Cultural Spirit of the Book of Songs

Author: Li Shan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-06-01
Features: The era of the "Three Hundred Poems" was a period when Chinese cultural tradition began to take shape. The stable recognition a nation achieves regarding various relationships—between humans and nature, among people themselves, and between groups and outsiders—constitutes the fundamental spiritual essence of a "cultural tradition." In the thematic discussions of this book, agricultural poems clarify the origins of the concept of "harmony between heaven and humanity," banquet poems elucidate the roots of the tendency to value "harmony" in human relationships, war poems illustrate the general ways in which civilized communities overcome peril under the encirclement of ethnic minorities, and love poems highlight the costs paid by communities in achieving cultural unity, presented in a longitudinal analysis. The examination and discussion of the creative circumstances of each period in the "Three Hundred Poems" aims to demonstrate how the humanistic spirit is deepened and transcended as people continuously face and overcome internal and external challenges. Understanding the tradition we still live within by tracing its roots is the fundamental purpose of this book... The era of the "Three Hundred Poems" was a period when Chinese cultural tradition began to take shape. The stable recognition a nation achieves regarding various relationships—between humans and nature, among people themselves, and between groups and outsiders—constitutes the fundamental spiritual essence of a "cultural tradition." In the thematic discussions of this book, agricultural poems clarify the origins of the concept of "harmony between heaven and humanity," banquet poems elucidate the roots of the tendency to value "harmony" in human relationships, war poems illustrate the general ways in which civilized communities overcome peril under the encirclement of ethnic minorities, and love poems highlight the costs paid by communities in achieving cultural unity, presented in a longitudinal analysis. The examination and discussion of the creative circumstances of each period in the "Three Hundred Poems" aims to demonstrate how the humanistic spirit is deepened and transcended as people continuously face and overcome internal and external challenges. Understanding the tradition we still live within by tracing its roots is the fundamental purpose of this book.