Thesis Statement:Overview of Han Fu Literature

Fu as a literary style appeared in the late Warring States period. Song Yu and Xun Qing both wrote works with the name of fu. In the Han Dynasty, the prose fugues of Sima Xiangru and others were called fu, as were works such as Qu Yuan's Li Sao. Why did the Han Dynasty people call the two types of works, which seem to be in completely different styles today, fu? How did the name fu come about? There is an explanation for this in the Han Book of Arts and Letters when it talks about fu, which says, "The biography says, 'Reciting without singing is called fu, and those who can perform fu on a high altitude can be the great masters.'" The fugue mentioned here is the poetic fugue talked about in the pre-Qin canonical books. The so-called reciting without singing is a form of oral recitation without music. The poems recited could be improvised works or ready-made poems from the Book of Songs. Many examples of this can be found in Zuo Zhuan and other ancient pre-Qin texts. In Zuo Zhuan (左传), it is written in the year of Yin Gong Yuan (隐公元年) that Duke Zhuang of Zheng met his mother in the big tunnel and each of them composed a poem, which was improvised and recited. This is also the case with the abovementioned "being able to compose poems while ascending to a high altitude". In the Zuo Zhuan (左传), there are a lot of records of poems being composed to express one's thoughts and aspirations, but they were composed by using ready-made poems in the Shijing (诗经), which were either recited directly or sung by musicians.

The Son of Heaven, when he was in charge of the government, made the ministers of the state present poems, goze present songs, shi present books, the teachers present instructions, the monks recite, the hundred styles of admonition, the common people pass on their words, the ministers do their best, the relatives do their best, the goze and the shi teach, and the elders repair, and the king considers them later on.

The fu mentioned here, along with the recitation, is also a way of reading aloud. As for the specifics of this way of reading aloud, it is difficult to ascertain today, but at least it is different from singing. Fan Wenlan "Wenxin Diao Long Note" concluded that: "Spring and Autumn countries to hire, the guests and masters of more than the gift of poetry, cover the mouth at any time to recite, do not wait for the music also. The Zhou Dynasty analyzed the words, so the 'vulnerability fugue Meng recitation' and said; Liu Xiang unified the words, so the cloud 'not song and recitation is called fugue' [8] ...... I suspect that fugue has a kind of tone, and the fine distinction between the song is different, and recitation is also different. The sound is different from that of song, and it is also different from that of recitation. Xun Qu's creation of the fugue, is to take the sound tone of the fugue and make, so although mixed out of than Xing, harmless for the fugue also." The fugue is a recitation, and it can have the tones of rising and falling. However, Xun, Qu, and even Song Yu may not take all the tones of the "Man's Fugue", but just recite them instead of singing. From this point of view, the Han Dynasty called those works which were not sung but recited as fu. For example, "Li Sao" was called "Li Sao Fu". At the same time, Sima Qian said, "Qu Yuan was banished, and then he wrote Li Sao" ("The Records of the Grand Historian - The Preface of the Grand Historian of Tai Shi"), so it is easy to see that the reason why these works were called fugu was related to fugu poems. If we look at the language form alone, there is no difference between Li Sao and Chu Song, but Chu Song is sung, so it is called song; while Li Sao and other works are used to recite, so it is called rhetoric or fugue, but never called song. The works such as Li Sao were meant to be recited, so they were called rhetoric or fugue, but never songs. The prose fugue could not be sung, so they could only be called fugue, not poems or songs. In the history books of the Han Dynasty, there are records of the Emperor letting his ministers recite Chu Rhetoric or loose fugue, which can prove that these two kinds of works were used for recitation at that time, so it can be concluded that the Han Dynasty people used "reciting without singing is called fugue" to explain this kind of genre name of fugue which is correct.

In addition to the above statement, there are people who think that the name of fugue originates from one of the six meanings of the Book of Songs, and its meaning is to spread out. This argument is unfounded. As a matter of fact, when Fu was taken as the name of the genre, the explanation about the six meanings of the Book of Poetry had not yet appeared, and the technique of piling up was commonly used in Fu, especially in the Sao style of Fu. The name fu was never given to it because of its spreading technique.

Fu, at the beginning of its creation, had two basic styles: prose style and tao style, with different styles and different sources. Here, we will talk about loose style fu first.

The earliest prose fu can be traced back to the works of Song Yu and Xun Qing. Xunqing's fu was in the form of cryptic language, and Song Yu's fu was very much like the prose of the Warring States, especially the rhetoric of the travelers of that time. The cryptic language and the prose of the Warring States played a very important role in the emergence of prose fugu. Cryptic language was born in the folk, and later entered the court, mainly spoken by haiku for the king's amusement, sometimes with a bit of satirical meaning. Xunqing's "Fu" was a direct use of the form of cryptic language. However, the cryptic language was generally very short, and it was difficult to develop the kind of long and colorful prose fugu directly from it. What played a decisive role in the formation of prose fugue was the prose of the Warring States period. The lobbying speeches recorded in the Strategies of the Warring States were often elaborated in the dialogues of the characters, which were characterized by the rhetoric of the rhetoric. For example, Su Qin, in order to encourage King Xuan of Qi to fight against the Qin by combining the vertical and vertical columns, tried his best to show the wealth and power of Qi, and his rhetoric made a lot of use of simile and hyperbole, and his sentences incorporated couplets into prose, with a strong momentum and a resounding rhythm, which was very much like the description in the Han Fu. Another example is Zhuang Xin's persuasion of King Xiang of Chu to be prepared for danger in times of peace and security, in which he uses lacewing, yellow sparrow, yellow swan, and Cai Linghou to set up metaphors, and in the end, it actually makes the King of Chu change his color, and his body is in a state of war. The structure and diction of the essay are very similar to a prose fugue. The character dialogues and the rendering in the prose of the sons of the Warring States also have the characteristics of a fugue in some places. In particular, the fables and fables in Zhuangzi, which use the form of dialogues between fictional characters to develop their arguments and descriptions, and in the end, one party is persuaded by the other, have the form and language of the prototype of a prose fugue.

Beimen Cheng asked the Yellow Emperor, "The emperor opened the music of the salty pool in the field of Dongting, and I was afraid of what I heard at the beginning, and then I heard it again, and then I heard it again, and then I was confused, and then I heard it, and then I was silent, and then I didn't get what I wanted."

The emperor said: "You are not! I play to the people, levied by the sky, line with the rites and righteousness, built with the Qing dynasty. The music, the first to respond to the personnel, and to comply with the principles of heaven, the line of five virtues, should be natural. Then, he regulates the four seasons, and harmonizes all things. The four seasons rise and fall, and all things are born accordingly. A flourishing and a declining, Wenwu Lunjing. A clear and a turbid, yin and yang harmony, flow of light and its sound. The stinging insect begins to grow, and I startle it with thunder. The last is without a tail, the first without a head. A death, a life, an instigator together, often infinite, and one can not wait. Thou art therefore afraid. I also play to the harmony of yin and yang, candle to the sun and moon. Its sound can be short can be long, can be soft can be strong, change QiYi, not the Lord of the usual. The valley is full of valleys, and the pit is full of pits. The name of a person is a god, and he is measured by things. His voice is loud and his name is clear. Therefore the ghosts and gods guard their secrets, and the sun, moon, and stars walk in their discipline. I have stopped at the end of the line, and I have flowed to the end of the line. I want to think about it, but can not know it, look at it, but can not see it, by and by, but can not reach it. Unexpectedly stand in the way of the four emptiness, leaning on the haggard wu and chanting; the eye knows poorly in the desire to see, the force is bent in the desire to drive, I am not as good as, already! The form is full of emptiness, and even the snake. You are a snake, so idle. I also play to the sound of no slack, adjusted to the natural life. Therefore, if the mixed chase clumps, forest music and invisible, cloth swing and not trailing, faint and no sound. Move in no way, living in the netherworld, or called death, or called life; or called real, or called glory. They do not have a permanent voice. The world suspects this, and looks to the saints. The saints are the ones who reach their feelings and fulfill their destinies. The five senses of the body are all ready without the opening of heavenly chances. This is called heavenly music, which is spoken without words. Therefore, there are Yan's ode to it, saying: 'Hearing does not hear its sound, seeing does not see its shape, filled with heaven and earth, wrapped in six poles.' You want to listen to it without receiving it, and so confused. The joy of the world begins with fear, and fear is the cause of evil; I am seconded to idleness, and idleness is the cause of recluse; I die in confusion, and confusion is the cause of foolishness; foolishness is the cause of the Way, and the Way can be carried along with it."

The text describes the joy of the salty pool through dialog, with neat and rhyming sentences that are highly readable. Such a text is already very much like a prose fugue. There are many other dialogues of this kind in Zhuangzi, and Guo Moruo said, "The great fugue of the Han Dynasty obviously came from here." (Moruo Wenji, Volume 12, "The Collection of the Present and the Past Pu Jian Present and the Past")

As for the Sao Style Fugue, its source is very clear, that is, the Chu Rhetoric represented by Li Sao. Qu Yuan's Li Sao and Nine Chapters and other works were called Fu in the Han Dynasty, and Jia Yi imitated Chu Rhetoric to hang Qu Yuan in the early Han Dynasty, which was called Hanging Qu Yuan Fu. Later on, many other people in the Han Dynasty also used this form to write fu. Since these works have a relationship with Chu rhetoric, they are called Sao style.

In short, fu is a literary genre used for recitation. It has two basic styles: tao style and prose style. Sao Style Fu is directly developed from Chu Rhetoric. It is closer to poetry because it adopts the style of the tao form, does not use the form of question and answer between the subject and the guest, and focuses on lyricism; it often ends with more musical parts, such as "chaos", "news" and "song", showing its original musicality. It often ends with more musical parts such as "chaos", "news", "song", etc., showing its original musical background. The prose fugue evolved from the cryptic language and the prose of the Warring States. It adopts the form of subject-object question-and-answer, with flexible syntax and mixed rhymes; it is mainly descriptive, and there are also some narrative works; iconic phrases such as "thus," "er nai," "iff," etc. are often used at the beginning of a paragraph. At the beginning of a paragraph, iconic words such as "so on", "er nai", "iff" were often used, which showed the characteristics of its prose culture; the above characteristics also determined its characteristics in means of expression and aesthetics, such as being long in presentation, beautiful rhetoric, and sending irony at the end of a piece, etc. However, this was only a secondary characteristic, not a mark for judging the style. In the process of development of Han Fu, Sao style and prose style penetrate each other and integrate, showing a rich and colorful style.

Section III: The Development of Prose Fugu

From the late Western Han Dynasty to the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, prose fugu was still the main style of fugu, and the writers who had higher achievements were Yang Xiong, Ban Gu and Zhang Heng. In his early years, Yang Xiong wrote "Shudu Fugue", which was the first big fugue in Kyoto in later times. His four fugues, Ganquan, Fei Hunting, Chang Yang, and Hedong, which were made in imitation of Xiangru's fugue, all had a clear satirical purpose. According to the Book of Han - Yang Xiong's biography: "When Emperor Xiaocheng was in his reign, some guests recommended Xiong to write like Xiangru, and when he was seeking for a successor to the ancient sacrifice of Ganquan and Fenyin Houtu, he ordered Xiong to wait for the imperial edict to be issued to the court of Chengming. In the first month of the year, Xiong went up to Ganquan and performed the "Ganquan Fugue" in the wind." The richness of the rhetoric, the imagination of the strange, the image of the colorful and gorgeous, have surpassed the predecessors. In terms of writing style, it did not adopt the traditional form of question-and-answer session between the host and the guest, but directly carried out narrative description. Although the author is to satirize and admonish for the purpose, but the fugue did not put forward the criticism on the luxury of the Ganquan Palace, but only to render its luxury and magnificence, as if to tell people: this is not manpower can be built, in order to make the emperor realize. In the fugue also wrote: "Think of the Queen Mother of the West gladly and on the birthday, screen Jade Lady but the Jade Lady, the Jade Lady has nothing to see its clear Lu Ruoxi, Jade Lady had not been allowed to cast its moth-eyebrows. The Fang took the essence of morality and rigidity, and compared it with the gods and their capital." Li Shan's Annotations to Selected Writings explains these lines, saying, "He realized that good sex was a corruption of morality, so he dismissed the Jade Maiden and added the Mi Concubine. This is also a slight admonition." Obviously, these lines are directed at Emperor Cheng of Han for favoring Zhao Feiyan's sisters, but its ironic meaning is so weak that it is hard to see.

The "Hedong Fugue" was written by Yang Xiong after Emperor Cheng of Han Dynasty went to Fenyin to sacrifice to the Emperor, who traveled along the way to see the ruins of Yin and Zhou, and to think about the winds of Tang and Yu, and Yang Xiong thought that it would be better to go back to his home and tie up the nets than to be envious of fish in Linchuan River and was persuaded to do so in the "Hedong Fugue". Fugue also does not use the form of questions and answers between the host and the guest, but directly recounts the process of sacrifices and tours, only at the end of the fugue to encourage the emperor to strive for excellence: "Anecdotal evidence of the five emperors Ruoxi, tiptoe three of the emperor's high traces, both the brevet in the PingYing Ruoxi, who said that the road is far away and can not be from." This kind of theme and writing style, and "Ganquan Fugue" satirical advice can be said to be the same.

After that, Yang Xiong wrote the "Feather Hunting Fugue" because he was hunting with Emperor Chengdi. He hoped that Emperor Chengdi would learn from history and follow the example of the two emperors and the three kings, instead of opening a wide range of courts and hunts like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The satirical purpose of the fugue is very clear, but in addition to the description of hunting activities, the fugue is the praise of the emperor, and the end of the song, although the end of the elegant, but also just write the emperor himself to give up the tour of the spectator, diligence and love of the people. Such a way of writing is not so much irony as persuasion.

The "Chang Yang Fu" was also written for the purpose of satirizing and admonishing. According to the Book of Han - Yang Xiong biography, in the second year of Yang Xiong wrote "Feather Hunting Fugu", Emperor Cheng, in order to "boast of the Hu people with many beasts", mobilized the people to open the nets to hunt, and the beasts will be sent to the Chang Yang Shooting Bear Hall, "so that the Hu people hand wrestle with it, and take its own catch, on the personal presence of the watch. At that time, the peasants were not allowed to collect. Xiong from to the bear shooting hall, also, on the "Chang Yang Fu, chat because of the pen and ink into the article, so with Hanlin as the master, Zimo for the guest secretary to the wind." This fugue is different from the traditional hunting fugue. Instead of a large-scale narrative description, it was a political treatise with a question-and-answer session between the host and the guest. This makes the author's thoughts and opinions more prominent and does not divert the readers' attention from the descriptions. However, the author did not stand on the side of the critics in the Fu. The criticisms of Zimo and Hakkei originally represented the real thoughts of Yang Xiong, but he denied them in the Fu. Instead, he borrowed the mouth of Hanlin's masters to defend the emperor, and politely told the emperor what he should do through this kind of defense. In this way, the so-called satirical advice is no different from persuasion. In the past, when Emperor Wu was a good immortal, Xiangru went on the "Adult Fugue", wanting to use the wind, and the emperor was misty with the ambition of overriding the clouds. Careless words, Fu persuasion and more than, MingYi. And quite like haiku chun yu kun, you Meng's disciples, the illegal degree of existence, the wise gentleman poetry and fugue of the positive also, so drop out is no longer.

The praise of the East Han Dynasty in the fugue is undisguised, especially for the author's life in the Yongping period, its praise is more than enough. But this kind of praise is neither to overwhelm the Western Han with the prosperity and strength of the Eastern Han, nor to stay in the eulogy of the emperor's achievements, but to focus on the beauty of the moral rule of the Eastern Han and the rites and rituals of indoctrination, and the so-called "folded with the law of the present day" of the law is mainly based on Confucianism, to promote the idea of the king's moral rule and rites and rituals of indoctrination. In line with this ideological tendency, the style of the Fu is also graceful and elegant, and the end of the Fu is purposely arranged in a few quatrains, which pushes this tendency of praising beauty and elegant style to the extreme.

There were also a group of fugu writers in the early Eastern Han Dynasty who showed the same creative tendency. Fu Yi wrote "Luodu Fugu" and "Seven Excitations", Cui Yui wrote "Antidu Fugu", and Li You wrote "Hangu Pass Fugu", "Piyong Fugu", "Dongguan Fugu", "Deyang Temple Fugu", "Pinglianguan Fugu" and so on, which all emphasized on the describing of the prosperity of the system of etiquette, the beauty of the education and the four barbarians and the pomp and ceremony of the service to praise the middle-aged rise of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the moral rule.

In the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a diversified tendency in the creation of prose fugues, which included works of entertainment as well as praise and satirical advice. Zhang Heng's (78-139) Erjingfu (Two Capitals Fugue) was another attempt at satire. The Hou Han Shu - Zhang Heng's Biography says: "Heng was good at writing when he was young. He traveled to the three provinces, entered the capital, and studied at the Imperial College, so he was able to understand the Five Classics and the Six Arts. ...... When the world had been undergoing a long period of time, and no one was too extravagant since the princes and lords were below, Heng was comparing Ban Gu's "Two Capitals" and made the "Two Capitals Fugue", which was used as a satirical admonition. The two capitals were made in order to satirize and admonish the king. In the Fugu, it is assumed that the question and answer between the Duke of Pingxu and Mr. Anshu. In the Xijing Fu, Mr. Pingxu first boasts of the luxury and wealth of Chang'an and the Western Han Dynasty, and criticizes the Eastern Han Dynasty for its "sole thrift and meanness, and nastiness", which is tantamount to setting up a target for the discussion in the Tokyo Fu. The Tokyo Fugue is an argument against the above viewpoints, pointing out sharply the harm of advocating luxury and "oppressing the people to make them happy". The scale of the description of "The Second Beijing Fugue" is much larger, especially it describes the city life, customs and folklore of the Han Dynasty more extensively, and the description of various kinds of acrobatics is a precious historical material for the study of performing arts in the Han Dynasty. The description of various kinds of acrobatics is a precious historical material for the study of performing arts in Han Dynasty. The discussion in the fu is also more focused. However, the basic style of the Fu is still an imitation of its predecessors, and it cannot change the characteristic of persuasion and satire.

The shortcomings of the Han Dynasty Fu are that it is devoted to describe the objective objects, and seldom expresses the inner world and subjective feelings of the author; it adopts the subject-object question-and-answer style and the layer by layer comparison, which is a little bit too dull and less varied; and it is often fond of using strange words and out-of-the-way phrases, which is easy to give people a feeling of chewing wax. But in spite of this, the great fu of the Han Dynasty still occupies an important position in the history of literature. As a representative of the literature of the two Han dynasties, they depicted the social life of the Chinese nation during the period of its great development, reflected the performance of the people at that time in all fields, and glorified the strength and unity of the country, which was of positive significance. In the Han Dafu, the vastness of the territory, the richness of the mountains and rivers, the prosperity of the city, the magnificence of the palace and the richness of the hunting, the songs and dances, the music, the acrobatics, the carriages and the horses, the costumes and other rich and colorful objects were described, which enlarged the field of the subject matter of the ancient literature. They also provided experience for future generations in terms of expression techniques and language use. In particular, Han Da Fu was mainly created as a kind of artwork for people's pleasure, and paid great attention to the beauty of form, which played an indispensable role in the formation of the concept of ancient literature, and in the separation of literature from academics to independence.

Cai Yong at the end of the Han Dynasty, although known for his learning, but also a person of blood. He in Yanxi two years due to good drumming and eunuchs forcibly recruited to go to Luoyang, halfway claimed to be sick and returned, made "the narrative of the line fugue". The preface before the assignment says:

Yanxi two years in the fall, rain over the month. At that time, Liang Ji was newly executed, and Xu Juan, Zuo Zuan and other five marquis trespassed on the noble, in its place and up in the west of the city of Xianmingyuan. People freezing and starving not their lives are many. Baima ordered Li Yun to die for his frankness, and Honglu Chen Jun to save Yun from his crime. Juan to Yu can black piano, since the court edict Chenliu governor, sent Yu to Yanshi. He was sick and was not able to return. The heart is angry about this matter, so I have been described and become Fu.

See this is a work of indignation. The former car is not far away, and the latter is driven into the race. The poor change in the Taiwan pavilion Ruoxi, the people dew place and bed wet. The people are exposed and sleep in the wet. The birds and animals are eliminated, and there is no grain of chaff or arsenic. The company's broad and generous approach to the marketplace has led to the correction of the criticisms of the public. It is not a good idea to have a good time, but it is a good idea to have a good time, and it is a good idea to have a good time.

The bold exposé of the powers that be and the indignation are no less than the "Cynicism of the World Fugue". Cai Yong also has a "check the Yat Fugue", is imitated Zhang Feng "fixed love fugue" and made. In the fugue, it says: "The beauty of the woman of the Shu Demon, the face of Wei Ye and contains honor. There is no relationship between them in heaven and earth, and they have been born for thousands of years. I am pleased with Shu Li, and I love her uniquely but not together. I am not sure if I can write about my feelings, but I am not sure if I have the right intention to do so. The book is to be used for love, and the night is to be used for dreaming." "Thoughts are in my mouth, but I am singing for the spring, and I dare not listen to the mournful voice alone." Its mood is completely consistent with the "Fugue", which is a work of bold expression of love. Cai Yong also has the "green clothes fugue" and "concord marriage fugue" is also the expression of love fugue. In the "Green Clothes Fugue", he lamented that a woman in green clothes was reduced to a lowly position and expressed his deep love for her, and then wrote about the meeting on a snowy night, the hasty parting, and the love for each other after the parting. The Concord Wedding Fugue is about the process of the wedding, vividly recreating the feelings of the wedding night. Both of these works do not contain any metaphor, nor do they contain any sermon on rituals and sentiments, but they boldly express the reality of life. In the field of sex, which was seldom dealt with by writers of the Han Dynasty, the authors revealed their true feelings without any disguise.

The lyrical fugue of the Han Dynasty was unique outside of the large prose fugue. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, this kind of lyrical works flourished and gradually occupied a prominent position in the world of fugue.

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