On The Valley Of The Word

Huang Tingjian, whose alternative name is Lu Zhi and assumed name is Shan Gu Taoist, is a famous writer in the literary circles of Song Dynasty. Now there exist over 190 Ci of his, the number of which is less than Su Shi's (about 330) whereas almost the same as Liu Yong's (over 190) and Zhou Bangyan's (about 200). He is one of the prolific writers of Northern Song Dynasty. His achievement in Ci is diverse, so is his style. It can be incorporated into Su Shi School, or into Liu Yong School and there are also some works which are mixed up with Qin Guan's because of the similar style. In some sense, he is the only writer who are excellent in Plaintive Ci, Unconstrained Ci and Secular Ci for he wrote many works in all the three categories. His Ci reflects the contradiction and confliction between elegance and vulgarity and the mutual influence among all kinds of literary forms. In Northern Song Dynasty. The complexity and width in his Ci is the deepest and the most thought-provoking. His Ci is an important joint in the study of Ci. Considering in the sense of cultural history, his Ci is typically the Ci of Shi Da Fu of Northern Song Dynasty. The subject of works is broad and their meanings are more common and far-reaching in reflecting the political mind, feelings of official career and living delights of the intellectual in Feudal Society. Considering the thought history, his idea of the unity of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as well as the entanglement with idealistic philosophy is the typical reflection of the thought of scholars in Song Dynasty. It is in this case where his Ci is more representative than Su Shi's and Liu Yong's. There are deep literary and cultural reasons to explain why his Ci has not been attached importance to in Ci criticism and it is the key problems this paper tries to solve.