Research on French Shan's "Wu Men Shi Hua" - China Mongolian Studies Library

Author: Hongwei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: Wumen Shi Hua is a specialized work on poetics within the ancient Chinese literary theory of the Mongolian people. During the reigns of the Qianlong and Jiaqing emperors of the Qing Dynasty, the renowned Mongolian Chinese poet and poetical theorist Fashan (1753–1813) completed his poetics-focused monograph Wumen Shi Hua in his later years. Fashan engaged in literary creation within the broader context of ancient Chinese literary theory, and he was directly influenced by Wang Shizhen and Yuan Mei. However, he did not blindly follow them. While learning from Wang Shizhen and Yuan Mei, he combined his own poetic creation experience and aesthetic tastes, addressing the phenomena of the contemporary poetic scene in his critical evaluations in Wumen Shi Hua and proposing distinctive poetics views. Under the premise of "temperament and nature," he put forward views on the essence, style, creative techniques, content, and form of poetry, such as natural and elegant, subtle and profound, implicit and rich in meaning, and concise yet robust. These contributions are significant both in the development of ancient Chinese literary theory and in the establishment of ancient Mongolian literary theory. Wumen Shi Hua comprises sixteen volumes and contains approximately 898 critical entries on poetry. Volumes one to fourteen evaluate the poems of both famous and unknown figures of the same era, while volumes fifteen and sixteen feature the poems of over one hundred women poets of the time. The entire work focuses on the works of "people after the 56th year of the Kangxi reign (1717)," and Wumen Shi Hua is rich in documents from the Qianlong and Jiaqing dynasties, making it an important resource for studying the thoughts and poetic works of poets during the Qianlong and Jiaqing poetic circles.