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BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHINESE LITERATURE NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY NO.22
Publication date： 2014-12
Special Article Landscape Poetry As Self-Cultivation
“Shan-Shui” (landscape) poetry and “Xuan-Yen” (metaphysical) poetry are both derived from "Xuan-Xue" (Wei-Jin metaphysics). Landscape poetry celebrates the correspondences between and transformation of the subject and the landscape. This paper aims to examine the function of Chinese landscape poetry in practical philosophy with metaphysical terms like “Tuo-Qing,” “Zhen-Guan,” “Xing-Mei” and “Li-Gan.” Landscape poems written by Xie Ling-yun can be seen as the epitome and model of this genre, and will be used as examples in this paper. I will argue that landscape poetry involves an aesthetic self-cultivation. Since the writing of landscape poetry works as a part of the transformation of the subject, this adds an aesthetic sense to the originally religious term “self-cultivation.”
The book of Lao-tzu comprised just five thousand words; however, it had bountiful implications for “Dao”, which inspired numerous followers to diversify its philosophical conception. People in different ages, of different cultures, or with different academic characters had diverse understandings of and put distinct interpretations on the connotation of “Dao”. In the Han Dynasty, documents about Daoism often referred it to “Chi” (life energy) or “Shu” (art). In other words, scholars of the Han dynasty who advocated the pure nature of being, the supreme doctrine and the subtle perception of Dao would replace the term “Dao” with “Chi”. And scholars who valued the political statecraft would refer “Dao” to “Shu”; that is, the art of governance. However, there was another sect that transferred the philosophical Daoism into a religious practice. In this way, “Dao” became a commandment and Lao-tzu was divinized to be Taishang Laojun – the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord.
The “debate” between Wangwan and Qian Qianyi has been an important issue in the literary arena of the early Qing Dynasty, but it does not receive enough attention from scholars. Thus this paper calls for attention to this issue by arguing that the contradiction of literary conceptions between Wang and Qian, both important writers in the early Qing dynasty, reflects the development of the criticism of “classical prose”(古文) during that period. This paper is comprised of two parts. The first part will be concerned with the differences in literary concepts of Wangwan and Qian Qianyi. The second part is a response to the article by Aoki Masaru on their approaches to Gui Youguang’s “Classical Prose.” The essence of Wang’s “ancient prose” theories is “organization of writing” (文法), while that of Qian focuses on “temperament and education” (性情與學問). The critical difference between two is that Wang’s emphasis is on the composition itself, while Qian emphasizes the character of the author. Wang believes that an author with a good temperament and education may still not be able to write a good article, but Qian upholds the opposite. The theories of Qian Qianyi are built upon the critique of Neo Confucianism in the Southern Song Dynasty, but this very same theoretical system is celebrated by Wangwan and his “ancient prose system”(古文譜系). In Aoki Masaru’s opinion, although Wang and Qian both admire Gui Youguang’s “Classical Prose,” they take different approaches to Gui’s ‘Ancient Prose’. Based in Aoki Masaru’s point of view, I argue that Wang’s view inherits Gui’s “Classical Prose” through ‘Wen’(文) as Qian inherits it through ‘Dao’(道).
This paper aims to investigate the historical background and the aesthetic theories which influence Wang Meng-ou ‘s thoughts in Chinese abstract art during the 1950s by starting from analyzing Wang’s article “Abstract Conceptualization in Chinese Art.” This article is mainly about Chinese art, but there is also an introduction to the aesthetic insight of Alois Riegl(1858-1905), Adolf von Hilebrand(1847-1921), and Wilhelm Worringer(1881-1965). Wang picked up modern western aesthetic concepts while he was studying in Japan, and these concepts had an influence on his later writings. These theories also inspired modern Taiwanese paintings, and helped Wang establish his own style of aesthetics which is termed as Shenyou (fugue). Thus it is crucial to first understand these aesthetic theories before doing further examining into how Wang formed his own unique style by mixing Chinese and western aesthetic theories. Several ideas will thus be discussed in this paper: will to art (Kunstwollen), Alois Riegl’s idea of planarization and immobilization, Adolf von Hilebrand’s visual sense of forms (optisch ) and tactile reception(haptisch), empathy in art and Wilhelm Worringer’s “The urge to abstraction”. After examining these aesthetic concepts, it will be become clear how Wang’s ways of seeing and thinking about Chinese abstract art were formed.
As a result of the May Fourth Movement, Chinese literature began to be written in vernacular Chinese rather than classical Chinese. Thus during this period there was a shift in the stylistic paradigm of where scholars and writers began to be eager to experiment with different writing styles, and often seeking inspiration from foreign languages. In doing so, a refreshing new way of literary expression was developed. No matter if the literati originally intend to westernize Chinese or not, the Europeanizing (Westernizing) of the written vernacular Chinese still occurred. This westernizing of the vernacular Chinese produced a modern Chinese literature with a mixed quality. Professor Yu Kuang-chung is both an educator and writer, learned in both Chinese and English, who has experience in translating between the two languages. His decades of experience in the comparison of modern Chinese and English literature, has helped him for a perspective which is quite different from the usual parochial views. This paper aims to scrutinize Professor Yu’s Views and evaluation of Europeanization in modern Chinese by examining his own theoretical writings and how he puts them into practice. It turns out that what Professor Yu did in his earlier years was often contrary to his later works. This shows his later views were gradually formed through retrospective thought and practice. In this regard, his endeavors and efforts have become a significant point of reference for the development of modern Chinese.
It has come to be commonly recognized among the critics and reviewers that Shu Hsiang-Cheng (1921-1999) establishes the genre of native writing for the post-war Hong Kong. This paper attempts to investigate how Shu in his topographical writing of Shu depicts “home” and “homeland” and presents his native consciousness in the context of Hong Kong from the 1950s to the early 1960s. in Shu’s work, the idea of “native land” is neither left-winged nor right-winged, and this home land is a space where colonizers are absent. His works preserves and showcases the fundamental value of Hong Kong as “homeland” which the reader may confirm by themselves while reading them.
Many scholars and editors contributed to the project of the Explanatory Notes to the Five Classics in Tang Dynasty. The studies on the scholars and editors are however relatively scarce, because little historical records on them are available. To bridge the gap, this paper aims to look into the life of Ma Chia-Yun, one of the famous scholars who participated in the project, so as to provide a clearer picture of the Confucian studies in the beginning of Tang Dynasty. Firstly, certain historical records are drawn from New Book of Tang (Shin Tang Shu) and Book of Tang (Joe Tang Shu) and Retribution after Death (Ming Bao Gee) in order to piece together the life experiences of Ma Chia-Yun. Secondly, the time point where he critiqued Kong Yin-Da and his impact on the studies of the Explanatory Notes to the Five Classics are also examined. The result of the above studies would shed more light on the editing process of Explanatory Notes to the Five Classics in the 16th year of Zhenguan period and the history of the study of Confucian classics in Tang Dynasty.
