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BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHINESE LITERATURE NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY NO.28
Publication date： 2017-12
Special Article Writing on Landmarks: From Yellow Crane Tower to Phoenix Terrace
This paper begins with a close reading of Li Bai’s “Ascending Phoenix Terrace in Jinling” to explore his varied responses to Cui Hao’s “Yellow Crane Tower.” Tracing a series of poems related to the same subject, it examines the poetic practice of writing about scenic spots or landmark sites during the Tang dynasty, with reference to the literary discourse on this practice and other pertinent topics. First, the literary community of the time seems to have reached a consensus that one poet is capable of making an exclusive claim to a landmark with one defining poem that, in retrospect, comes to shape how the very site is perceived and represented for generations to come. Therefore, questions arise: How is the phenomenon of “occupying a landmark site with one poem” made possible in the first place, and what are its implications and ramifications for literary practice and discourse? Second, once a landmark site is deemed to have been occupied by a precursor, what does this mean for the latecomers who are expected to continue to compose poems on the same site? Li Bai seeks to overcome his sense of belatedness and reverse his relationship with Cui Hao as his precursor through simulation, reappropriation, and rewriting, while composing his own poems on Yellow Crane Tower and other places. As a result, he participates in constructing what may be described as an “intertextual landscape,” which is by definition movable rather than permanently associated with a specific site, thereby deviating from the model of occasional poetry written on landmark sites. A strong poet, Li Bai manages to incorporate his precursor’s poem into the intertextual landscape by revealing the latter’s indebtedness to his own predecessor. Third, from Li Bai onward, a number of poets come up with their own strategies to cope with their belatedness in writing on the landmark sites. A critical survey of their deliberate responses allows us to further reflect on the premises of occasional poetry while reviewing a cluster of interrelated issues, including simulation and competition, experience and fiction, writing and materiality, and the occasional poems and their relationship with the physical sites they apparently take as their subjects.
The essay brings to the fore the five bijis (notes) accomplished in Yuexi (Guangxi nowadays) during the Ming period, the Chi-Ya by Lu Kuang, the Jiaonan Suoji by Jun Wei, the Junzitang Ri Xun Shoujing by Ji Wang, the Guangzhiyi by Shixing Wang, and the Bai Yue Fengtu Ji by Zhaozhe Xie. Our focus lies equally on these bijis’ (notes) (the Chi-Ya above all) knowledge coverage, contextual environments, representation skills, and their influence on the readers. Such scrutiny helps to reconstruct the life experience of Yuexi local officials and travelers, and thereupon leads us to appreciate the literary significance in these bijis (notes). After scrutinizing such details as the depiction of the space, the people, and the natural wonders (of Yuexi), the essay further identifies the bijis’ (notes) contextual environments, knowledge-transmitting function, and also their writing modes. This is where we get to reevaluate knowledge and how “writing” can be viewed and to rethink the possibilities of literature research. Therefore, we believe that this essay may not only contribute to the study of the Southwestern literary sphere, but it may also reveal the knowledge-transmitting function and the long shrouded literary imagination behind the genre of bijis (notes).
Theme Thesis The Luster of Cultural Relics and the Immortal Pursuit: A Study of the Jinshi Poems by Weng Fanggang
The textual research of cultural relics came into fashion in the Qianlong and Jiaqing Periods, while Jinshi Poems were written massively under this background. These poems were criticized by the Disposition School and Yuan Mei, which is generally accepted in literary history research recently. This article discusses the Jinshi poems written by Weng Fanggang, after he finished the textual research on Jiuyau Stone in Guangzhou. It is noted that Weng’s written approach and method are deliberately distinguished from object-chanting poem (Yongwu poem) in order to develop a new object-subject relationship for poem writing, and to present a new framework of knowledge and literature. At that time, such kind of poems was widely written and appreciated by literati. This article believes that the Jinshi poem writing phenomenon had a bearing on the political influences discourse, and that the attendees completed their self-imagination through being involved in Jinshi poem activities. They created the discourse of pursuing immortality in the full glory of a peace era.
This article explores the significance of Hua Jing, literati “Pulu” (a way of registering/compiling documents) in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, on the “naturalist discourses” written by Zhou Zuo-ren. Hua Jing has inspired and influenced Zhou in his perception of the external things and his outlook on the world long before the introduction of the western natural history or biology which later also modify his way of thought. Hua Jing helps Zhou in his exploration of nature, inspiring him how to think outside the paradigm of classics about the objects of actual observation and how those things can be put down in writing. Moreover, this paper also touches on why Zhou compares “Pulu” with “the textual researches on names of things” kept on bookcases of the so called classicists – this involves Hua Jing in the application of his expounding ideological issues. Hua Jing as discussed in Zhou’s naturalist discourses in light of life issues as well as writing modes is thus linked up to new paradigm of morality, modern knowledge, and literary movements.
Confucianism is the main axis of Chinese culture where its core is comprised of moral philosophy. Thus we see that the concept of value consciousness plays a significant role when exploring Chinese culture. If we emphasize value consciousness and value activities as the standpoint of Confucianism, a Confucian personality can be structured as a source of Chinese culture. Chinese culture is a culture that places more emphasis on human being (ren) instead of on an object (wu), and one that the element of heaven (tian) would play a key role. It means that the Chinese not only stresses the aspect of human life but also on the force of heaven in the hope that one’s ideal can be fulfilled through the transcending power. This pattern of Confucian thought, in the traditional term, is called the Confucian thought on Heaven and Humanity (tiānrén sīxiǎng). This article aims to analyze the relationship between the Confucian moral philosophy and transcendence from the aspects of “xiàxué shàngdá” and “rényì nèizài”. It will be structured as follows. First, the ideal personality of the ancient Confucians will be analyzed and so as to explain the moral consciousness within this image. Second, there will be a discussion on the Confucian learning process with a transformation of what is learned into virtues. Finally, it can be seen that the belief of “xiàxué shàngdá” is built upon the value consciousness of a moral subject, which is the ancient Confucian scholars celebrate as the thought of “rényì nèizài”.
Zhouyitu is a wide collection of Yi-diagrams. Behind the mechanical structures of Yi-diagrams, a rich and profound philosophy is worthy of exploration and analysis. It is a common practice for Yi philosophers in Song Dynasty to formulate Gua-bian theories through different diagram patterns, and then focus on the development of arguments based on their views of Gua-bian. And Zhouyitu is no exception. Thus the present study focuses mainly on the investigation of Yi-diagrams related to Gua-bian in Zhouyitu. Gua-bian Tu- shuo collected in Zhouyitu include: “Xu-gua-tu,” “Ba-gua-tui-64-gua-tu,” “Qian-kunjiao-cheng-64-gua-tu,” “Ba-gua-sheng-64-gua-tu,” “Li-shi-6-gua-sheng-64-gua,” “Qian-kun-da-fu-mu-tu,” “Fu-gou-xiao-fu-mu-tu,” “Ba-gua-si-hua-tu,” “Shi-youba-bian-cheng-gua-tu.” By examining the relevant diagrams, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the major patterns of Gua-bian theories, clarify the significance of the development of Yi Tu-shuo in Song Dynasty, and establish the potential inheritance relationships among these diagrams.
Han Yuanzhen (1682-1751), an outstanding scholar of Ligu School, learns “principle (li)” from “material-force (qi),” and discusses “mind (xin)” based on “principle.” He has a clear theoretical standpoint, his argument with his fellow, Li Jian (1677-1727), is recorded in “Sameness or Differences between Human Nature and Animal Nature.” Their arguments are known as Huluo Debate, an important academic discussion in Korea. Through his studies on Confucianism, annotations of classics and historical texts, Han composes Survey on the Sameness and Differences of Zhu Xi’s Discourses (Zhuzi yanlun tongyikao). There are six volumes and thirty-nine categories in this book, which also includes Questions on Annotations of Analects of Confucius and Mencius (Lunmeng jizhu huowen). Since the doctrine of Zhu Xi covers an extensive range of knowledge, in this paper I mainly focus on the Four Books in order to analyze how Han Yuanzhen discusses Zhu Xi through Zhu’s letters, dicta, and annotations on classics. Zhu Xi’s academic achievement and lifelong thinking process will be further clarified through the studies of Han, who examines Zhu’s ideas with Zhu’s own texts, and even quotes Zhu’s words to compare with Lu Jiuyuan’s texts. These studies help readers to understand more about Zhu Xi’s thoughts among studies which distinguish between Philosophy of Principle (lixue) and Philosophy of Mind (xinxue), as well as Han School and Song School. And this further establishes the studies of Zhu Xi in Korea.
This essay re-evaluates the literary aestheticism and cultural ethics of Wang Guo-wei before 1911 in terms of his tragic vision. Living through the end stage of the Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, Wang Guo-wei’s outlook on life is regarded as tragic. But he seeks for transcendence against the turbulent social changes through re-reading traditional literature, and thus creates his own insight on tragedy. Wang performs many literary activities before 1911, which include commentaries on novels, poetry and Chinese opera scripts. The arguments and progression of his works will be fully discussed in this article. Wang sees the spirits of liberation in Dream of Red Mansions, points out the sublime created by conscious pain and suffering in Commentary on Songs of Ren-Jian, and finally in Opera history of Song and Yuan dynasty he celebrates the ethical values inherent in the tragic figures in action. As a result of his aesthetic response to modern age, his tragic insight opens a new realm of literary criticism. However, the aesthetic and philosophical exploration will be left unsustainable and his personal liberation unsatisfied if without the help of ethical or religious beliefs. Wang then turns to lyrics writing, the elliptical text and poetic metaphor leading to a new artistic realm of merging the East and the West in Commentary on Songs of Ren-Jian. As literature is after all not the equivalent of life, he seeks for resolution and makes another move from lyrics to Chinese opera studies, of which Wang as a pioneer proves his visual modernity and completes the development of his “tragic insight.” The trajectory from literary aestheticism to tragic ethics throughout the three phases of development also fashions him as an intelligentsia who brings to life the “three cardinal guides and the six disciplines” of the ancient China.
