During the Jian 'an period at the end of Han Dynasty, the literary giants "Three Caos" (Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi), "Seven Sons" (Kong Rong, Chen Lin, RoyceWong, Xu Gan, Ruan Yu, Angelababy, Serina Liu) and the poetess Cai Yan inherited the realistic tradition of folk songs in Han Yuefu, and generally adopted the five-character style, which was famous for being vigorous and generous. No matter "Cao Shi and his son" or "Jian 'an seven sons", they all lived in the land of Heluo for a long time, and this handsome and vigorous style is closely related to Heluo culture.
"Style" is an important concept in the history of China's literary criticism, which has been the main standard of literary criticism since the Southern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty.
For example, Cao Zhi's poems are not only gorgeous, but also harmless to the character. Therefore, when people advocate Jian 'an character, they not only affirm its character, but also affirm the combination of its character and algae decoration. Therefore, from the Southern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, people who advocated Jian 'an style, despite their different views, basically pointed to some shortcomings in the literary world at that time, such as too flowery rhetoric, too difficult words, weak style of writing, empty or complicated content, dark feelings and so on. , and asked the works to be lively, full of content, full of emotion, distinctive and vigorous style, which played a beneficial role in the history of literature.
Literary works in Jian 'an period, especially poems, are the most prominent. Jian 'an Poetry is developed on the basis of the Han Yuefu and Ancient Poems, and these works show the spirit of the times. "Cao Shi and his son" are the leading figures in Jian 'an literary world, and Cao Cao's poems are deep, generous and vigorous. Cao Pi gets along well with the scribes. When Wang Shen died, he led all the scribes to the funeral and said, "Wang Shen liked to listen to donkeys before his death, so we all asked him to see him off." So a donkey barked at the grave. The author of Ge Yanxing, the earliest existing seven-character metrical poem; Cao Zhi's literary achievements are the highest. He is brilliant in literary talent, gorgeous in rhetoric and good at using metaphors. Therefore, he has an artistic style of "extremely high personality and adopting Chinese words". His "Ode to the Goddess of Luo" is a masterpiece through the ages, which depicts the peerless beauty and innocent image in the Ode to the Goddess of Luo with refined language and sincere feelings. Among the "Seven Scholars", Wang Shen has the highest achievement, and his masterpiece Seven Wounded Poems is a true portrayal of the war and turmoil in the late Han Dynasty.
Although the literary works in Jian 'an period also paid attention to rhetoric and literary talent, they still maintained the true colors of Yuefu folk songs, unlike some later literati poems that pursued rhetoric excessively. In addition, Liu Xie also emphasized that the good combination of rhetoric modification and character is the best part of the article.
Due to the social unrest and years of war at the end of the Han Dynasty, the literati in this period had both political ideals and ambitions, as well as pragmatic spirit, open-minded attitude and resilience. They are no longer bound by Confucianism and show distinct personalities. The writers of Jian 'an, who are centered on Cao Shi and his son, are characterized by lofty political ideals, short lament, strong personality and strong tragic color in their literary works, all of which constitute the era style of "Jian 'an style".
During the Qi and Liang Dynasties in the Southern Dynasties, Liu Xie commented on the style of Jian 'an poetry in the late Han Dynasty as "elegant and generous, easy to escape from the world, evil customs and resentment, deep ambition and long pen, outline and rich spirit." (Wen Xin Diao Long Time Series)