On The Influence Of Wang Yucheng’s Classics Thoughts On Literature Creation

Wang Yucheng did not have any special works to interpret Confucian classics,and his Confucian classics thoughts are mainly reflected though poetry and prose.Wang Yucheng has more than 600 poems and 300 proses,among which more than 300 poems and more than 100 articles reveal Confucian classics thoughts,from which we can see that Wang Yucheng is different from the conservative Confucian classics in the early Song Dynasty.To explore the relationship between Wang Yucheng’s Confucian classics thoughts and literary creation is helpful to understand more comprehensively the academic context of this period,and to re-examine Wang Yucheng’s status as a cultural pioneer in the Song Dynasty.Since the establishment of the Zhao Song Dynasty,it has been facing the situation of internal and external troubles.On the one hand,the Confucian social system with benevolence and propriety as its core has collapsed after a long period of war and disputes.On the other hand,the constant intrusion of the surrounding minorities threatens the rule of the new regime.Under this background,the ruling class and aspirant scholars worked together for the revival of Confucianism,and there appeared two different forms of Confucian classics,namely official writings and private compilations.At the same time,it also presents the appearance of the coexistence of the theory of annotation and the theory of meaning-pattern.Wang Yucheng received Confucian classics education from an early age,and he gradually formed his own unique Confucian classics thoughts in his contacts with scholars of Confucian classics.He boldly doubted the theory of annotation,and interpreted Confucian classics in the form of commentary.At the same time,he also showed the color of “understanding Confucian classics by oneself”,and became the representative of advocating and practicing the theory of meaning-pattern in private writings.The spirit of emphasizing “Tao” urged Wang Yucheng to enter the official career and desire to make achievements.At the same time,this spirit was reflected in the literary creation through the text form of “Jing”,and then there was a chemical reaction.The early Song Dynasty devoted itself to the construction of the traditional culture of Confucianism,and at the same time treated Buddhism and Taoism with an enlightened attitude.Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism communicated and absorbed each other,showing a preliminary integration.In this context,Wang Yucheng’s cultural personality presented twists and turns,from rigid and upright to open-minded and indifferent,and further influenced his thoughts on Confucian classics and literature.The Confucian classics thoughts broke through the annotation study of the Han and Tang Dynasties,and gradually focused on the theory of meaning-pattern.It is reflected in the literary is the respect of the “Six Classics”.The “Six Classics” not only carries the meaning of the words,but also the model of the article.While inheriting Han Yu’s theory of Taoism,Wang Yucheng liberated “Wen” from the bondage of “Tao”,and gave full play to the significance of “Wen”.Compared with other literary styles,prose is a unity of practicality and aesthetics,so it is closely related to the study of Confucian classics.Wang Yucheng’s imperial decrees and memorials consciously study the simple and elegant style of writing in Shangshu and try to change the malpractice of pursuing form blindly in parallel prose.Wang Yucheng inherited Han Yu’s theory of “Wen Yi Ming Dao” and opened the forerunner of the ancient prose movement in the Northern Song Dynasty.He judged the article on the basis of “Six Classics”,and believed that the function of the article was to “preach and enlighten the mind”,and boldly innovated the form of the article and put forward the theory of “Yi Dao Yi Xiao”,which made the ancient prose movement develop in a healthy direction.Wang Yucheng’s way of “discussing and interpreting classics” also has a far-reaching impact on prose creation.The tendency of discussing makes political articles more sharp and in-depth,and also becomes the main means of expounding academic thoughts and exploring the meaning of life.Under the background of the integration of the three religions in the early Song Dynasty,the literati’s introverted creation gradually became prominent,and the white-style poems were filled in the literary world,which caused the poetry style of Wang Yucheng’s poetry to be easy and elegant.The gradual decline of “Poety” and the ups and downs of official career,Wang Yucheng devoted himself to the poetry reform of the early Song Dynasty,entered by the study of Bai Juyi’s allegorical poetry,and then learned the tradition of Du Fu’s realism spirit,and the close combination of poetry and politics has realized the transformation of poetry from “words” to “politics”.Wang Yucheng became an active advocate and practitioner of the Confucian ideology of “Tao” under the influence of the Confucian spirit.He brought the idea of “applying the classics to practice” into the field of literature,created a large number of realistic poetry and prose works,and became a pioneer of the poetry and prose innovation in the northern Song Dynasty.Wang Yucheng’s significance in the cultural history of the Song Dynasty not only lies in his influence on the academic tendency and aesthetic tendency of the Song Dynasty,but also in his unique cultural personality as a spiritual model for scholars in the Song Dynasty.The great writers of the Song Dynasty all praised him,even praised him as “the leader of the literary circle”.