Literary Interpretation Of The Story Of Xunzi's Filial Piety And Study Of Tomb Images

Filial piety is the traditional virtue of the Han nationality.It plays an important role in several thousand years in the Chinese traditional morals and cultures.The impact of the Filial Piety is huge.In addition,the short stories of the dutiful son,such as the Biography of Dutiful Sons and the Twenty-Four Stories of Filial Piety,set examples for people with relatively vivid images and deeds,make people moved so that they can be strict with themselves.Min Ziqian’s image is quite striking in these typical examples by examining with modern view.As a great pupil,the moral integrity and the filial piety of Min Ziqian had been praised by Confucius.He enjoys equal moral reputation with Yan Yuan and equal filial reputation with Zeng Shen.Min Ziqian had already been included in the team of "Ten sages" and enshrined in the Confucius’ temple.However,his life story is not clear.Only the story of "Dressed in Thin Clothes to Submit to Stepmother" is widely spread,enlightening children and educating people.But few scholars pay attention to the specific and comprehensive information of this story’s origin and development.Therefore,I start with the textual research on Min Ziqian,collect historical data,try to explore the cause of his good name,restore a multidimensional character and focus on the evolution and reception of Min Ziqian’s filial story.Moreover,the representative filial story of Min Ziqian--"Dressed in Thin Clothes to Submit to Stepmother" has biggest impact on Chinese dramatic literature and Artistic Image.So I plan to emphatically study Min Ziqian’s image,relevant traditional Chinese operas and burial pictures.The first chapter focuses on the textual research of Min Ziqian’s life story.His stories that is recovered completely is impossible.Because he has been gone thousands of years and literature materials are inadequate and untruthful.So the majority of materials that I have chosen are from a certain period during the pre-Qin and the Tang Dynasty,and relatively reliable.In addition to this,I divide this chapter into two parts according to Confucius’ estimate.The first part mainly talks about Min Ziqian’s filial conduct.The second part introduces his moral integrity and school life.In the second chapter,I carry out a study about literary head-stream of Min Ziqian’s filial conduct,namely,the story of "Dressed in Thin Clothes to Submit to Stepmother",which also can be called "Reed Catkins".In this section,I compare the different kinds of text records and mainly focus on the performance of traditional Chinese opera.Based on the comparative analysis,I clear two circulating systems of Min Ziqian filial operas,namely,"the system of original story" and "the system of mixed story".The third chapter studies relevant tombs pictures and sculptures.The paper painting ofMin Ziqian’s filial story before the Yuan Dynasty are not preserved.Whereas the tombs pictures and sculptures are conserved because of the special environment,which show the unique significance with the increasing number of tombs’ excavation and have relatively clear timing information.So this chapter summarizes and analyzes the information of tombs pictures and sculptures in Han,Wei,Song,Liao,Jin and Yuan Dynasties.