Yushan Literati Gathering And Poetic Circle In The Late Yuan Dynasty

Yushan Literati Gathering created and hosted by Gu Ying (a Kunshan native in thelate Yuan Dynasty) represents a poem&wine literati gathering which is featured bythe longest time span, the most participants, the largest scale and the most influentialone in Chinese history of literature, and it attracted almost all distinguished poets atthat time. Yushanjiachu (place of holding literati gathering) is a peaceful paradiseagainst the backdrop of wars, an ideal state in the hearts of literati, and it remains anendless a topic for literati of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and a mythology of thepoetic circle for Chinese literati. Gu Ying and Yushan Literati Gathering can not beanything but the outcome of the age when Gu Ying lived, a result of pursuingdiversified literati’s concept and their personality, and a wonder which can only bechased for but not be copied after thought shackles on literati of the Ming and QingDynasties are reinforced. In this sense, Yushan Literati Gathering is a non-ignorablecoordinate in the development history of Chinese literature, and it is the existence ofYushan Literati Gathering that provides a foothold for researching on psychology ofliterati in the late Yuan Dynasty.The paper is composed of seven chapters, of which, Chapter one makes anintroduction to the political pattern and poetic circle in the late Yuan Dynasty,discusses the political environment, economic condition and general background ofliterature development in the lower reach of the Yangtze River at that time, as well asliving status of scholars in southeast China; chapter two briefs on the life of Gu Yingand Yushan Literati Gathering. To be specific, it firstly expounds on multiplepersonalities and changeable style of Gu Ying based on collection of his works, andanalyzes causes of his personality and poet style as well as way of expression; then itstudies on Yushan Literati Gathering, combs sources of ancient Chinese literatigathering and the reason of flourishing literati gathering in Wuzhong area, andintroduces new features of literati gathering in the late Yuan Dynasty by taking Yushan Literati Gathering as an example.Chapter three focuses on the poetries collected in Yushan Literati Gathering. Bycombing and analyzing antiphon poetry, and with poems with the same rhythm,sub-theme poems and sub-verses, associated couplet style of poetry and imagesfrequently adopted in poems as objects, the paper concludes the trend of admirationfor Du Fu and poetry creation activities featuring taking poems as dramas, andsummarizes features of Yushan poem creation, showcasing diverse literati gatheringof the Yuan Dynasty and novelty-pursuing poetry creation activities. Chapter fourmainly discusses guests of Yushan Literati Gathering. Gu Ying communicated withalmost all literati active in Wuzhong area at that time, and200of which passed downtheir antiphon poetries. These literati include famous poem&prose writers, paintersand verse writers of the late Yuan Dynasty, some are local literati and scholars; whileothers are literati via Wuzhong area due to relocation, making study or taking office.In terms of nationality composition, they cover scholars of four groups: the Mongolia,the Semu people, the Han people and the Southern people during the Mongolia-YuanDynasty. This chapter classifies the poets participated in the gathering based on theirclose or distant relationships with Gu Ying, influences of their works left to the nextgenerations and frequency standard presented at the gathering. Beyond that, religiousbelieves are taken as criteria in classifying special guests of Yushanjiachu, includingmonks, Taoists, Dnishmands (with Islamism background) and Yelikewen people (withChristianity background), and their performance at the gathering and poet creationstyles are also discussed in this chapter, with the aim to reveal from the complexcomposition of the guests that Yushan Literati Gathering is a diverse, trans-regional,multi-level and multi-political orientated one shared by literati of all nationalities, thatYushan Literati Gathering represents a common spiritual homeland of then literatiwith its inclusiveness beyond time.The most unique feature of Yushan Literati Gathering is its purity. Taking Gu Ying asan example, by summoning such a large scale literati gathering and treating thesecelebrities, he pursues a kind of life which is based on the literati, ideal and art,instead of tending to play up to power, influence and material gain. Activities held atYushan Literati Gathering have a far-reaching significance on the overall style and cultural spirit of the late Yuan Dynasty. In this sense, we say that Yushan LiteratiGathering is a wonder, especially for its artistic atmosphere and psychology of poets.Therefore, Chapter five discusses psychology of poets participating in the YushanLiterati Gathering. By analyzing gradual change of their psychology, waveringbetween becoming a civilian and common people as well as elegant-pursuingcomplex, it reveals distinctive psychology and spiritual pursuit of the poets in the lateYuan Dynasty, that is, to keep an independent personality of literati, and pursue acomplete life experience in an elegant and artistic manner, which represents a specialcultural psychology and personality in the Chinese cultural history.Chapter six studies on the relationship between Yushan Literati Gathering and literatigatherings during the same period in two aspects, on the one hand, it investigatessimilarities between Yushan Literati Gathering and other literati gatherings during thesame period of time; on the other hand, it makes investigation on the differences ofliterati gatherings which are complementary to each other. Through comparison,relationship and communication of literati in Wuzhong area is revealed, thus readerscan have a more clear understanding on Gu Ying and the uniqueness of YushanLiterati Gathering.The last chapter discusses the influence of Yushan Literati Gathering on literature ofthe Yuan Dynasty mainly from two aspects: scholar style and poem style of the lateYuan Dynasty. Poems collected and published by Yushan Literati Gathering likeYushan Pugao, Yushan Mingshengji, Humble House Literati Gathering, YushanTravel Note, Yushan Antiphon and Yushan Yishi cover a majority of antiphon poetriesin the Yushan Literati Gathering, of which, almost all poems made by famous poets inthe late Yuan Dynasty are included, accounting for one tenth of the total quantity ofpoems created in the same period. It is safe to say that, without Yushan LiteratiGathering, or although there is Yushan Literati Gathering but the works are not stored,the poetic circle in the late Yuan Dynasty will show a different look. Added withsuper long time span and way of act featuring self adapting of both guests and thehost, these two aspects undoubtedly exert huge impact on the then poem circle andscholars.As the largest literati gathering in the Yuan Dynasty, Yushan Literati Gathering becomes a distinctive cultural phenomenon in ancient Chinese literature history withits inclusive disposition. At the end of the paper, the concluding remarks---reverb ofYushan, mainly discusses on cultural life of literati gathering besides poem creation.As the literati gathering lasts through the last thirty years of the late Yuan Dynasty,Yushan Literati Gathering is well known in the whole southeast China poetic circle.Apart from poem creation, the gathering also involves other artistic activities, andachievements in these regards reach a rather high level. This chapter discusses poems,calligraphies, paintings, music, tea ceremonies, etc. aiming to let readers have acomplete and detailed understanding of Yushan Literati Gathering, and to restore thethen features of the gathering to the maximum extent.