Literaties And Literature On The Altar Of Strong Power

In the history of Chinese literature, the literary achievements in the dynasty of Song were as great as those in Tang Dynasty. However, Song’s literature didn’t development balancedly over more than three hundred years, during which the achievements in the periods of HuiZong and GaoZong were obviously not so great as those in the other periods. Song’s literature reached its zenith in Shengzong and Zhezong times but was stagnant in the times of Huizong and Gaozong. The main cause of this stagnancy in literary development was due to "National Affair", which is a political category in Song dynasty."National Affair" was carried into political life when Shengzong and Wang Anshi took political reform, with the motive to conquer the strong resistance from the opposition."National Affair"was thought to be the only one perfect way of managing state affairs, the nature of which was the combination of power of the emperor and power of the minister, so it was actually a kind of despotism and an effective tool to get rid of dissidents. At the beginning, the idea of "National Affair" was used to suppress any controvert, and objectors weren’t put in a very important political position, but soon later, the advocators used it to crack down on oppositions, involving others in a criminal and dissidents were punished to death. It was the main tool to eliminate the dissidents in the times of Qinhui. Since the scholar-bureaucrats in Song Dynasty were a principle art in managing the national affairs, taking scholar researches and engaging literary produces,"State Affair" also affected the literary world. In the times of HuiZong, verses were once abrogated and in the times of Huizong and Gaozong the emperors started "Letter Prison" to persecute the political opponents. Meanwhile, the court frequently gave orders to forbid and destroy the works that might impair the thought of "State Affair".Mr. Liu yizheng pointed out" The politics in Song Dynasty was one of scholar-bureaucrats. And Song Dynasty was the only empery whose politics was absolutely controlled by scholar-bureaucrats." After hundreds of years development, political enthusiasm of scholar-bureaucrats was aroused more highly than ever in the time of Emperor Shenzong. Articles, like politics-participation, become one of the most important ways of render service to the court. They consciously made literature-drawing and politics-participation stick together, and criticized or mocked the current affairs in their writings. But after "state affairs" were introduced into politics, it not only affected the political atmosphere, but also influenced deeply the scholar-bureaucrats and their style of writing. Under the influence of "state affairs", some of the scholar-bureaucrats stayed away from politics to preserve their moral integrity, some were driven out or exiled for failure in state affairs, and some were tufthunting and despicable.The exiles were persecuted because they were against "state affairs" through alarming words or actions. They devoted themselves to the "study for selves" and overcame the pains to preserve their ideal in bad times, and realized their value of life when they were facing the hardship of exile and danger of death. In writings, they didn’t follow the tradition of complaining, but expressed their love to the leisurely and comfortably exiled life.The intellectuals who renounced the world didn’t approve of the court’s "State Affairs", witnessing the governors’the cruel persecution to the opposition, but they didn’t take any action to revolt them. They took an alienated attitude to the reality, worldly wise and make themselves safe, encouraging moral integrity. But they had to live in that world, so they unavoidably had to feel sorrowful. Then the poet Tao Yuanming and his works became the sources of their spiritual strength and the model for their literary production. Owing to the restricted style, fierce punishments, their production exhibited obvious characters:expressing feelings by veiled word; expressing senses by trivial things.Some timeservers, tempted by the court’s dignitary and high salary, were timeserving and associated with the evil people. Many of them were men of honors at first, managing the state affairs, but later became unrespectable ones, playing their power. They were either incontinent with riches and honors or shifted to be poor and lowly, or changed their moral integrity forced by authority. These people praised "State Affairs" with their literary talents, toady to the dignitary and they produced a lot of poems flattering the authorities, became "literary beggars" or "literary buffoons".During the time from Jingkang Putsch to the successful Shaoxing Peace Talk, turbulence of political situation and nonexistence of "State Affairs" made the styles of writing change gradually. Pragmatics substituted the thought of "study for self”, which previously prevailed. And the ethos of "managing the affairs under the sun" took up the central position in the scholar-bureaucrats’mental world. In the literary production, the works expressing the feelings concerning the country and its people, and inheriting TU Fu’s spirit of "poetry for history" became the mainstream.But during the times when Caijing and Qinghui reigned the country, the powerful criterion from the real world restricted the writing style in the literary production, the principal part of literary production had to shift their attention to individual lives, yearning for the spiritual freedom. Paying a tribute to life was the main character of the literary production. Imitating the style of Tao Yuanming and Tu Fu prevailed in poetry works, and the influence upon literature was manifested by its substantial themes, and natural and unromantic tastes. Huajian Style and Linxia Style prevailed in the world of Ci poems. Huajian Style was manifested by romantic and graceful manners, whose beauty couldn’t be compared with by Sushi’s Ci poems. He Zhu and Zhou Bangyan’s literary style exerted far-reaching influence upon the temporary and subsequent Ci poem productions. Firstly, the art of Ci became elegant, the style changing from being gentle to being graceful. Secondly, feelings in Ci poems were deepened, promoting the quality of Ci poems. Linxia Style was another outcome of the influence of "study for self”, expressing the life attitudes of obedience to fate and knowing life and expressing happiness got from scenery.