This term shows that poetry should indirectly and mildly advise a ruler against wrongdoing. The critic should resort mainly to tactful and sensitive wording, trying not to appear blunt or offensive when admonishing the ruler. The term first appeared in the “Introductions to Mao’s Version of The Book of Songs”; it was created by Confucian scholars…

Family-state referred to the land owned by feudal lords and officials in ancient China. The land of a feudal lord was called “state” and the land of an official was called “family.” In ancient China, family, clan and country shared common structural features, all founded on the basis of blood relationships. This is the so-called “commensurabili…

The term refers to a collection of works by an individual author, in contrast to an anthology which amalgamates the works of many writers. In the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xin(?-23) composed Seven Categories, one of the categories being “The Catalogue of Shi and Fu,” which collects the literary works of 66 writers including Qu Yuan(340?-278?B…

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