The Relationship Between "Qixiang" Theories In Song Dynasty And Neo-Confucianism In Tang And Song Dynasty

The reason why the word "Qixiang" could become a literary theory term was inseparable from the promotion of it by Neo-Confucianism in Tang and Song dynasty.During the middle Tang Dynasty,Han Yu,the pioneer of Neo-Confucianism in Tang and Song dynasty,took the lead in introducing the term "Qixiang" into the narrative of literary history.Han Yu’s innovation in the term "Qixiang" was based on his"Wenqi" theory.Han Yu’s "Wenqi" theory embodied a strong tendency of literary retroism,but at the same time emphasized the importance of authors’ personal cultivation to literary creation.His theory was obtained in the literary "Qixiang"theory of Song Dynasty and got development.The origin in ancient divination of the word "Qixiang" was a possible reason for the prevalence of the "Qixiang" of poetry prophecy theory in Song Dynasty’s notes.However,Neo-Confucianism scholars of Song dynasty did not regard the "Qixiang" embodied in literary works as the omen of their authors’ destiny,instead they regarded changing the "Qixiang" of words as an important self-cultivation course,what’s more,Zhu Xi associated the poets’ characters with his evaluation of the value of their poetry,and praised the poems with the"Qixiang" which was closed to Dao.The Neo-Confucianism scholars of Song Dynasty valued philosophy more than exegesis and etymology.The Neo-Confucianism scholars of Song Dynasty,represented by the Chengs and Zhu Xi,used the "Qixiang of the sages" as a spiritual guide.They did not stick to the old sayings or prejudice of the contemporaries,so they had unique and reasonable interpretations on Shijing,and these interpretations contained the will of pursuing the ancient sages’ way of cultivating people.