Kunshan Poetry Society

The Kunshan Poetry Society was founded and acted in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty. Under the leadership of Yue Bei, Li Heng, Geng Zi, Zhong Xiaoguo, Shi Ju, Shi Xiyan, Ma Xianjue, Fan Chengda took part in the activities of the Kunshan Poetry Society. The poems created by the poetry society members were preserved in a book, which was written by Gong Yu called Kunshan Zayong.This article is based on the collection and classification of historical facts. By means of explorative method and analysis method, the article mainly focuses on the research and analysis of the Kunshan Poetry Society, including the name, the leader, the principle members of the Kunshan Poetry Society; the time range of the Kunshan Poetry Society’s activities and the artistic achievement. It tries to restore the situation of the Kunshan Poetry Society as much as possible.The article includes five parts.In the first part, it researches the name of the Kunshan Poetry Society. The name of poetry society is an important component of the poetry society. Not all the poetry society had a name in Song Dynasties. Most of them only held poetry society’s activities. By means of analyzing the document literature, it fended out that the Kunshan Poetry Society didn’t have a name then; “The Kunshan Poetry Society” was named by the later generations for simply research.In the second part, it researches the leader of the Kunshan Poetry Society. As the leader of the Kunshan Poetry Society, Yue Bei once launched and took an active part in the Kunshan Poetry Society’s activities. Yue Bei occupied an important position in the Kunshan Poetry Society an gained the respect and admiration from other members. This part researches from three angles, including the poetry society’s activities Yue Bei participated in, Yue Bei’s performance as the leader, Yue Bei’s life experiences.In the third part, it researches other members of the Kunshan Poetry Society. Under the leadership of Yue Bei, Li Heng, Geng Zi, Zhong Xiaoguo, Shi Ju, Shi Xiyan, Ma Xianjue, Fan Chengda took part in the activities of the Kunshan Poetry Society. First of all, by researching and analyzing the document literature and poems, it draws on the broader membership of the Kunshan Poetry Society. There were eight members in the Kunshan Poetry Society. They were Yue Bei, Li Heng, Geng Zi, Zhong Xiaoguo, Shi Ju, Shi Xiyan, Ma Xianjue, Fan Chengda. Secondly, it researches each member’s life experiences respectively.In the forth part, it researches the time range of the Kunshan Poetry Society’s activities. This part is based on the collection and classification of historical facts. By means of explorative method and analysis method, it attempts to research according to three steps. The first step is to collect literature data related to the members of the the Kunshan Poetry Society and research each member’s dates of birth and death respectively. The second step is to find out the eldest and the youngest among the members. Then determine the time range of the Kunshan Poetry Society’s activities under ideal conditions. The third step is to narrow down the time range under ideal conditions by other literature apply to the time range of the Kunshan Poetry Society’s activities.In the fifth part, it analyzes the artistic achievement of the Kunshan Poetry Society. In artistic style, the content of poems is simple and natural as a whole. The image of daily objects appears many times in their poems. The poems are full of life. The poetic language is natural. The artistic achievement is not high, for the poetry is simple and lack of implicit beauty.