Research On Wang Yucheng’s Fu

Wang Yucheng is the advocate of the reform movement of poetry and prose in the early Song Dynasty and the initiator of the political reform movement in the Northern Song Dynasty.His literary creation,including poetry and prose,is mainly seen in his own collection of personal poems and essays,the Little Livestock Collection,and the Little Livestock compilation by his great-grandson Wang fen.Wang Yucheng inherited the ancient literary theory advocated by Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan since the ancient literary movement of the Middle Tang Dynasty.At the same time,in the light of the era background of "Lv Sheng Wen Qi" in the early Song Dynasty,Wang Yucheng made reference to the factors of the times.He managed to inject fresh ideological blood into the works,on one hand he paid attention to preaching and Zongjing retro,on the other hand he valued novel senses and ingenious expressions and praise Yazheng.In addition,Wang Yucheng put an emphasis on the practical knowledge of managing state affairs,which involved not only the inheritance of traditional concept of prose-poetry,but also the concern of the social reality and the author’s personal ideal.In fact,Wang applied what he learnt from history to society and created new things from the old.To a certain extent,his works influenced subsequent poetic innovation movements led by Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi.26 extant works by Wang Yucheng are collected in author’s anthology "Little Livestock Collection","St.Song Wenhai",a collection of poems compiled by Jiangdian in the Song Dynasty,and " the Great Canon of Yongle" edited by Yao Guangxiao and Xie Jin in the Ming Dynasty.The collection of 23 pieces of Wang Yucheng’s Fu was basically between Song Taizong Yongxi’s four years(987)and Song Zhenzong Xianping’s three years(1000),and show an obvious regularity in composing date and chronological order.With the exception of a small number of works listed in the first place because of the power of emperors and questions of respect,the rest were arranged in general chronological order."St.Song Wenhai" and "the Great Canon of Yongle" collected the remaining three articles,which should be collected as a collection of Wang Yucheng’s Fu.The year was basically between Song Taizong Yongxi’s two years(985)and Song Zhenzong Xianping’s four years(1001).It can be seen that when Wang Yucheng compiled the Little Livestock Collection,the collection was mainly composed of "he Confucianism","Yazheng",and "incineration" was not accepted.Wang Yucheng divided his Fu into two categories: Ancient Fu and Law Fu.It is a common division in Song Dynasty,which is influenced by the background of Fu development in Tang and Song dynasties.In the Collection of Little Livestock,Wang Yucheng’s Fu was dominated by Law Fu,which was related to the fact that the author wrote more Law Fu than the Ancient Fu in his own life,and that his personal preference for elegance and justice was to choose the superior aesthetic work.It is also related to the social system and social phenomenon at that time,and the master Wang Yucheng’s excellent level of knowledge can be shown from the Fu.In addition to classification according to style,Wang Yucheng’s Fu can be divided into ceremony Fu,political Fu and object-chanting Fu and emotional Fu.These four types of works of different subjects and contents,each of which has its beauty,both sensible and reasonable,not only inherited the essence of the previous generation Fu study,but also integrated the writer’s self-innovation.Wang Yucheng’s Fu shares the common characteristics of Fu of Song Dynasty,at the same time has dual characteristics of Fu and Fu of Song Dynasty,which are mainly manifested in the following two aspects: begin with arguementation and worship of ancient times or begin with narration.The former is the inheritance of the characteristics of Tang Fu and the argument and reasoning tendency of literary development,especially the development of Fu since the pre-Qin Dynasty,while the latter is the inevitable result under the influence of the reform movement of ancient literature in the Northern Song Dynasty and the movement of ancient literature in the Middle Tang Dynasty.Wang Yucheng’s Fu also embodies a certain characteristic of personality in art,which is mainly characterized by a simple elegance and ancient style.This is mainly due to the early Song Fu style,the previous Fu artists’ theories,Wang Yucheng’s personal integrity and clarity of reason.Wang Yucheng’s Fu,both reasonable and emotional,can appeal to both refined and popular taste,achieving high achievements in literature,art,and thoughts,therefore it affected the future generations of Fu to some extent.Wang Yucheng’s poetry-Fu interpenetrating relationship is mainly manifested in the intertextuality and the mutual application of functional techniques between poetry and Fu.The former mainly refers to the complement of the content of the poems and Fu texts,which can be expressed as a common scene or a common narrative.The latter mainly refers to the unity of poetic style and Fu style in the form and expression of writing,which is manifested in the mutual use of functional techniques,such as the application the beautiful prickle function of poetry to Fu,the application of Fu spreading techniques to poetry,and so on.The differences of Wang Yucheng’s poems and Fu are mainly reflected in their wide and narrow themes,their differences in expression,and their emphasis on their feelings.Fu is developed from poetry but different from poetry.Only by telling the similarities and differences between poetry and Fu can we not fall into the misunderstanding and criticism of "replacing Fu with poetry".