Liu Xiang's "New Preface" And "Said Garden" Allegory Research

Shuo Lei Za Shi unearthed from tombs during the Han Dynasty in Shuanggudui indirectly proves the real existence of Shuo Yuan Za Shi which plays the role as a manuscript of Xin Xu and Shuo Yuan.With the frequent appearance of materials from Yan Zi Chun Qiu and Zhan Guo Ce which was revised by Liu Xiang proving that Shuo Yuan Za Shi was not the only source of Liu Xiang's works.These two material evidences effectively verify the truth of the statements in Shuo Yuan Xu Lu.The same writing style between Shuo Yuan Xu Lu and other digests written by Liu Xiang testifies that Shuo Yuan Xu Lu is not the pseudograph from the Song Dynasty.Liu Xiang was selective in citing the materials from other books and made literary transformations to ensure the appropriate expression of his political views.This paper is divided into four parts to discuss topics as the style of fables,ideological content,creation method,position evaluation and so on.On the basis of the definition that allegorists such as Chen Puqing and Wu Qiulin made to the fable,this paper argues that the constitution of fables do not have the direct relationship with concluding words that convey some philosophy.The main method Liu Xiang used to write is to let histories become fables.On the one hand,historical materials have experiential characteristics and are easy to convey philosophy.On the other hand,the historical fables do not make much differences between narratives,which set up a high quality of requirements on fictionality.There are 333 fables in Xin Xu and Shuo Yuan,and they are presented in three ways as style of Xian Qin A,style of Xian Qin B and the dual structure.Classify by content,fables in Liu Xiang's works could be divided into two parts as political character fables and political behavior fables.Liu Xiang's fables are concise and meaningful.The academic thoughts contained in it have formed the characteristics of taking Confucianism as the main line and being compatible and inclusive to the academic viewpoints of various scholars.The revealing of academic thoughts is carried out through three main ways: direct introduction,applying concepts and setting up typical figures.The establishment of Liu Xiang's political thinking presents a dynamic formation process in the two books.The political ideas in two books are related and gradually form the tendency of theoretical systematization.Through the interactive display of the image clues of monarchs and ministers,a complete theoretical system covering political behavior and political character is established.Liu Xiang had the consciousness of creating fable independently.Articles different with the historical records in Liu Xiang's works and attracting criticisms holds an evidence for practice on fable creation.His transformation of historical facts is to achieve the three main purposes of emphasizing speech,forming parallel and showing effective effect.The historical figures from the Pre-Qin Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty are vividly depicted and displayed in fables from two books.scholars of this period had a tragic end because they were placed in the dilemma between life and death.Their eloquent demeanor and rigorous way of developing personality is a good display of the style of scholars during this period.Holding the special purpose of "taking books as admonitions",characters in Liu's fables mainly are kings and ministers.Meanwhile,the emergence of folk wise men and other status groups are also very common in Liu's two books.Evaluation on Xin Xu and Shuo Yuan as“ fables of princes and ministers” made by allegorist,Wu Qiulin,is not a comprehensive positioning.Substantially,the readership of Liu Xiang's works can be the general public.Beneficial discussions in Liu Xiang's works still have high reference value today as we seeking the social development sincerely like the standard of politician's character,diplomatic view,outlook on talents and the handling of the relationship between superior and subordinate and so on.