Literature in the early Ming Dynasty, regardless of the theory of "the unity of literature and Taoism" or "Taige style" of Song and Wang, was based on Neo-Confucianism of Cheng and Zhu. The progress of literature in the mid-Ming Dynasty was first to make a strong counter-attack, so as to demand the independence of literature. Zhu Yunming denounced Song Lian's "Wen Yuan" as "rotten cheeks and rotten kisses, which are disgusting" ("I wish my son a record of sin"), and his attitude was very clear. In view of the position that the early literature took the Song people as a model, the mid-term writers opposed the Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, but also strongly denied the literature in the Song Dynasty. The so-called "Poetry Died in the Song Dynasty" (Zhu Yunming (A Record of Zhuzi's Sin), "No Poetry in the Song Dynasty" (Li Mengyang's "A Preface to the Sound"), and "Song Ru prospered and the ancient literature was abolished" (Li Mengyang's "On Learning") are all extreme remarks, which are determined by the specific mentality of the times. Their theory of advocating "retro" and flaunting "ancient literary expressions" should first be viewed on this premise.
"ancient prose" is the opposite concept to "modern prose" in the imperial examination. For example, in the Book of Mr. Shang Shouxi, Wen Zhiming clearly stated that he didn't want to "follow the rules and sentences, and the text of the program is learning", and despised the text of the imperial examination field in order to gain fame and fortune, but "always stealing ancient Chinese words" and "trying to catch up with the ancients", even though he was ridiculed by the world as "pedantic" and "crazy", he "ignored the group discussion" Obviously, advocating "ancient prose" means finding back the life interest and rich spiritual activities destroyed by the dead eight-part essay by continuing the track of ancient literary tradition.
since literature is denied as a tool of "carrying Tao" or "politics and religion", it is necessary to redefine the nature of literature; Taking literature as the internal demand of human beings has become the starting point of many writers in the middle of Ming Dynasty. Li Mengyang's Preface to Poems says:
"A poet is a natural voice of heaven and earth. Today, the road is full of sighs and sighs, and those who sing in harmony are true, which is called the wind. " He emphasized here that poetry is a natural expression of emotion. Zhu Yunming also said in "A Record of Zhuzi's Sin": "Those who are literate do not think that they are literate. If you are moved by your heart, you should be guided by your spirit. Say what you say, just write it in ink. Words are words, and words are words. " The foothold is also similar to the former. Of course, literature is, after all, an artistic creation activity, and a purely natural and unadorned language cannot directly become "literature", which Zhu and Li are not unaware of. The significance of their emphasis is to oppose the imposition of the constraints from "Tao" on literature.
The so-called "words are words, words are words" is in direct opposition to what Zhu Xi or Song Lian called "words are Tao, and Tao is text".
literature is required to express natural feelings, that is, to oppose hypocrisy in literature. A passage in Li Mengyang's "On the Theory of Kongtongzi" reveals the reason why the article carrying Tao looks ugly very thoroughly: "In today's article, people who have no beauty or evil all want to achieve the same goal, and it is very important to convey their ambitions. Therefore, there is no one in the exam, and there is no text in drawing China. " Because writing is for the purpose of "harmony", the true personality can't be seen in the works, so it is not a "text".
to sum up, the realistic starting point of the literary retro movement in the mid-Ming dynasty is very clear. Even though the slogan "Retro" itself reflects the conservative psychology in China's cultural tradition and contains serious drawbacks, its purpose at that time was to get rid of Cheng Zhu's Neo-Confucianism.