Zhang Xuecheng Of Literary Thought

Zhang Xuecheng lived in the period of the reign of Qian Long and Jia Qing and at that time textual research prevailed. Scholars were obsessed with the classics and tried to find out the everlasting and reigning "Way" of managing state affairs, only to make their research unrealistic. He did not, however, follow the current trend but found his own way in many fields, such as historiography, literature, philosophy and education. All these achievements arose from the principle that in academic pursuits one must be able to learn by analogy to branch out into related fields and pay attention to the practical knowledge of managing state affairs. By the former, Zhang Xuecheng meant that there is something in common between different realms and that only if one knows all of them can one get the essence of academy. By the latter, he meant that academy should serve social reality and otherwise it would be of no value or significance.Literary thoughts make up one part of his entire academic system. They are in the same strain. Zhang Xuecheng thinks the essential aim of literature is to convey the Way or Confucian ideas via the material words instead of getting lost in words, which is similar to the traditional scholars to some degree. There is also difference, however. Zhang' s " Way" is not mystifying or abstract but specific and practical. Besides the conformability to "Way" , literature is also dependent, which lies in the artistic character of an article, that is, the beauty of the style or color. During the course of writing, he admits one must abide by the specific rules but must not always follow others' footsteps or be limited by the complicated rules. To avoid lose all "the truth", one is to respect the unity and coherence in writing, the internal laws of literary development. When the writing is the combination of substance and ideas, it possesses value of its own.Zhang Xuecheng also claims that literary creation must "be based on honesty" , with the creator respecting his/her own talent while focusing on the attitude toward creation and criticism. On one hand, talent is of vital importance in academic research...