A Research On Tongcheng School’s Chi Du

Chi Du is the letter whose length is about a foot in ancient times. As an important way and a carrier, Chi Du was used to exchange thoughts, convey feelings between Yao Nai and others. Because of the true and abundant record of Chi Du, it has became the first-hand information of Tongcheng School’s research. In terms of the value and reliability of the research data, a biography is inferior to a chronicle of one’s life, and a chronicle of one’s life is inferior to some first-hand information such as diary, Chi Du. From Chi Du, this special literary form, this paper mainly discusses the communication between Yao Nai and his disciples. At the same time, this paper not only shows Chi Du’s features and achievements, but also reveals the cause and whole process of the development of Tongcheng School from recessive level.This paper is divided into three parts. In the first part, this paper is to study Tongcheng School’s origin by studying Chi Du. Through the Chi Du’s study of Tongcheng School representative writers, the paper tries to search the real development’s track of Tongcheng School. For restoring the literary activities’ psychology of Tongcheng School’s writers, exploring the effective way to the spread of the Tongcheng School, ascertaining the cultural exchanges between Tongcheng School’s writers and other people and establishing the primitive ecology landscape of Tongcheng School, sorting Chi Du between Yao Nai and his disciples is of great significance and value.In the second part, the paper is to discuss the different features of Tongcheng School scholars by studying Chi Du. Besides the basic functions of greeting and communication, Chi Du can contain everything, such as the current trend, the trend of thought and study, literature and art, characters’ feelings, personal fate, etc. Chi Du is short, but it’s connotation is rich. It has the characteristics of confidentiality and bluntness. Chi Du also can reveal individual talent. So for us, it benefits to learn more about the lives and thoughts of the Tongcheng School scholars.In the third part, the paper is to compare different people’s Chi Du. We will compare Yao Nai’s Chi Du with Gui Youguang’s, Yuan Mei’s and Wu Rulun’s. And then according to different generations, we will study Chi Du from three aspects. Through studying, we can further understand the characteristics and achievements of Yao Nai’s Chi Du and the evolvement of Tongcheng School.Some People, such as Chen Yongguang, Yao Ying, Mei Cengliang, Guan Tong, Fang Dongshu, Liu Kai, learned from Yao Nai. Other people, such as Guo Rucong, Zeng Guofan, comprehended knowledge by Chi Du. Generally speaking, Tongcheng School was able to found, largely due to the advocacy and promotion of Yao Nai’s disciples. On the initiative of Yao Nai, Yao Nai and his disciples always exchanged their thoughts by Chi Du, so Tongcheng School got further development. In a word, as an instrument, Chi Du was used to communicate ideas of Tongcheng School scholars, and as the carrier, it vividly recorded the process of Tongcheng School’s development.