Classics of Chinese Traditional Culture -- The Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, Volume 1-4

Author: Li Zhimin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: The Tang and Song prose period was a significant transitional and highly effective era in the history of Chinese prose development, serving as a bridge between the past and the future. Before this period, during the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, both narrative and argumentative prose laid a solid foundation for the later development of prose in terms of its substance and artistic language. In the history of Chinese literature, prose was considered a literary form equal in prominence to poetry. The Tang and Song prose marked another peak in the development of ancient Chinese prose, following the pre-Qin and Han dynasties. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu You compiled the works of Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi, and Zeng Gong into the Collected Works of the Eight Masters, but this collection is long lost. In the middle Ming Dynasty, Mao Kun compiled the Collected Prose of the Eight Masters of the Tang and Song, which gave rise to the concept of the "Eight Masters of the Tang and Song." The literary consciousness during the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties periods led to the separation of literature from academia, highlighting its intrinsic value and recognition as a personal expression of emotion and meaning. On the other hand, it also gave rise to an overly ornate and flamboyant literary style that excessively emphasized rhetorical skill and pursued novelty. This elaborate yet vacuous parallel prose style remained the dominant trend in literary writing for nearly a century in the early Tang Dynasty.