The ancient Chinese literature, which has a long history, developed into a new stage of all-round prosperity during the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. The entire literary world saw a hundred flowers blooming and a riot of colors unprecedented since the Warring States Period. Among them, the development of poetry has reached a highly mature golden age. In less than three hundred years of the Tang Dynasty, nearly 50,000 poems were left behind, which is more than two or three times more than the number of poems left in the sixteen or seven hundred years from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. There are about fifty or sixty famous poets with unique styles, which is much more than the total number of famous poets from the Warring States Period to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The achievements of Li Bai and Du Fu reached the peak of poetry creation. In terms of prose, due to the victory of the ancient prose movement, many new short prose such as biographies, travel notes, fables, and miscellanies were created. In terms of novels, there have also been many legendary works that broke the pattern of legendary novels of the Six Dynasties, were unique, witty, and rich in literary grace and imagination. In addition to the brilliant achievements of these previous generations in this period, popular speaking and singing genres such as Bianwen were widely circulated among the people; the lyrics were from folk to literati, from germination to maturity; and to the literature of later generations New developments have opened the way.
The formation of this unprecedented comprehensive prosperity of literature is, on the one hand, the result of the continuous development and transformation of literature itself, but more fundamentally, it is determined by the social foundation and historical conditions for the development of literature.
After nearly four hundred years of suffering from division and turmoil, the Sui and Tang Dynasties finally achieved the unification of the country that the people longed for. In order to consolidate their ruling position, the rulers of the Sui and Tang Dynasties had to expand their ruling base. In terms of policy, they had to take care of the interests of the small and medium-sized landlord class and limit the power of the wealthy gentry. Since the Sui Dynasty, the power of the gentry has gradually weakened, and the peasant uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty dealt a heavy blow to the gentry. The Sui and Tang Dynasties implemented the land equalization system, which allocated official land, ownerless land, and wasteland controlled by the state to some farmers who had no land or little land. There are also restrictions on the excessive possession of land by landlords and wealthy families. The land occupied by some wealthy families in excess of the limit has been confiscated, and some farmers have been transferred from the tribe of landlords and wealthy families to the government's equal land households. In the development of production, the manor-landlord economy of tenant farming gradually replaced the wealthy landlord economy of slave labor exploitation. With the implementation of the tax adjustment law, the burden of taxes and corvee has been reduced, the small and medium-sized landlord class has gradually risen, and the situation of the working people has also improved somewhat. In addition, with the reconstruction of clan records and the re-demarcation of households, the boundaries between scholars and common people have gradually disappeared, and wealthy families have gradually disappeared. The power of the gentry was declining day by day. Precisely because of this series of adjustments and changes in production relations, the country in the Tang Dynasty quickly became stronger. From Zhenguan to Kaiyuan for more than 100 years, agricultural and handicraft production continued to rise. During the Zhenguan period, a bucket of rice was worth three or four coins, which became a historical legend. In terms of handicraft industry, damask, ceramics, paper, metal products, etc. have all reached a very high level. Du Fu's poem "Recalling the Past" describes:
Recalling the heyday of Kaiyuan in the past, there are still thousands of families in the small town. The rice is dripping with fat and the corn is white, and both the public and private warehouses are abundant. There are no jackals and tigers on the roads of Kyushu, and the sunrise is auspicious for long journeys. Qi Wan and Lu's carriages are moving in shifts, and the men plowing the fields and the women mulching trees keep up with each other. …
At the height of the Tang Dynasty, its power extended to the Korean Peninsula in the northeast, Central Asia west of Congling in the northwest, Mongolia in the north, and Indochina in the south. It was the most powerful country in the world at that time. feudal empire. The unprecedented prosperity of the city also marked the development level of the feudal economy at that time. Chang'an City, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, was about 35.5 kilometers around. Its scale was so huge that it was rarely seen in the world at that time. The city has a population of more than 300,000 households. The commercial district of Nancheng is full of "didian" (hotels) and "shops" (shops), home to foreign businessmen from Central Asia, Persia, Asia and other countries. Chang'an has five roads leading to all parts of the country. The water route "bypasses Bahan and reaches Minyue", and "controls the river route and covers the Huaihai Sea". In addition to Chang'an, cities such as Luoyang, Yangzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Liangzhou are also very prosperous and prosperous. External transportation is also very developed, with three land routes leading to Central Asia and India: north, middle and south. On the waterway, Chinese ships can sail as far as the Red Sea, Indonesia, and Japan. At that time, all Asian countries had economic and cultural exchanges with China. North Korea, Japan, India, Central Asian countries and China have particularly close relations.
In order to expand the basis of their rule, the rulers of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, in addition to taking economic measures, also reversed the nine-rank Zhongzheng system that had protected the privileges of the gentry since the Wei and Jin Dynasties in terms of employment. Regular subjects and various other types of examinations are conducted to select officials. Many prime ministers and generals came from the imperial examination, which opened up a relatively broad way out for many middle- and lower-class landlord class literati and inspired their various fantasies about fame and career. In terms of religion and culture, the rulers of the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to the three schools of thought: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Confucianism and Taoism classics were listed as important contents of the imperial examinations. Buddhism was also promoted by Empress Wu, Xianzong, etc., and other religions and doctrines were also Not being excluded is also a very favorable condition for the active thinking of literati. The team of writers has expanded. Many writers come from the middle and lower landlord classes and have experienced varying degrees of hardship in life. They are more familiar with social conditions and people's lives than the upper-class literati of the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, and their thoughts, feelings and spiritual outlook are also better. Fuller and stronger than them. "Viewing hundreds of schools of thought", "having good words and overestimating the general strategy", and "liking to be free and independent" became the common customs of many literati in the Tang Dynasty. In politics, they often talked about "helping the people" and "securing the country" , "To Jun Yao and Shun". Han Yu's "Buddha-Buddhist" seemed to take the world as his own responsibility, and Liu Zongyuan's "On Feudalism" even advocated "publicizing the world" on the premise of affirming the monarch's power.
This state of active thinking has a profound impact on literature. The Confucian thought of benevolent government has a clear good influence on the creations of realist poets such as Du Fu and Bai Juyi. The Taoist idea of ??despising etiquette and communicating solely with the spirit of heaven and earth also shines in the works of romantic poets such as Li Bai. In addition, the spread of Buddhism not only had an impact on the thoughts of writers such as Wang Wei, but also had a great impact on Bianwen and other speaking and singing styles. Of course, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism also have negative impacts on literature.
The unification of the country on an unprecedented scale also provides favorable conditions for the prosperity of literature. In the past, due to the opposition between the North and the South, cultural development took different paths. In academic terms, it is said that "southern people keep things simple and gain their essence; northern people learn from the depth and breadth, and lose their branches and leaves."
In literature, it is "Jiang Zuo Palace Shang Fa Yue, nobler than Qing Qi; He River