(A) Pre-Qin period
1. The first collection of essays "Shangshu"
Some Oracle bone inscriptions in Yin and Shang Dynasties can be regarded as fragmented prose, which can be traced back to Shangshu.
Originally known as Shu, it was renamed Shangshu in the Han Dynasty, meaning the book of the previous generation. This is the compilation of the first ancient historical document and some works tracing back to ancient deeds in China, and it preserves some important historical materials of Shang and Zhou Dynasties, especially the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
Shangshu records the documents of Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, such as canon, ink, precept, patent, oath and destiny. Among them, some documents in Yu, Xia and Shang dynasties were written according to rumors and were not reliable. "Canon" is a record of important historical facts or special historical facts; "Mo" is the strategy to remember the monarch and his subjects; "training" is the words of the minister to enlighten the monarch; "Patent" is a declaration of encouragement; "oath" is the oath of the monarch's admonition; "Life" is the monarch's command. There are also names of people, such as Pan Geng and Wei Zi. Such as Emperor Gaozong's Day and Xibo Jianli; There are content titles, such as Hong Fan and Can't Escape. These are all essays written in memories. There are also many narratives, such as Gu Ming and Yao Dian. Among them, "Gong Yu" is a record of Yu Xia's water control, which is actually an ancient geographical record. Different from the style of the book, it should be written by later generations. Since the Han Dynasty, Shangshu has been regarded as a classic of China's feudal social and political philosophy. It is not only a textbook for emperors, but also a "great classics and great laws" that aristocratic children and scholar-officials must follow, which has a great influence in history.
Characters in Shangshu: The characters recorded in Shangshu are basically oaths, orders, instructions and letters of patent. Writing style Gu Zhuo, the so-called "Zhou Pan, bow and scrape" refers to this feature. But there are also a few words that are more vivid and fluent. Shangshu is the oldest recorded history in China. The so-called taking notes is actually taking notes, just a special way. The comparison of notes is indirect, while the comparison of notes is direct. China's memorial was developed before the memorial. Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty was mostly a question, but he could remember very little. In the past two weeks, Jin Wen has mainly memorized words. It was not until the Warring States period that chronicles made great progress. Ancient language and writing are probably integrated, and what is said and written can be called "words". Oracle Bone Inscriptions is called "Ci", and most of "Shangshu" are actually "Ci". We think these characters were "elegant characters" at that time, that is, Putonghua or Putonghua at that time. However, when it spread to later generations, this Mandarin or Mandarin became an ancient expression. History books include Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, most of which are orders, that is, if they are announced to the public, a few are words told by the monarch and the minister.
Shangshu is a symbol of China's ancient prose. The articles in the book are gradually complete in structure, have a certain level, and pay attention to the use of kung fu in the design of life. Later, the prosperity of prose in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was the inheritance and development of it. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the imperial edicts, imperial edicts and chapters of various dynasties were obviously influenced by it. Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long traces back to the Book of History when it comes to Zhao Ce, Qian Yi, Zhang Biao, Qi Qi, debate and secretary's style. Some chapters in Shangshu have certain literary talent and modality. Pan Geng (3 chapters), for example, is Pan Geng's motto of mobilizing his subjects to change their minds. His tone is firm and decisive, which shows Pan Geng's vision.
2. Historical prose
Pre-Qin historical prose laid the foundation of China's historical literature and had a far-reaching influence on later historians and ancient writers.
When there were words in the Shang Dynasty, there were essays to record history. In the Zhou Dynasty, the historiographers of various vassal States further recorded the historical facts between countries in simple language and concise words, such as Spring and Autumn Annals. Later, with the needs of the times, historical literature describing reality appeared, and historical works such as Zuo Zhuan, Mandarin and Warring States Policy appeared. Zuo Zhuan and Warring States Policy are the representatives of historical prose in the pre-Qin period. "Preparation for the writing style of the Warring States and later generations" (Zhang Xuecheng's Literature and History Yi Tong Poetry Teaching).
Zuo Zhuan is the abbreviation of Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period, also known as Zuo Chunqiu. According to legend, it was written by Zuo Qiuming, a Lu historian at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, with the word 180000, which recorded the political, military and diplomatic activities and speeches of various countries in the Spring and Autumn Period for 240 years, as well as events such as heaven, ghosts, disasters and blights. This book is full of drama and compact plot, especially excellent war description, concise language and rich images.
Guoyu is a kind of national history, which records the events of the Zhou Dynasty and the vassal states (before 1000-00 BC) respectively. It recorded more words than notes, and most of them were the words of enlightened nobles with foresight at that time.
The author of the Warring States Policy cannot be tested, and the current version is compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty. Like Guoyu, it is also a chronicle of different countries, which records the major events of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Qin, Qi, Chu, Zhao and other countries, and records the activities and speeches of counselors and military strategists. The article "Warring States Policy" is characterized by being good at saying things, making good use of metaphors and creating vivid characters.
3. Philosopher's Prose
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a hundred schools of thought contended, resulting in hundred schools of thought's essays.
The turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is an era of great social change, and various academic schools have written books and argued endlessly, forming a situation in which a hundred schools of thought contend. The works of thinkers representing different classes or strata promote the development of reasoning prose. These thinkers include Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism and Legalism. The books recording their speeches have been handed down to this day, including The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi and so on.
The Analects of Confucius and Mencius are all Confucian works that interpret benevolence. The Analects of Confucius recorded the words and deeds of Kong Qiu and his disciples, most of which were short conversations and questions and answers. Mencius recorded Monk's remarks. Monk is good at arguing, so the language in the book is lively and inspiring.
Mozi represents Mo Zhai's thought of "universal love", with simple language, clear reasoning and strong logic, and articles such as "universal love" and "non-aggression" are very representative.
Zhuangzi represents the Taoist Zhuang Zhou's thought of "governing by doing nothing". Zhuangzi's prose has a unique charm among various schools of thought. This is manifested in the author's fantastic imagination and keen observation, making good use of folk fables and being good at metaphors, which makes the article full of literary interest.
Han Feizi represents the legalist thought of "adapting to the times". Han Fei's prose is rigorous in structure, sharp-edged and profound in reasoning.
Xunzi represents Xun Kuang's theory, with 32 articles and many long articles. Xunzi's prose is characterized by clear arguments, clear levels, complete syntax and rich vocabulary.
Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals is a collective creation of the Prime Minister of Qin Dynasty. It includes eight views, six theories and twelve periods, including Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, law and agriculture. This book retains a large number of documents and anecdotes from the pre-Qin period. It is a systematic reasoning article that combines many single articles, which is deep and most coherent. Like hundred schools of thought's essays, it is often compared with fables, so the article is full of images.
The reasoning prose of pre-Qin philosophers had a significant influence on the development of later prose both in thought and artistic style.
(2) Han Dynasty
In the Han Dynasty, prose further developed.
1. Political papers
At the beginning of Han Dynasty, political papers developed. Jia Yi (200 BC-BC 168) was an outstanding writer in the early Western Han Dynasty. His article on Qin summarized the reasons for Qin's demise, drew lessons from the peasant uprising at the end of Qin, and developed the people-oriented thought in the pre-Qin period. His prose makes good use of metaphors, and his language is full of images.
Besides Jia Yi, there were many essayists in the early Han Dynasty. Most of their articles either discuss the gains and losses of Qin Dynasty or put forward their own opinions on the current disadvantages, among which Chao Cuo and Zou Yang made great achievements. Chao Cuo is most famous for his two articles, Guarding the Border and Persuading Agriculture, and Shu Shu, which advocate supporting the people in case of blockade.
2. Shi Wenchuan
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, hundreds of schools were ousted and Confucianism was the only one. The feudal dynasty urgently needs to summarize the ancient culture and give a philosophical and historical explanation to the unified ruling situation.
(1) History
Sima Qian's Historical Records represents the highest achievement of prose in Han Dynasty. Its appearance greatly promoted the development of pre-Qin historical prose. In the Outline of China Literature History, Mr. Lu Xun praised Historical Records as "a masterpiece of historians, with no rhyme in Li Sao". The contribution and characteristics of Historical Records are mainly reflected in the following aspects;
(1) created a "biography". Ji refers to this Ji, which is the biography of the emperor; Biography refers to the biographies of general ministers and various figures. Historical figures are rich and colorful, and historical phenomena are diverse and complicated. On the basis of predecessors, Sima Qian used the five-body structure of discipline, table, Shu and biography in Historical Records. Creatively explored the historical compilation method with characters as the main body. Benji records the words, deeds and political tracks of emperors in the past dynasties in chronological order. The "table" lists the major events in each period according to the chronological spectrum; The book records the evolution of various laws and regulations; Family describes the rise and fall of vassal States and the achievements of outstanding people; Biography records the activities of various representatives. Sima Qian creatively integrated these five genres to form a complete and unified system.
(2) Historical Records initiated a comprehensive compilation method of political, economic, ethnic and cultural knowledge. From the legendary Yellow Emperor to the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the history of China for nearly 3,000 years was recorded. It is the first encyclopedic general history in China, with a large scale and comprehensive contents. In Historical Records, Sima Qian made the earliest biographies of economic history: Ping Zhun Shu and Huo Zhi Zhuan; Sima Qian first established biographies of ethnic minorities: Biography of Xiongnu and Biography of Southwest Yi. He was also the first person to write biographies for the humble: The Assassin, The Ranger and so on. For the first time, Historical Records included all aspects of politics, economy and culture into the scope of historical research, thus opening up a new field of historical research and promoting the development of China's history. Because biographies can accommodate a wide range of contents, have certain flexibility, and can reflect the feudal hierarchy, this method of writing history has been adopted by historians of past dynasties and has far-reaching influence.
(3) The straight pen is a precious historical tradition in China, and Sima Qian's Historical Records has played a good role in it. Writing from scratch means that historians must be loyal to historical facts, neither flattering nor demanding, and write history as it is. "Historical Records" clearly expressed its opposition to the practice of "praising those who make mistakes, and destroying those who damage their truth". Xiang Yu is a hero in Sima Qian's mind. So Sima Qian described Xiang Yu's great achievements with great enthusiasm and strong love. However, Sima Qian also profoundly criticized Xiang Yu's arrogance and his fatal weakness in trying to conquer the world by force. Emotionally, Sima Qian resented the pre-Qin Legalists and the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, but he did not increase the evil because of hatred. On the contrary, he fully affirmed the reform of Legalism and the historical role of the Qin Dynasty in unifying China. It is precisely because of Sima Qian's record spirit that Historical Records is famous for its loyalty to history. Historical Records also runs through an important clue, that is, attaching importance to people's historical role. Sima Qian went against his destiny. Emphasize that man is the center of history. Therefore, while writing about emperors and princes, he paid attention to biographies for all kinds of people in society, especially put Chen Sheng and Guangwu, the leaders of the peasant uprising, on the same footing as heroes of emperors and princes and saints in feudal society. Therefore, in Historical Records, there are seven families of the Warring States, the family of Prime Minister Xiao He, the family of Confucius and some families. Sima Qian also attached great importance to the role of material production activities in history and closely linked the economic situation with the rise and fall of political chaos. He also emphasized summing up historical experience and put forward the idea of taking history as a mirror. Due to Sima Qian's great creative spirit in historiography, progressive historiography thought and strict historical management methods, Historical Records became a towering monument in the history of Chinese historiography, and Sima Qian won the reputation of "the father of China historiography".
(4) Historical Records is a vivid history, and its literary talent has always been praised by the literary circles in China, creating a precedent for China's biographical literature. Sima Qian, like an excellent painter, sketched vivid portraits for us with his vivid brush. Like a sculptor who is good at capturing moments, he has created statues of different styles for us with his sharp carving knife. In the figure library of Historical Records, we can not only see the heroic attitude of those princes who have made great achievements in history, but also see the elegant demeanor of those literati diners who have hidden their secrets, the pre-Qin philosophers who contended with a hundred schools of thought, the assassins who died for their bosom friends, the rangers who kept their word, the businessmen who were richer than princes, and various figures such as Step One and Four Friends, which gave people beautiful enjoyment and ideological enlightenment. Sima Qian creatively integrated literature and history into one furnace and wrote an image history for us. Therefore, Mr. Lu Xun praised Historical Records as "a historian's swan song, leaving Sao without rhyme". Because of this, among the voluminous historical works in ancient China, Historical Records has the second largest readership.
(2) Hanshu
Under the influence of Historical Records, many historical prose works were produced in the Eastern Han Dynasty, among which Han Shu by Ban Gu was an outstanding representative.
(1) Hanshu has a strong feudal orthodox thought. During the period of Ban Gu, feudal theological thought had developed into the ruling thought at that time. Ban and his son were historians who only cared about the way of saints and then devoted themselves to the way of saints. Naturally, they regard the way of saints as the guiding ideology of their works. In this way, the author inherited the contents of Historical Records, and at the same time accused it of being "absurd to saints", thus tampering with the views of Historical Records and making Hanshu more in line with feudal orthodoxy. Hanshu deified the imperial power of the Western Han Dynasty, taking Han as the orthodox thought, and its purpose was to demonstrate the orthodoxy of the Eastern Han Dynasty and deify the imperial power of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Therefore, the theory of "five virtues ending in the beginning" based on the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements and the feudal theological preaching endowed by the royal power became the dominant thought in Hanshu. In order to carry forward the feudal theological thought of "the connection between heaven and man" and the sense of disaster and good luck, Hanshu pioneered the Five Elements Records of Hyunri, which recorded the disaster and the five elements, and also created the Biography of Xiahou Jingyi Li, which recorded the deeds of the five elements.
(2) Hanshu initiated the compilation style of dynastic history. It is not accidental for Ban Gu to trace back to the past, but it conforms to the requirements of the times. He summarized the historical works of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for about a century and a half from the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and creatively developed them in order to serve the politics of the ruling class at that time. Ban Gu believes that the general history style of Historical Records puts the Western Han Dynasty at the end of the hundred kings and ranks among the Qin items, which is not conducive to promoting "Hande" and it is difficult to highlight the historical position of the Han Dynasty. This is the basis of the chronology of Hanshu. Thus, the history of the Han dynasty "includes a generation", starting from the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty and ending with the demise of the new dynasty. In order to highlight Liu Bang, Gao Di Ji was placed in the first chapter. This style of dynastic history was praised by later feudal historians and became the basis for the compilation of "official history" in past dynasties. In terms of compilation style, Hanshu inherits and develops the compilation style of Shiji, making biographical style a relatively complete compilation style. For example, although Historical Records established Lv Hou's biography, it supplemented Huidiji with chronology and Hanshu, which solved the confusion in the style of Historical Records. The record of the year and month is also more detailed and clear than the historical record. Furthermore, the four newly created records in Hanshu recorded the political and economic system and social culture of the Western Han Dynasty more completely than Shiji, and improved the historical value of Hanshu. For the arrangement of biographies, Hanshu is basically in chronological order, and its style is more unified than Shiji.
(3) Abundant materials and many important historical documents have been preserved. The existing Hanshu is about 800,000 words, which is more abundant than Historical Records. It added many important imperial edicts, mainly focusing on the emperor's admonition. Among many biographies, Hanshu also contains a lot of political, economic, military and cultural notes, countermeasures, writings and letters. In the annals of Hanshu 10, there are similar important historical documents, such as "The Record of Food" included in Chao Cuo's Lunchan Sushu. Hanshu also supplemented the information about the history of various nationalities at home and abroad. For example, Hanshu supplemented a lot of historical facts after Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty on the basis of Historical Records and Biography of Xiongnu, and recorded the history of Xiongnu nationality from ancient times to the end of Western Han Dynasty. Hanshu combines the biographies of South Vietnam, East Vietnam, North Korea and Southwest Yi in Historical Records, and on the basis of supplementing a large number of historical facts, it has written a more detailed biography of Southwest Yi, Guangdong and North Korea in the form of joint biography. At the same time, Hanshu changed the biography of Shiji into Biography of Western Regions, which recorded the history of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang today and the history of countries in Central Asia and Southwest Asia.
teacher
A new style "Fu" appeared in Han Dynasty. The name of Fu began with Fu Pian written by Xun Qing of Zhao in the Warring States Period, and later generations formed a specific system. Paying attention to literary talent and phonology has the dual nature of poetry and prose. Prose is called "Wen Fu" and parallel prose is called "Parallel prose".
Han Fu is good at describing things, inheriting some formal features of Songs of the South, and adopting more prose techniques. Because of its grand chapter, later generations called it "Da Fu". Great Fu is a kind of "small Fu" which is mainly lyrical after the Eastern Han Dynasty. Dafu takes questions and answers as the skeleton, arranges famous things, arranges words, makes good use of ancient Chinese characters and disyllabic rhymes, arranges neat and symmetrical rhymes and narrates prose sentences. Meicheng's Seven Hairs is the first work of Han Fu. Other masterpieces such as Sima Xiangru's Shanglin Fu, Yang Xiong's Changyang Fu, Ban Gu's DuDu Fu and Zhang Heng's DuDu Fu, etc.
Fu Xiao is a new style of Fu after Da Fu in the late Han Dynasty, which prevailed in the Six Dynasties. Most of them are lyric works, with small space and few allusions. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the law fu was also called Fu Xiao in the examination subjects of Jinshi. These poems are short and pithy, no longer in the form of dialogue between subject and object, but directly described by the author.
(3) Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, most of the articles in this issue focused on temperament, forming a Ma Su style, among which Notes on Water Classics and Luoyang Galand were the most prominent.
A new pattern appeared in the literary world in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which opened up the diversified development prospect of individuality and American culture. Among all kinds of literary styles, the characteristics of Ci Fu are the most prominent, and the contrast with Han Fu is also the most striking. Paying attention to the beauty of duality, melody and algae decoration has become a trend, and the sentence structure of the article has gradually changed, which has led to the emergence and maturity of parallel prose. Influenced by poetry, fu also tends to be parallel prose, and some fu is actually parallel prose. Although the literary world in the Northern Dynasties was influenced by parallel prose as a whole, there were still some unique prose masterpieces that shined brilliantly, which had multiple influences on the development of the literary world in the Tang Dynasty.
A new situation appeared in Ci and Fu in Wei and Jin Dynasties, which was marked by the appearance of lyrical small Fu, thus expanding the performance field and style of Ci and Fu. Along the development direction of sensory fu since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the creation of Ci and Fu in Wei and Jin Dynasties showed the characteristics of lyricism and sketch. With the expansion of the field of emotional expression, the expressive power of the author is further strengthened on the basis of personalization. Different from Ban Gu, Zhang Heng and other fu writers in the Eastern Han Dynasty, writers in this period often combined poets with small fu writers, which also marked the deepening of the interaction between poetry and fu. RoyceWong's poetry is The Crown of Seven Children (Liu Xie's literary soul carving dragons and stories), and his masterpiece is Fu on the Tower. Due to the strengthening of subjective consciousness and lyrical factors, a number of excellent poems and epic poems emerged in Wei and Jin Dynasties, such as Cao Zhi's Ode to Luoshen.
The vitality of Ci Fu also shows that it has mobilized the stylistic function of Da Fu to a certain extent. Since Wei and Jin Dynasties, Da Fu still has the habit of expressing solemn and important themes. But unlike the Han Dynasty, it is not limited to one end of the country's political life (such as Zuo Si's Sandu Fu and Pan Yue's Yoshida Fu), but more important events in personal life, such as Pan Yue's The Journey to the West, Xie Lingyun's Mountain Residence Fu in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Liang Wudi's Dedicated Fu and Liangyuan. Han Fu mostly ends in the form of chaos, poetry and song, but generally speaking, the beauty of sound and emotion of such words is outside the main structure, while Fu after Wei and Jin dynasties tends to consciously draw poetry from the main structure, and many propositions of medium-length and long-length works are taken from poetry or lyric Fu. Long Quan Fu in Wen Xin Diao, regarded by Liu Xie as "a swan's ambition", is quite ingenious in this respect. For example, his Fu in Autumn is to Song Yu's Nine Arguments, while his leisure is to Zhang Heng's Gui Tian, and the Western Expedition is to Ban Biao's father and daughter's Fu on the Northern Expedition. The title of later Yu Xin's "Jiangnan Fu" was taken from Song of Jiangnan and Mourning for the Soul in Jiangnan. Du Fu also often takes poems as topics, such as Autumn Prosperity and Northern Expedition, one of which is a joint chapter and the other is a long chapter. This method of expanding style can find the original factor here. Yu Xin, the most outstanding fu writer in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, whose masterpiece is Jiangnan Fu.
(4) Tang and Song Dynasties.
In the mid-Tang Dynasty, Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan led the ancient prose movement, "the decline of eight generations of literature". Ouyang Xiu advocated ancient prose in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Su and his son echoed it, and ancient prose gradually occupied the literary world.
In the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu strongly opposed flashy parallel prose and advocated writing ancient prose. At one time, he had many followers, but later he got strong support from Liu Zongyuan. His achievements in writing ancient prose have greatly increased, which has a greater influence and has become the mainstream of the literary world. In the history of literature, he called it the ancient prose movement. The victory of the ancient prose movement led by Liu Han established a new style of writing to get rid of stereotypes and speak freely, which greatly improved the artistic functions of prose such as lyricism, narration, discussion and satire.
After the middle Tang Dynasty, the ancient prose movement declined for a time. In the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu once again set off the ancient prose movement. Since then, Wang Anshi, Ceng Gong, Su Shi, Su Xun, Su Zhe and others have all made their own achievements under the influence of the ancient prose innovation movement. Later generations called them "the eight masters of Tang and Song Dynasties" together with Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in Tang Dynasty.
Sima Guang, a historian of the Northern Song Dynasty, compiled a historical masterpiece, Zi Tong Zhi Jian, which has not only important historical value, but also important literary value.
Influenced by everyone in the Northern Song Dynasty, the essayists in the Southern Song Dynasty created a number of political essays expressing the author's distinct political attitude. Hu Quan, Chen Liang and Ye Shi are representative writers in this field. The success of the ancient prose movement made prose more practical, as evidenced by a large number of notes and essays in the Southern Song Dynasty. Hong Mai's Rong Zhai Essay and Wang Mingqing's Blowing the Dust Record are both excellent notes. In addition, Zhu (1130-1200) is good at reasoning and has profound attainments.
(5) Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
This paper basically inherits and develops the spirit of the ancient prose movement in Tang and Song Dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, there appeared the school of restoring ancient ways of the first seven scholars, the school of Tang and Song Dynasties who opposed restoring ancient ways, and the school of public security who advocated the spirit of nature, and there appeared Gui Youguang and other prose masters. Tongcheng School is the most influential school in Qing Dynasty.
Song Lian (1310-1381) was "the first civil servant in the early Ming Dynasty", and some of his biographies are of great practical significance. His representative works include Qin Shilu, Biography of Wang Mian and Biography of Li Yi. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the first seven scholars, led by Li Mengyang and He Jingming, launched the retro movement, arguing that literature should be in Qin and Han Dynasties. While they played an active role in eliminating stereotyped writing, they also embarked on the road of blindly following the ancients. Later, Li Panlong and Wang Shizhen, as representatives of the "Last Seven Sons" retro movement, made the same mistake again.
Gui Youguang and other "Tang and Song Schools" first rose up against the retro school, and then Wanli Police Academy joined the team that lashed out at the retro school.
Yuan Zongdao, Yuan Hongdao and Yuan Zhongdao are representatives of the public security school, and they are called "three yuan". Yuan Hongdao (1568- 16 10) is the most famous. They think that different times have different literature, so they are opposed to attaching importance to the ancient times and ignoring the present, imitating the ancients. Yuan Hongdao put forward the theory of "God of Nature" out of the writer's subjective requirements. The characteristics of the prose creation of the Gong 'an School are: breaking through the rules and regulations of traditional ancient prose, naturally revealing individuality, and the language is not polished.
There are Jingling School, represented by Zhong Xing and Tan, who also advocate expressing their own spirit.
The direct product of the innovation of Gongan School and Jingling School is a large number of essays in the late Ming Dynasty, which is the development of traditional prose. Zhang Dai (1597-? ) is one of the more successful essay writers. His prose covers a wide range of topics, including scenic spots, local customs, China traditional opera skills and even antique toys. His prose language is fresh and lively, vivid, well-read and easy to understand. "West Lake in July" and "Looking at Snow in the Pavilion in the Heart of the Lake" are his representative works.
In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Hou Fangyu (1618-1654), whose representative works include Biography of Li Ji, Biography of Maling and Biography of Ren Yuan.
Tongcheng School is the most famous school in the middle of Qing Dynasty. The main writers Fang Bao, Liu Dakui and Yao Nai are all from Tongcheng, Anhui Province, hence the name Tongcheng School. Fang Bao (1668—— 1749) inherited the tradition of Gui Youguang and put forward the idea of "righteousness and law", which became the basic theory of Tongcheng School's ancient prose. The selection language of Tongcheng School's ancient prose works only focuses on clarifying ideas, and does not accidentally pile up materials, so the articles are generally concise and natural, but lack vitality. Representative works include Miscellanies in Prison, Zuo's Anecdotes, and Yao Nai's Climbing Mount Tai. Opposite to Tongcheng School, there are writers who advocate "parallel prose", among which Wang Zhong (1744-1794) is the largest.
There were many outstanding essayists in the early Qing Dynasty, such as Wang Youding and Wei. Wang Youding's legendary prose (1599- about 16 1) broke the traditional writing style of ancient Chinese with novel legendary style. His representative works include Biography of Li Yizu, Pipa in Tang Dynasty, Hu Yi's Story and so on. Wei (1624—— 1680) is the most outstanding biographical literature, and his masterpiece is The Biography of the Big Tie Vertebra.