As an "idyllic poet", his unique creative style, irreplaceable position in the history of literature and its influence on later generations are very important. From this perspective, Fan Chengda's contribution to China's ancient pastoral poetry has three points:
First of all, he is the first poet in the history of China literature to express rural scenery, farmers' life and local people's feelings with such large-scale and multifaceted poems. There are nearly 80 pastoral poems by Fan Chengda, which are undoubtedly vast in terms of rural scenery and farmers' life. All kinds of misfortunes in farmers' fate have been absorbed by his pastoral poems, from rural scenery, farmers' cultivation, harvesting and storage all year round, to the interests, manners, customs and customs in daily life, and even the dark side of rural life. As Fan Chengda has lived in Shihu Village for a long time, he has cordial feelings for the countryside and farmers. Therefore, when he expresses the feelings of rural life and farmers, he can better eliminate the condescension of officials and the indifference of onlookers, and treat the countryside and farmers with an equal heart, so that poetry will be sincere and cordial. This is quite different from the pastoral poems such as "reading stones and ploughing with sticks" (Song) and "longing for leisure here" written by the literati since the Tang Dynasty.
Secondly, to sum up, China's ancient pastoral poetry has always had two systems: one is the pastoral poetry initiated by Tao Yuanming and inherited and developed by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran in the Tang Dynasty, which is usually regarded as the authentic main vein of pastoral poetry. In fact, Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems are both simple and extraordinary in expressing personality; Still depicting the tranquility and purity of pastoral scenery; Whether pouring out one's own farming experience or expressing the pleasure of seclusion in the countryside, one always focuses on the harmony between man and nature and the Taoist outlook on life and its value orientation. Secondly, "peasant poems" and "Tian Jia Ci" appeared in the New Yuefu Movement after the middle Tang Dynasty. These poems mainly reflect the misery of farmers' fate and the hardships of rural life, and their style is gloomy and cold, full of ridicule and critical spirit. His creative thought represents the concept of criticizing reality and expressing ambition in Confucian poetics, which is strongly combative; Fan Chengda's pastoral poems not only inherited the spirit of criticizing reality and expressing ambition in Confucian poetics, but also integrated the aesthetic interest of Taoism in advocating nature and pursuing indifference, organically combining the two, and formed its own unique artistic style in the vast and colorful rural life. This is also Fan Chengda's great contribution to China's ancient pastoral poetry.
Thirdly, in China's ancient pastoral poetry, no matter whether it is pursuing indifference and leisure to express literati's interest, or emphasizing social criticism and expressing heartfelt words, there is a lack of attention to local customs or ancient and simple rural culture. Tao Yuanming's "Speaking for People" can be described as painstaking, but the cultural interest in his poems is purely of the literati class, which is at the elite cultural level that China ancient intellectuals strive for. Although Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and others have written some pastoral poems such as "Chicken and Dog, Mulberry, Bean and Wheat", scholars and even officials are very courageous. On the other hand, the New Yuefu Movement advocates the cultural spirit that Confucian scholars take the world as their responsibility and "only singing makes people sick", which is also a typical category of elite culture. Only Fan Chengda not only combined the above two themes, two literary values and two aesthetic tastes, but also turned his own aesthetic perspective from elite culture to mass culture, and went deep into the basic cultural level of rural life. Through those ancient and vivid folk customs, he showed farmers' living habits, living styles, spiritual pursuits and cultural mentality, and showed the countryside and depicted farmers. In this way, Fan Chengda's pastoral poems not only have the usual aesthetic value, but also contain more profound cultural implications. If Tao Yuanming and others show the interest and feelings of literati in pastoral areas, then Fan Chengda shows the spiritual outlook and cultural mentality of farmers in pastoral areas, which is beyond the reach of other pastoral poems.