The development of literature is a concrete manifestation of cultural development. Chen Yinke believes that Chinese culture reached its peak in the Zhao and Song Dynasties and is the "fundamental foundation" of Chinese culture. He even believed: "I dare not judge where it will end in the future. We can only sum it up in one word: the revival of Song Dynasty scholarship, or the establishment of New Song Dynasty." Is this what today's "New Confucianism" is diligently pursuing? This can be seen from this the influence of the "fundamental roots" of Song Dynasty studies on modern times.
Volume 1 of Wang Fuzhi's "Lun of the Song Dynasty" discusses how Taizu of the Song Dynasty ruled the world for hundreds of years. The original reason was that compared with the entrepreneurial emperors, he had no meritorious achievements and was quite fearful:
Once you stand on it, it will never last forever. The power is not strong, so one dares not use military power to rob people far away; the hope is not good, so one dare not punish the barbarians; the one who has not learned early, so one dare not underestimate the Confucianism with wisdom; the kindness is not harmonious, so one dare not be harsh The law supervises the officials and the people. Fear breeds prudence, prudence breeds frugality, frugality breeds kindness, kindness breeds harmony, and harmony breeds literature.
The civil governance of Song Dynasty was really driven by worries. But Wang Euzhi went on to point out: "Of course, there is still a way to win. Without heroic merit, one can avoid self-destruction, and without accumulated benevolence, one cannot avoid self-destruction." The Song people's spirit of seeking self-reliance and seeking change is embedded in it! The so-called spirit of self-reliance, that is, Wang Fu's "seeking for others", in terms of its cultural connotation, is the movement that started in the Mid-Tang Dynasty to "repulse the barbarians" and promote China's own culture, which was full of "Hu Qi" from the Six Dynasties to the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The backlash of outward-looking multiculturalism. Tang Junyi said: "The spirit of the Chinese nation transcended purification during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and became full of talent, emotion, and spirit during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. By the Song and Ming dynasties, the talent and emotion had become restrained." Convergence was exactly the introverted Song Dynasty that "returned to blandness from splendor." Characteristics of culture. This is the key to the luck and misfortune of China's cultural transformation.
The unique and profound aesthetic consciousness of the Song Dynasty was cultivated by its cultural soil and bred by its cultural spirit. After organic integration and melting, it produced a specific aesthetic form, style and flavor, and then became a cultural Type aesthetics is different from the Tang aesthetics of the previous generation. Song culture influenced the formation, expression and state of aesthetics in many aspects as follows.
The changes in the status of literati in the Song Dynasty. The literati and officials of the Song Dynasty had a very comfortable material life and lived a prosperous life. Promoted the development of culture.
The poems of the Northern Song Dynasty talk about the Six Dynasties, and their themes are nothing but prosperity and failure, and the sense of rise and fall. The Northern Song Dynasty was poor and weak yet extravagant and generous, so the poet's rebuke of the extravagant style of the Six Dynasties contains a realistic metaphorical meaning. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the mountains and rivers were broken, the Six Dynasties reappeared as a memory object, and the poet's emotions tended to be sad and desolate. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the division between the north and the south became a long-term fact, and there was no hope for ZTE. However, the powerful Wen Tian and Wu Xi did not think about the war of resistance and regarded Hangzhou as Bianzhou. In such a social background and psychological state, the feelings about the Six Dynasties are even more different, deeper and broader. All the connecting points between the Six Dynasties and the Southern Song Dynasty have been unearthed, and it has almost become a poetic history of the Six Dynasties, and the historical memories of the Six Dynasties are entrusted with fiery emotions.
The Song Dynasty had a strong history-making atmosphere, and a number of famous historians and famous historical works appeared, some of which were among the first-class historiography in the past dynasties. Ouyang Fa, the son of Ouyang Xiu, said in "Collection of Ouyang Wenzhong Gong·Deeds": "He paid special attention to the History of the Five Dynasties. He praised good and evil, praised good and evil, and was precise in his methods. His comments must be made with the word "Woo Hu", saying: "This is a book of troubled times. Also. '" The most wonderful biographical prefaces in the book, such as "Preface to "Yixing Biography"", greatly praise and emphasize the loyalty and integrity of ministers. This is the value of Ouyang Xiu's historical thought and the core of the historical thought of the Song Dynasty. There is a reason why the sense of loyalty and integrity was so strong in the Song Dynasty, especially during the transition between the two Song Dynasties and the death of the Song Dynasty. Another example is the "Preface to "The Biography of Ling Guan"", which draws extremely important and profound lessons from the historical facts of the sudden rise and fall of Zhuangzong of the Tang Dynasty after the Five Dynasties. Its rise is rapid and its decline is sudden. When it rises, it cannot be contested; when it declines, it is hard to resist. The prosperity lies in "worry and labor" and the decline lies in "ease and comfort". The key point is here. This is not only for the Five Dynasties, but also applies to all dynasties and all generations, with a strong sense of worry and rare historical depth. This became a concentrated expression of the historical spirit of the Song Dynasty.
As a complete concept and proposition, "Zizhi Tongjian" reflects the historical awareness of the Song people. The Song people attached great importance to the influence of historical culture on reality. Therefore, in the literary aesthetic category of the Song Dynasty, chanting The stock of epic poems is particularly rich, involving many historical figures and events since the pre-Qin Dynasty. Among the poems dedicated to Wang Zhaojun, there are two pieces of "Ming Fei Song" by Wang Anshi, as well as poems by Mei Yaochen, Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang, Liu Chang and others. In poetry, Wang Anshi's achievements are the highest.
Argumentative style
The thinking of Song people was speculative, and the philosophy they created was speculative philosophy. This gave birth to their habit of talking. Song people like to be teachers, like to give advice, speak, comment, and talk endlessly. On this point, the people of Song Dynasty were indeed different from the emotional descriptions of people in Tang Dynasty. Small words clarify the big meaning, and images trigger philosophy. This is determined by the overall speculative structure.
Song people are thoughtful and thoughtful. Since we take the Taoist in form as the guide, we will not be satisfied with the description of the person in form. We often start from the physical object, and then improve it to reach the physical way. Therefore, "vessel" is the borrowed object, and "Tao" truly becomes the target of discussion. "Instrument" is the cause and tool, and "Tao" is the destination and essence. It may inspire the philosophy of life, or state the essence of the universe. Not satisfied with the superficial "image", but constantly exploring the "meaning", formed the thinking line and model of the Song people. In this way, the Song Dynasty opened up a new era of examination and speculation.
From the perspective of cultural customs, the people of the Song Dynasty were quite strategist-like. The spiritual leaders and cultural elites of the Song Dynasty took the lead in the trend, and the entire cultural and spiritual field was filled with the habit of discussion, becoming a spiritual phenomenon of the era. This naturally affects literature and aesthetics. Poetry is one of them, forming the most argumentative and philosophical features of the poetic aesthetic style of the Song Dynasty. The same is true for Song prose. This does not include articles that are purely argumentative, but articles that use a specific object to express a certain philosophy of life, life, and the universe. In this way, the object is concrete, but what is evoked is an abstract principle. When people in the Song Dynasty expressed their opinions, they often included realistic intentions in their practicality, speaking from their feelings and aiming at realistic goals.
Different thinking
People in the Song Dynasty thought differently. They had their own unique insights and opinions and would never easily agree with their predecessors or contemporary people. The pursuit of different thinking makes them original. Their views and opinions on people, things and even national affairs are always different, and they have their own unique vision, observation point and analysis method.
This is the cultural and philosophical spirit of the Song Dynasty formed from doubts and questions about traditional Confucian classics. The so-called traditional Confucian classics is exactly what is called Hanxue. Songxue with its own unique form and connotation was established and formed out of doubts about Sinology. It started from anti-tradition, that is, doubting the past. "Doubt" and "doubt" are the starting point and basic point of his thinking. Because of the different objects of doubt, it can be divided into two schools: one is the school that doubts the biography, and the other is the school that doubts the scriptures. There is a tendency to go deeper. In the cultural atmosphere of negativity and skepticism, the field of aesthetics has also been influenced by it.