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New Space and New Writing

New Space and New Writing. The opening up of new space anticipated a new kind of writing that encompassed phenomena of larger world Writing no longer focused on classics, philosophy, and historiography

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New Space and New Writing

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  1. New Space and New Writing • The opening up of new space anticipated a new kind of writing that encompassed phenomena of larger world • Writing no longer focused on classics, philosophy, and historiography • Literati created a more autonomous “aesthetic” realm paralleling the emergence of new spaces:

  2. These new spaces were: • Taverns and pavilions for “pure conversation” and poetry gathering • Buddhist and Daoist temples • Large gardens and villas in new cities and in the hills and mountains • Hermits’ dwellings in wilderness and caves

  3. New writing went beyond classics, philosophy, and historiography • It now expanded to encompass mysteries, legends, life and death, natural and supernatural worlds… • Impacts of Buddhism and Daoism were clear in both intellectual discourse and fictional writing: • Intellectual discourse: “Dark Studies” • Fictional writing: “Anomaly account” or “Account of Anomalies”

  4. Influence of Early Daoism • “Dark Studies” (or “Mysterious Studies) featured ideas and themes found in early Confucian and Daoist texts: • The Canon of Change (Yi jing) • The Canon of Way and Power (Daode jing) • The Master Zhuang (Zhuang zi) • Debates over “Teaching of names” (mingjiao) vs. “Nature” (ziran) figured most prominently • Participants: He Yan, Wang Bi, Guo Xiang, Zhong Hui, Ruan Ji, and Xi (Ji) Kang • Contributed to the “pure conversation” movement

  5. Intellectual discourse focused on the relations between “names and forms”, “nothingness (nonentities) and entities”, “character and talent.” • It reflected conflict between Confucian view that stresses the existence of a moral heaven and the early Daoist (Zhuangzi’s) view of an amoral heaven • Zhuangzi’s views on “inaction” (no purposive action, wu wei), “nature and spontaneity”, and “inadequacy of language” gained currency • Intellectuals used Lao-Zhuang to interpret Confucianism, e.g., Confucius “embodied” nothingness and stressed the importance of “nature”, “naturalness,” and “spontaneity”.

  6. Terminology used in the “Dark Studies” • “Wu”—nothingness, nonbeing, or negativity • Wang Bi: “Wu” is the ultimate basis of reality, prior to and above Confucian moral heaven. • “Wu” lies beyond the reach of images or language in the realm of the “mysterious” or “dark” • “Wu wei”—action based on the principle of non-action, i.e., nonpurposive action, particularly when a ruler rules a state

  7. “Perfected Man,” “Great Man”---people who refused public, political service and work toward self-perfection by living a life that • appreciates the beauties of nature and of simplicity and spontaneity, • enjoys wine and music when going on excursion to the hills and streams • “Ziran”(self-so)—”nature” means the union or integration of natural world and humankind into a purposeless and amoral state

  8. Anomaly account • Referred to as zhiguai, with the following characteristics: • Biographical, • Strange/unusual objects, • bizarre and fantastic events: • Daoist fights Demon • Buddhist wonder-working • return-to-life” stories • Buddhist magic • portents and auguries

  9. ghosts, spirits • Sex and marriage with ghost spirit: • Lu Chong weds a deceased woman who gives birth to his son • Necromantic practices: • Communications and interactions with immortals, sprits of dead including female spirits, animal spirits, etc. • Types of Stories • Two most common types • Ghost stories: dead persons manage to cross the boundary betweenthe human world (yang) and the nether (yin) world • Return-from-death: living persons at the near death stage manage to negotiate the difficult crossing and return alive from the world of the dead.

  10. The Emergence of New Poetic Writing: New Form and New Content [明]馬軾：《歸去來兮圖》

  11. Chinese Poetic Tradition • Pre-Qin: two traditions • The northern tradition: The Book of Poetry (Odes) • The southern tradition: The Chuci (or Ch’u-tz’u) • Han: Fu and Yuefu • Fu (epideictic rhapsody or rhymed-prose) • Zuo Si, “Three Capitals Rhapsody” • Lu Ji “Rhapsody on Literature” • Yuefu (Music Bureau) ballads • “Southeast the Peacock Flies” • The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry

  12. YuefuBallads • Han and Wei • Five-character shi (shih) poetry became the favorite vehicle for lyric expression • “Nineteen Old Poems of the Han” • poets:CaoCao,CaoZhi,SevenMastersofJian’an • Jin • “Ziye” songs, • “wanderingwithimmortals”

  13. Selections from the Book of Songs 將仲子 將仲子兮，無踰我里 無折我樹杞，豈敢愛之 畏我父母，仲可懷也 父母之言，亦可畏也 將仲子兮，無踰我牆 無折我樹桑，豈敢愛之 畏我諸兄，仲可懷也 諸兄之言，亦可畏也 將仲子兮，無踰我園 無折我樹檀，豈敢愛之 人之多言，仲可懷也 人之多言，亦可畏也 鄭風 Jiang Zhongzi Please Zhongzi Do not climb into our hamlet Do not break our willow tree It’s not that I begrudge the willows But I fear my father and mother You, I would embrace But my parents’ words— Those I dread Please Zhongzi Do not leap over our wall Do not break our mulberry trees It’s not that I begrudge the mulberries But I fear my brothers You, I would embrace…

  14. Song of the Great Wind--Liu Bang (256-195 BC) • A great wind arose, • the clouds flew up and away; • My majesty now grown to the sea’s edges • I return to my old home. • Yet where shall I find brave men to guard • the four quarters?

  15. Song of Gaixia (202BC): Farewell, Lady Yu! • My strength plucked up the hills • My might shadowed the world • But the times were against me • And Dapple runs no more • When Dapple runs no more, • What then can I do? • Ah!Yu, my Yu! • What will your fate be?

  16. Northern Ballad:“PrinceLangyeSong” • Ijustboughtafive-footsword, • FromthecentralpillarIhangit. • Istrokeitthreetimesaday— • Betterbyfarthanamaidoffifteen. • 新買五尺刀， • 懸著中梁柱。 • 一日三摩娑， • 劇於十五女。

  17. SouthernBallad:Ziye song • …. • Iheldmydress,nottyingthesash; • Ipaintedmybrowsandwenttothewindows. • Mygauzeskirtiseasilywhirledbythebreeze— • Ifitopensabit,justblamethespringwind. • …. • …. • 攬裙未結帶， • 約眉出前窗。 • 羅裳易飄颺， • 小開罵春風。 • …

  18. AncientPoems • Seven Worthies of Bamboo Grove • RuanJi • Xi(Ji) Kang • Tao Qian (Yuanming) • The most widely admired of the early Chinese poet • Creator of the Chinese Shangri-la—the PeachBlossom Spring • Characteristics of poems during this time • Sang personal feelings in response to events of one’s own life • Conveyed personal thoughts about human condition

  19. Reflected on a variety of human sorrow or frailty • Frailty of human body • Fleeting life and ineluctable death • Appreciated the beauties of nature and lamented the fading of things and the transience of life • Paid attention to the signs of human mortality

  20. RuanJi’sPoem • Hibiscusovergrowsthegravemounds, • Sparklinginlustrousshades. • Butwhenthebrightsunsinksintheforest, • Itspetalsfalltotheroadside. • Cricketschirpbydoorsandwindows, • 木槿榮丘墓， • 煌煌有光色。 • 白日頹林中， • 翩翩零路側。 • 蟋蟀吟戶牖。

  21. Cicadashumamidstthebrambles. • Mayfliesplayforonlythreemornings, • Yettheypreenthemselves,workingtheirwings. • Forwhomdotheydisplaytheirfinery, • Flyingupanddown,sprucingthemselvesup? • Howshortlifeis, • Buteverything,fullorardor,laborson. • 蟪蛄鳴荊棘。 • 蜉蝣玩三朝， • 採採修羽翼。 • 衣裳為誰施， • 俛仰自收拭。 • 生命幾何時， • 慷慨各努力。

  22. Tao Yuanming • Tao Yuanming (365-427) • A Confucian scholar and poet who was well-versed in Daoist philosophy • Served as a local officials but never held any post very long • Quit his post because he couldn't “for five pecks of rice bow before a village buffoon.” “Buffoon” was used to ridicule a local inspector, his superior. • Regarded as the “patriarch of the poets of reclusion”

  23. Poems are plain, unadorned but deep and often philosophical; representative of “pastoral poetry” • Many of his poems are tinged with Daoist sentiment

  24. Recurrent Themes of Tao’s Poetry • Life is fleeting, death is ineluctable • “The Three Sovereigns, the great sages of old • Where are they today? • Pengzu loved longevity, • Wanted to stay longer but it couldn’t be. • Old ad young alike die a single death • Wise and foolish are not allotted different fates.” • (“Substance, Shadow, and spirit: spirit expounds”)

  25. Fleeting life, ineluctable death--- • “They’re dead and gone, none of them left! • In one generation both court and city change. • … • Man’s life is a phantom affair • And he returns at last to the empty void.” • (“Return to My Home, no.4”) • “As a boy in braids, I held to my own odd ways, • Then before I knew it I was over forty. • My body must go where the course of change takes it, • But the spirit within me will always be at peace.” • (“…we had a fire”)

  26. Fleeting life…. • “why do we value this body of ours? • Isn’t it because we have just one life? • And this one lifetime—how long will it last? • It shoots by like a bolt of lightning!” • (“Drinking Wine, no.3”) • “Or should I be like gentlemen of our time, • hearts filled with hopes that clash like ice and fire, • who, their hundred years ended, gone to tall graves, • find they have won themselves only empty names?” • (“poems without category, no.4”)

  27. Fleeting life • …. • Long ago, men in search of fame and honor • fought valiantly with each other over this ground • but then their hundred years one morning ended, • And together they went home to the northern hills. • Now people have cut the pine and cypress on their graves; • only the tall mounds remain, dipping and rising side by side. • The graves wash away, no heirs to tend them; • And their wondering ghosts---where have they gone? • Wealth and glory---no doubt, worth prizing; • At the same time, a cause for sorrow and pain. • (“imitating the Old Poems, no. 4”)

  28. “Returning to My Home in the Country, no. 1” by Tao Qian (365-427) • In youth I couldn’t sing to the common tune • It was my nature to love the mountains and hills. • By mistake I got caught in the dusty snare • Went away once and stayed thirteen years. • The winging bird longs for its old woods; • The fish in the pond thinks of the deeps it once knew. • I have opened up some waste land by the southern fields • Stupid as ever, I’ve come home to the country • My house and land on a two-acre lot, • My house plot measures ten mu or more Tao Yuanming by Ming Painter Wang Zhongyu

  29. A grass roof covering eight or nine spans • Elm and willow shade the back eaves, • Peach and damson ranged in front of the hall. • Dim dim, a village of distant neighbors; • drifting drifting, the smoke from settlements • A dog barks in deep lanes, • Chickens call from tops of mulberry trees. • Around my door and courtyard, no dust and clutter, • In my empty rooms, leisure enough to spare. • After so long in that cage of mine, • I’ve come back to things as they are.

  30. Poetry and Language • New generation of poets introduced the new system of tonal prosody • Poetic(prosodic)rules began to include“four tones”: level (píng 平),rising(shàng 上),parting(qù 去),entering(rù 入)and“eightprohibitions/faults” • Fourtoneswereclassified intotwocategorieslater:level(píng 平),oblique(zè 仄) • InterestintonalpatternsreflectedtheinfluencesofIndianliteratureandBuddhism

  31. Calligraphy • Calligraphyrosetobecometheleadingvisualart. • Literatiwithgreatcalligraphicskillcouldcommandrespect. • Thedevelopmentofcalligraphicartresultedintheemergenceofnewscripts:running-handandcursivescripts,whichsimplifiedmanyChinesecharacters. • Calligraphictheorytiedthebeauty/uglinesstohumancharacters.

  32. Calligraphicartbecameanimportantsubjectinliterati’sdiscourseandcalligraphictheory.Calligraphicartbecameanimportantsubjectinliterati’sdiscourseandcalligraphictheory. • Questionsregardingcopiesandforgerieswereraised. • Fraud(wèi )andGenuineness(zhēn)becamecriteriaforevaluatingcalligraphicworks. • Wang Xizhi (303-361) • Canonized as the “sage” of Chinese calligraphy • Calligraphic works were characterized in a model of the “running mode” script.

  33. Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy

  34. ProseNarrative • History—aboominhistoricalwritingappeared:dynastichistoriesandlocalhistories • Dynastichistories: • ChenShou,RecordsoftheThreeKingdoms • ShenYue,BookoftheSongDynasty • XiaoZixian,BookoftheSouthernQi • Localhistories: • RecordoftheStatesSouthofMt.Hua • Hagiographies: • Biographies of Eminent Monks

  35. Temple records • Record of the Buddhist Temples of Luoyang • Collections of Anecdotes • Forest of Conversations • New Account of Tales of the World • “Anomaly account”/ “Account of Anomalies”. • Referred to as zhiguai, with the following characteristics: • Biographical • Strange/unusual objects • Bizarre and fantastic events: • Daoist fights Demon • Buddhist wonder-working—”return-to-life” stories • Buddhist magic

  36. Writers fascinated with the anomalous created stories to teach moral lessons, despite their acknowledgement of Confucius’ advice: • “The master never talked of prodigies, feats of abnormal strength, natural disorders, or spirits” • Most writers were southerners who used the benefits of space expansion in the south to give free rein to their imagination about a fantastic, boundless nature, cosmos, and myriad creatures

  37. Paintings • Painting: Gu Kaizhi (or Ku K’ai-chih, ca.344-406) • The only work extant, “Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies,” reflects the Confucian content of the painting. • Known as specialized in “figure painting”.

  38. Gu Kaizhi’s Painting

  39. 洛神赋图 Goddess of the River Luo

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