A Case Study Of Wu Cheng’s "Relax In The Cultural Arts" And Literary Thoughts

Wu Cheng,a great scholar in Yuan Dynasty,was both a neo-confucianist and a litterateur.His academic thoughts integrated the theories of neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty,and borrowed the strengths of Confucianism in the Han and Tang Dynasties,showing the academic spirit of converging hundred schools.Wu Cheng not only had a large number of literary works handed down from generation to generation,but also was good at calligraphy and painting criticism,and had a wealth of literary criticism theories stored in the collection.Therefore,it is necessary to combine his views on relax in the fields of painting,calligraphy and music with his theory of poetry and literature,and make a comprehensive investigation under the vision of Neo-Confucianism,so as to comprehensively and profoundly explain his literary thoughts.Wu Cheng’s literary and artistic thoughts seem to be miscellaneous,but in fact they are self-contained.His understanding of literary and artistic noumenon is the root of his theoretical analysis of literature and art.Therefore,this article starts from Wu Cheng’s thought of “rationalization of Qi”,and discusses his literary ontology view that “one Qi pop generates poetry,text,rites and music”.On the topic of which Li and Qi comes first,there are many discussions by predecessors,mainly including “Li comes first” and “ Qi comes first”.Wu Cheng put forward his own view of Li and Qi on the basis of synthesizing the previous views of "Li and Qi".It is“Li is in Qi”,both in no particular order.Based on the understanding that heaven and earth are the origin of the world,he proposed that all literature and art,such as poetry and music,are based on Qi,and then formed the understanding that literary movement and Qi movement are the law of rise and fall.More importantly,he not only believed that the atmosphere of heaven and earth would affect the literary atmosphere and bring about changes in the system,but also saw the initiative and feasibility of improving the national governance through literary and art restoration.Therefore,Wu Cheng had a strong sense of restoring ancient literature and art.He respected the ancient concept of poetry,and formed a poetic creation and criticism view that emphasized temperament and nature.His poetics of temperament also penetrated into his critical theories in painting,music and other art fields.For example,he believed that the character painting was important to obtain the truth of nature,and the painting of flower,birds,insects and fish was valued by natural vividness.Since literature and art flow from the author’s temperament,the essence lies in the truth of temperament,so the appreciation of literary and artistic works should be mainly aimed at observing people’s understanding of the heart.Therefore,Wu Cheng believed that the temperament and ambition of writers and artists can be seen from observing poems,appreciating calligraphy and painting,listening to musical instruments and so on.In this way,the personality of the subject determines the character of literature and art,which is also the main reason why Neo-confucianists such as Wu Cheng attach importance to the cultivation of the author’s mind.Wu Cheng regarded “traveling” as the people’s cultivation mode.Wu Cheng talked about the important role of “traveling” in the author’s cultivation for many times.However,compared with the traveling of mountains and rivers and the traveling of fame and fortune,he paid more attention to the way of traveling in the ancient sage’s last words.The traveling of outside gets understanding,the traveling of inside gets virtue.Based on this Wu Cheng also attaches great importance to the function of the literature and art tour,because in the process of art,for oneself can cultivate heart,for world can have a fill of educational effect,thus giving the Confucianism as the business end of the study of recreational reasonable position.All in all,it is not only helpful for us to further understand Wu Cheng’s temperament knowledge,but also helpful for us to grasp and explain the spiritual connotation of his literary thought comprehensively and accurately by integrating Wu Cheng’s thought in realm of art and poetry criticism.