,Huang Rongchun,over a dozen years,trod different mountains in Fuzhou to visit the stone inscriptions and recorded them efficiently,which is a convenience for later people to have a careful study of Fuzhou stone inscriptions and obtain more effective information about the cultural and literary development.With the aim of doing its bit to the study of Fuzhou stone inscriptions,the thesis,sorting out the development skeleton of Fuzhou stone inscriptions in Song Dynasty,has mainly analyzed the documentary and literary significance of them and also from them explored the activities of making friends of scholars at that time.Chapter one,including three parts,introduces the origination and development of Fuzhou stone inscriptions,its distribution and its classification in shaping and contents.This chapter aims to give an overall outline and an general introduction Fuzhou stone inscriptions in Song Dynasty.The origination and development of stone inscriptions often depend on the natural and cultural conditions of one place.Since the time when stone inscriptions sprang up in the Han and Tang Dynasties,they have become more and more popular.In particular,after Song Dynasty many literati and poets have been attracted to Fuzhou to chant and inscribe because of the development of economy and politics,the unification of culture as well as the easier access to many landscapes of mountains and waters and aged historic and cultural cities due to the convenience of landway and waterway transport.Chapter two gives a brief introduction of the documentary significance of Fuzhou stone inscriptions,and in order to have a more visualized study of them,the thesis compares them with the stone inscriptions in other places(Guilin).It is found that Fuzhou stone inscriptions have played the role of supplementing and correcting as for the missing and mistakes of the existent documents.The other discovery is the peculiarity of Fuzhou stone inscriptions as documents in terms of the their authors,contents and genres.But if with a careful study,you will find they cover all walks of life and thus they also possess the characteristic of the systematicness.At last,this chapter discusses the documentary significance of Fuzhou stone inscriptions.With a long history and inalterableness as well as open spreading ways,it is easy for later people to have a deep understanding of the history and culture of Fuzhou.In a word,the documentary significance of Fuzhou stone inscriptions lies in its indelibleness and irreplaceableness.Chapter three mainly focuses on the literary characteristic of stone inscriptions.As a special form of literature,it deserves to be treated equally as poems,ditties and odes.This chapter can be divided into three parts.In the first part,it discusses the basic constitution of literary contents of Fuzhou stone inscriptions in Song Dynasty.In terms of the number,autographs take the first place,and then is poem-inscribing,and then calligraphy follows.They make up the basic constitution of literary contents of Fuzhou stone inscriptions in Song Dynasty.In part two,according to the characteristics of scholars in Fuzhou,their literary production can be divided into three types(locals scholars,immigrant scholars and monks).Finally,the influence on literature of Fuzhou stone inscriptions in Song Dynasty is mentioned---they promoted the development of literature at that time.In chapter four,the gatherings of scholars in Song Dynasty are discussed with the analysis of the contents and authors of Fuzhou stone inscriptions.This chapter can be divided into three parts,respectively introducing the reasons for the gatherings,the places and time of the gatherings and the groups who came to the activities.The activities of making friends are a very important aspect to study the literature in Song Dynasty,through which the daily life of scholars in Song Dynasty can be explored,which paves the way to have a better study of the literature in Song Dynasty.