There is conceptual confusion here. And this confusion is exactly the process of the evolution of poetic style in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which gradually changed from the big feelings of family and people's livelihood to the small personal mood of literati's revelry and seclusion.
This involves several words that are easily confusing: "Han and Wei style", "Wei and Jin style", "Jian'an style", "Wei and Jin style". People tend to confuse these two, but in fact they are inseparable in the inheritance and evolution of poetry style, but each has its own emphasis.
Chen Ziang proposed the concept of "Han and Wei style" in his "Preface to Xiu Bamboo":
It has been five hundred years since the right way of writing articles was abandoned. The style of the Han and Wei dynasties was not inherited from the Jin and Liu Song dynasties, but there are enough documents to understand the righteous style of the predecessors.
Obviously, in Chen Ziang's mind, the style of writing before the Jin Dynasty was the right way. And this period actually refers to the literature of the Han and Cao Wei periods. In fact, there are certain historical reasons for this. In the two Han Dynasties, literature (poetry and prose) was still in the hands of upper-class intellectuals. Following the function of the Book of Songs to govern the world through literature, poetry and prose must be mainly focused on discussing Tao (the way to govern a country). On the other hand, works that express personal feelings are all Yuefu works collected from folk, such as "Jiangnan" and so on. In other words, the upper-level function of poetry is state affairs, while the lower-level people's voices are plain and unpretentious because they are not decorated with words.
The unpretentious way of expression and rich thematic narration are the correct way of the article - this is still the case to this day. It is this style of poetry and prose of the Han and Wei dynasties that has been regarded as a model by literati of all dynasties in China.
However, we must also realize that simplicity in the Han and Wei dynasties is "clumsy" and "ancient", which means that the literary and artistic creation itself has not been promoted to the stage of rhetoric, rather than the intentional intention of the literati at the time of creation. . This is why after experiencing extremely rhetorical formalist styles such as parallel prose and Qi Liang style, no matter how great literati such as Chen Ziang, the Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty, Du Fu, and Ouyang Xiu corrected their writing style, it was difficult for the writing style to return to its original path.
Because rhetoric is also a necessary means of literature and art. Once this method was born in Cao Zhi's hands, it could never be eradicated. So we can only say "return to nature" and try to return to the most authentic state, and "truth" does not mean "clumsy". There is a difference.
This is the formal difference between "the style of Han and Wei" and "the style of Wei and Jin". Han is naturally simple and simple, while Jin has literary talent.
Literary rhetoric is just like the later oblique rhythm. Once it is produced, it will unintentionally affect creation. This is of course a kind of progress. We call for returning to nature and learning the style of the Han and Wei dynasties. In fact, we are against the excessive modification of Qi Liang style and parallel prose. Just like many people are against meter now. Is meter really bad? Of course not. If we want to oppose it, we can only oppose the abuse of meter. Rhythm itself is a rule for getting started with modern poetry, and it doesn't matter whether it's good or bad.
Those who don’t understand and object don’t need to care at all. These people are similar to the "Tai Xue Style" in the early Northern Song Dynasty, who went to the other extreme in order to oppose the "Xi Kun Style" that was later extended in the late Tang Dynasty. Opposing for the sake of opposing, but the things written in the end are equally dangerous and strange. This is a manifestation of excessive pursuit of authenticity.
Compared with the difficult and obscure "Xikun style" and the strange and strange "Taixue style", Bai Juyi's "Xiangshan style" is much better. It is easy to understand and not popular, so It became the largest poetry school in the early Northern Song Dynasty and directly affected the Japanese poetry world.
Therefore, the original intention of any form or style of writing is to develop and modify the previous style of writing. What we want to oppose are their overcorrections, and what we want to learn is only what they can apply The right path for today’s times.
"Jian'an style" actually refers to the literature of the Jian'an period. "Jian'an" is actually the fifth reign of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. In other words, no matter how powerful Cao Wei was in the world, this period was still the end of the Han Dynasty. However, the representative figures of the Jian'an period, the "Three Cao and Seven Sons", were basically all figures from the Cao Wei Group, except for one Kong Rong.
These ten people all contributed to the development of poetry, fu, and prose during this period. In the field of poetry, the Jian'an style was even more highly praised than the Han and Wei styles, because the poetry of the Han Dynasty, in addition to Yuefu, was similar to other styles. It's really inconspicuous compared to the period.
The poems of this period were concerned with society, enthusiastic about politics, and concerned about people's livelihood in content, and were vigorous, clear, and tragic in style. The format inherits the honesty and simplicity of the Han Dynasty and the ethereal thinking of the Jin Dynasty.
The reason why the subject confuses "Wei and Jin style" and "Wei and Jin style" is because of the evolution of poetic style in the Zhengshi period. "Zhengshi" is the reign name of Wei Emperor Cao Fang. During this period, the Sima family gradually became more powerful, and the conflict between the scholar group and the clan group they represented gradually became prominent. It’s time for the upper-class scholars and nobles to take sides. Most of the high-level literati were disciples or blood relatives of Cao Wei and were unwilling to serve the Sima family, but they had to face the Sima family's invitation. So during this period, many crazy literati appeared. Such as the famous "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove".
Nowadays, many people advocate the free and romantic "Wei and Jin style". In fact, those senior literati at that time were forced by the situation and had no choice but to do so. These people were taking drugs, drunk, having sex, running around naked, and they were all messing around, just to show off to the Sima family. The Sima family originally wanted to invite these high-ranking people to serve as officials out of stability, but it turned out that they were all lunatics. gave up.
This was the transitional period between Wei and Jin, so later generations called these unique styles of celebrities "Wei and Jin style" and "Wei and Jin style". If you are not very familiar with the history of poetry and literary development, In the eyes of many people, it is confused with the "Wei and Jin style".
The ideals of the high-level literati during this period were shattered. They no longer had the idea of ??running the country or making contributions, and they only wanted to survive in peace and seclusion. Thought determines style, so poetic style no longer pays attention to social and people's livelihood, but begins to pursue more personal pursuits - physical pursuits and spiritual pursuits.
In fact, from the "Han and Wei style" to the "Jian'an style", then to the "Wei and Jin style", and then to the "Zuo Si style", it went through the "Jian'an period" and the "Zhengshi period" ” and the “Taikang period” were the result of changes in political rights in different eras.
In the end, under the precarious political ecology of literati and the popularity of rhetorical styles, the poetry styles of Song, Qi, Liang and Chen in the Southern and Northern Dynasties gradually gave up their focus on the feelings of family and country, and entered into metaphysically empty and decadent poetic expressions. direction. Later development mainly focused on the changes in phonology, from "Yongming style" to "Gong style", that is, "Qiliang style", which laid the formal foundation for the flat and oblique rhythms of Tang poetry.
The poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty inherited and developed the palace style in form, imitated the "style of Han and Wei Dynasties" in writing, and incorporated the enterprising imagery of the Tang Dynasty, finally achieving the most glorious Feige of the prosperous age in the history of Chinese poetry.