Research Of The Influence Of Scholars’ Gentle Style On Sports During The Wei-jin Southern Period

During the Wei,Jin and Southern Dynasties,war became the main feature of the times.The political struggles for power and profit,frequent natural disasters,and large-scale wars had plunged scholars into a deep fear of death,and they begun to question the Confucian concept of "divine right of kings".In the debate on metaphysics,scholars discussed metaphysics and Taoism,and the transcendent image of "divine man" recommended in Taoist thought resonated with scholars.Their attitude towards life and death even cured the emotional trauma of scholars.Consequently,scholars began to keep themselves away from politics and became obsessed with metaphysics.Under the impact of wars and the influence of Taoism,the values of Confucian classics began to collapse,and scholars’ physical and mental thoughts were also liberated from the constraints of ethics.The Wei-Jin Southern Period became another era of ideological liberation after the struggle of a hundred schools of thought contend.However,even in such an era of ideological liberation,the development of sports in the Wei-Jin Southern Period did not shine brightly and achieved a qualitative leap like that in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods,but instead,there was a great imbalance.Some sports activities,such as competitive and confrontational sports,gradually decline among the scholars due to the loss of living environment and proper conditions,and eventually disappear,while others are deeply favored by the scholars,like some items in entertainment and leisure sports.In order to learn why sports in the Wei-Jin Southern Period primarily focused on entertainment and leisure,we have to analyze the social background of the Wei-Jin Southern Period.People exist in a collective way,and the era in which Wei-Jin Southern Period scholars lived was inseparable from specific historical environment such as the historical backgrounds,ideological changes,and social running modes at that time,and sports were no exception.In this paper,the method of literature review is mainly used to analyze the famous scholars of Wei and Jin dynasties recorded in books such as Shi Shuo Xin Yu,The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons,A Book of Jin and Tai Ping Yu Lan.By referring to relevant literature,we are intended to explore the influence of gentle style on sports during the Wei-Jin Southern Period.The main content of this paper is divided into four parts as below:1.The manifestation of the gentle style in the Wei-Jin Southern Period.The gentle style of scholars in the Wei-Jin Southern Period was mainly manifested in five aspects including literature,art,ideology,life,and physical aesthetics.The rising process of gentle style in the Wei-Jin Southern Period can be divided into three stages in chronological order.The first stage is featured by scholars’ pursuit of physical body aesthetics in the Wei-Jin Southern Period.The second stage is about the manifestation of the gentle style in scholars’ thought and life.The third stage is the expression of gentle style in literature and art.2.The reasons for the formation of gentle style.The awakening of individual consciousness is the core to form gentle style in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.With the economy as the support,the political and natural environment as the external environment,and the unique customs and traditions of Jiangnan area as the catalyst,it was promoted step by step from the inside to the outside.3.The impact of the gentle style on sports.The scholars’ gentle style in the Wei and Jin Dynasties provided a huge space for the development of some leisure and entertainment sports.Elegant sports represented by Weiqi and pitch-pot game were fully nurtured at that time,while the development of some sports mainly focused on intelligence and entertainment reached its peak.Although wars occurred frequently and the military sports got developed during the Wei-Jin Southern Period,scholars regarded competitive sports as "inferior sports" during the Wei-Jin Southern Period.They believed that competitive sports were too vulgar and lacking in elegance,and military generals were despised by them.So,in order to obtain the acceptance of the literati class,military generals took pride in wearing Confucian clothing rather than enhanced their military power,ultimately laying the groundwork for weak national defense and national turmoil.4.The inspiration of the trend of gentle style for contemporary times.During the Wei-Jin Southern Period,the scholars lacked the spirit of martial arts and the mainstream of society preferred literature and disliked martial arts,leading to their laziness in politics.Military generals took pride in wearing Confucian clothing,and the trend of gambling in society was rampant,which finally endangered national defense and caused the collapse of the country.Thus,we must sound the alarm bell for contemporary phenomena such as the decline in the physical fitness of Chinese teenagers and their enthusiasm for the image of "beautiful men" of Japanese and Korean pop stars.To this end,schools should build correct sports aesthetics and help students improve their physical quality.Society should vigorously explore the hidden function of sports and advocate the social trend of being strong and courageous,so as to stimulate the vitality of young people with competitive sports,making them take on the great responsibility of building the country and revitalizing the nation,and then form a correct view on physical aesthetics during the process of participating in sports.