The Category Of "Su" In Wen Zhenheng’s Treatise On Superfluous Things

The Category of “Su” is not very popular in Category System of Ancient Chinese Literary Theory.It was established in Pre-Qin period,and gradually declined after the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Though the Category of “Su” was heatedly discussed sometimes during this period,its development was not good as the Category of “Qing” and “Dan”.Even so,the Category of “Su” still has a profound impact on personality shaping and aesthetic choice of ancient Chinese literati,and Treatise on Superfluous Things written by Wen Zhenheng was a typical literary work among literati’s life practices in the late Ming Dynasty.Wen Zhenheng lived in the late Ming Dynasty,which society generally worshipped the luxurious and gorgeous aesthetic style.People in this situation enjoyed the pleasure that huge and exquisite things brought to them,at the same time,they also enjoyed others’ s admiration so that their identities could be obviously showed out.But Wen Zhenheng,who was very anxious about this kind of situation,adhered to the Category of “Su”,and reversed the extravagant social climate by enriching his spiritual world.The kind of “Su” life in Treatise on Superfluous Things was not only practiced by Wen Zhenheng himself,but also practiced by other literati in the late Ming Dynasty who had elegant personal cultivation.Treatise on Superfluous Things mainly tells us about series of life practices that Wen Zhenheng has done in order to change the extravagant atmosphere all over the society and on the other hand,to enrich his spiritual world.The book was divided into twelve chapters,including food,clothing,housing,means of traveling and other basic necessities of life.The main topics of the book are garden constructions,designs of the furnishing and utensils,and personalities shaping of Chinese literati.Every part of the book was deeply influenced by the Category of “Su”.Therefore,it is necessary to explore the usages of the Category of “Su” in Treatise on Superfluous Things,moreover,this research can give people more inspirations about how to live a better life in the fast-paced modern society.At the beginning of the first part,the thesis tells about applications of “Su” in Treatise on Superfluous Things by clearly using of “Su” and cryptically using of “Su”,then expounds how the Category of “Su” worked in this book within philosophy,personality,and aesthetic.Next two parts mainly analyse the internal factors and external causes of Wen Zhenheng for advocating “Su”.Internal factors include his family background and his personality,while the main idea of external causes are special political context in the Late Ming Dynasty,prosperous economic background,and cultural background.In addition,Zun Sheng Ba Jian of Gao Lian and Kao Pan Yu Shi of Tu Long are listed at the end of this part to illustrate the Category of “Su” was not only used by Wen Zhenheng,but also widely existed in literati groups who have been educated by elite culture.Finally,the end of the thesis is a summary at the same time points out the deficiencies in this research.