A Study Of Zhang Dai’s Travelogue Prose

In the middle and late Ming dynasties,along with the development of the commodity economy,the literati became more and more interested in travelling abroad for fun.As a result,a large number of travel writers sprang up,including Yuan Hongdao,Yuan Zhongdao,Zhongxing,Wang Siren and Wang Shisheng,all of whom are representative of late Ming travelogues.The subject of this article,Zhang Dai,is known as ’the master of late Ming fiction’,and his collections include Taoan Meng Yi,Xihu Meng Xuan and Lang Huan Wen Ji.These travelogues were written in a simple and dynamic style,which was appreciated by both the public and the private.With the booming development of Jiangnan towns in the late Ming Dynasty and the gradual improvement of transport stagecoaches around the region,tourism was prevalent among all classes,and Zhang Dai’s travels were undertaken in this general environment.Because of the influence of teleological thought,Zhang Dai also had an interest in observing the lives of the lower classes.After the change of dynasties,Zhang Dai’s life was so hot that his longing for his homeland intensified,and in this mood,he wrote a piece of reminiscent travelogue,expressing his nostalgia for his homeland.Zhang Dai’s life was mainly active in the Jiangnan area,and his travels are mostly recorded in the landscape scenery,customs and people of the Jiangnan area,which contains descriptions of the landscape,gardens,and folk activities around Jiangnan,vividly and comprehensively showing the reader the natural and human landscape of the Jiangnan area in the late Ming period.The two aesthetic forms are derived from the descriptions of the natural and human landscapes in Zhang Dai’s travelogues,which portray both the bustle and noise of the urban landscape and the creation of a quiet and ethereal atmosphere.In addition to the descriptions of the natural landscape,Zhang Dai’s travelogues also incorporate a lot of historical and humanistic content,with historical stories,reminiscences of past events,and some architectural aesthetics in his travelogues.In addition to this,Zhang Dai’s travelogues reveal an omniscient perspective on time,which is related to the split between the time of his travels and the time of his travelogues,and the unconventional and spontaneous nature of his writing.It is also based on a number of literary figures.At the same time,this essay also explores the origins of Zhang Dai’s travelogues with some other writers,based on the comments of some literati on Zhang Dai’s works.Yuan Hongdao and Zhong Xing and Zhang Dai for the same era of literary figures,their literary ideas on Zhang Dai’s creative influence,Zhang Dai travelogue prose in the elegant and vulgar two aesthetic form is also respectively by their influence,making Zhang Dai travelogue in both the real rate of fun,but also the lonely and secluded mood.