Judging from the history of China literature, China's literature also has aesthetic pursuit, but neither the theorist nor the author of China's literature ever thought that literature was for aesthetics and literature, but regarded literature as a way and means of survival, mostly with obvious utilitarian purpose. Therefore, China literature has formed the essential characteristics of life. This is mainly manifested in the following aspects:
First, seek officials by writing. China has a tradition of seeking officials by writing since ancient times. Strategists in the Warring States period lobbied the monarch to explain his political and diplomatic views in order to seek status. Lobbying words were written into articles on the Warring States Policy. At that time, many military strategists did not express their opinions to the monarch, but lobbied the monarch through letters. Such as "Qin Ce Yi" contains Su Qin's "Saying that the book of the king of Qin was written in ten and said nothing". As can be seen from the Warring States letters unearthed at Mawangdui, Su Qin's lobbying was basically conducted in the form of the above-mentioned books. In the Han Dynasty, Sima Xiangru got to know Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty because of Zi Xufu, and it was not uncommon for him to write fu for promotion. Influenced by the taste of the gentry in the Six Dynasties, emperors in all previous dynasties loved literature, so there were not a few who offered poems and fu for their official career. For example, Bao Zhao wrote a poem about Liu Yiqing, saying, "Looking for an assistant minister in a country was very appreciated and moved to Moling." As a result, "learning to be excellent is an official" has evolved into "writing to be excellent is an official".
Since the Sui Dynasty, the imperial examination system selected officials through poems, which led to the behavior of scholars preparing for exams with poems. For example, Bai Juyi's Preface to Forest Planning says to take the initiative. He and Yuan Zhen used to "think behind closed doors and construct seventy-five strategies" in Huayang Temple. After the Tang Dynasty, this kind of preparatory behavior became more common. "A Selection of Stones" states: "Each student union will have three days of classes, one poem and one poem on three days. There will be a private test in March, the first test at the beginning of the season and the first test in one day. Successful candidates will exceed five applicants. " Yuan Zaju contains the anonymous Living together of Zhang Gongyi IX, in which Yun Zhangkuang gave a speech. Gong Guanyun said, "Can you recite poems when you come to give a speech?" Zhang Kuangyun: "I can recite poems and give lectures." It can be seen that teaching by poetry is also a common phenomenon in the Yuan Dynasty. In the Qing dynasty, this situation of taking poetry as a class at ordinary times remained unchanged. For example, "Zeng Guofan's Collected Works and Tutorial Articles" said that "men in the family must give lectures that year, study as usual every day, and eat and live as usual".
Second, take poetry as an official. In ancient China, the literati were active in the society as officials, so their duty was to give advice to the emperors, praise them with literature, satirize them and educate them. In the ancient literary style of China, it is essential for officials to write administrative documents, such as playing, discussing, writing chapters, books, tables and so on. The canon, ink, letters patent, precept, oath and destiny in Shangshu are all written by historians. The writing of Hundred Schools of Spring and Autumn Annals, Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu is also the responsibility of historians. In the Warring States period, various schools of thought, such as The Book of Shang Jun and Guan Zi, were also written by officials. Tian Pian, Shen Dao, Xun Zi, Zou Yan and Chunyu Kun all went to the Palace of Qi State, and they were all "given the first place, fighting to see a doctor and not dying", and their creation was also an official act. Therefore, Zhang Xuecheng said, in the pre-Qin period, "characters were the main characters, starting from the division of officials and teachers and starting from the division of teaching".
Since Wei and Jin Dynasties, the functions of poetry and fu have shown a diversified trend, but officials have not forgotten the political functions of poetry and fu. For example, the Book of Jin said that "it is ironic to go to the county to offer poems." Bai Juyi advocated that "articles should be combined with the times, and poetry should be combined with things." For the monarch, for the minister, for the people, for things, for things, and not for writing, it is emphasized that poetry should "make up for the current politics." But Bai Juyi is not the only one who satirizes poetry. This tradition has been maintained since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. For example, Volume 479 of History of the Song Dynasty said that Ouyang Jiong of West Shu "tasted 50 satirical poems by Bai Juyi for his confession". "Ming History" Volume 285 Gao Qi "satirizes poetry". In the same book, Yuefu in the Ming Dynasty "played the songs of Aquilaria Resinatum, Shen You, Hanjiu, Luhuang and Poultry Huang", with a total of 39 chapters, which were called "Imperial Songs". Too many, too numerous to mention.
Third, communicate with poetry. Rites have the rules of "nothing should be answered" and "courtesy should be exchanged", so the Western Zhou Dynasty began to use poetry for interpersonal communication. Among Tsinghua University's bamboo slips, there is a bamboo slip "Night", which contains poems written by King Wu for the Duke of Zhou, as well as poems by the Duke of Zhou. Since the Han Dynasty, poetry has been widely used in people's interpersonal communication, and the poems of giving answers, giving questions and sending off have developed greatly on the basis of the pre-Qin period. In addition to sending peace, answering and saying goodbye, there are poems, offering peace, sending, paying, congratulating, mourning, delaying, asking, bowing, thanking and saying goodbye. This kind of poetry is nothing more than praising, encouraging, remembering, congratulating, mourning, asking, inviting, telling one's thoughts and feelings, or explaining a problem to a specific object. For example, Yuwen Shaofu gave Li Bai a peach and bamboo bookcase, and Li Bai thanked him for "giving Yuwen Shaofu a peach and bamboo bookcase". "White Tour of Taohuatan in Jingxian County, villager Wang Lun often makes white wine", and Li Bai wrote a poem "Give Wang Lun" as a thank you. After being demoted to Chenzhou, Liu Changqing wrote "Send to Chenzhou" to express his condolences. Meng Haoran's "Dongting Lake to Prime Minister Zhang" expressed his wish to be introduced by Zhang Jiuling. There are nearly 50,000 complete Tang poems, and there are about 30,000 such poems. There are more than 400 poems by Wang Wei, and there are more than 270 such poems, which shows the large number.
Fourth, entertain people with poetry. Entertainment with poetry existed in the pre-Qin period. For example, Song Yu's Gao and Goddess Fu are all works to entertain King Xiang of Chu. Many fu works in Han dynasty also have entertainment nature. Xuan Di, Emperor Gaozu, said: "Da Fu is synonymous with ancient poetry, while Xiao Fu talks about beauty. For example, female workers have charm, and music has Kevin·Z. Today, secular people are still afraid of words and ears. " After the Han Dynasty, it was also a fashion for literati to entertain themselves with poems. Tao Yuanming's Preface to Drinking Poems says that he "doesn't drink every night, and suddenly gets drunk when he is alone." There are too many questions about entertaining yourself after drunkenness. "Biography of Chen Shu Literature" contains Ruan Zhuo's "retreat to the inner room, build pavilions, build mountain ponds, attract guests and friends, and entertain himself with wine". History of the North has been published for four or five years. Liang You "likes to talk about chanting, often boating with court celebrities and entertaining himself with poetry and wine". Since then, in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the gathering, feasting and association of literati inevitably have to entertain each other with poems, resulting in a large number of banquets, offerings and singing.