Jian'an Literature - An Important Era for the Development of Ancient Chinese Literature

2016-02-29  Source: Cultural China

Jian'an was the reign title of Liu Xie, Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who was in power from 196 AD to 220 AD. Jian'an Literature in literary history refers to the literature between Dong Zhuo's Rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (189 AD) and the death of Cao Zhi in the early Wei Dynasty (232 AD). Literary works (predominately poems) of this period reflected social unrest, the displacement of people and other social issues, expressing the authors' wishes to make contributions to the country and to achieve national unity. These impassioned and sad works are mostly in five-character verses with a hard-hitting diction. Literary poems were the main theme of literary creation of that period. Representative writers include "the Three Caos", "the Seven Scholars of Jian'an" and Cai Yan etc.

Jian'an Literature was an important era for the development of ancient Chinese literature. Poems of that period continued the excellent tradition of Han-Dynasty ballad style by mirroring real social life and gave full play to the style. Jian'an Poems were mostly lyric poems. Scholars of the late Eastern Han Dynasty may also have created some five-character verses, but the subjects were mainly about yearning for women by men traveling far away from home, failing to paint a full picture of social reality like Ji'an Poems.

Meanwhile, Cao Cao and other scholars revolutionized the folk-song-style poems by writing current affairs with the old titles of such poems. Cao Pi's Yangexing (Sumptuous Feasting Song) was one of the earliest seven-character literary poems of China. And Cao Cao's prose was elegant and unconventional, so much so that it was praised by Lu Xun as the ancestor of literary revolution. What's also worth mentioning is the fu or descriptive prose of Jia'an period. These descriptive prose works were mostly short lyric prose and the most well-known works include Wang Can's Denglou Fu (Ascending the Tower) and Cao Zhi's Luoshen Fu (the Luo River Goddess) that are widely read throughout the ages.

Cao Pi's On Literature and Cao Zhi's To Yang Dezu were important literary critic works of Jian’an period. The solemn and heart-stirring tone of Jian'an literature was referred to as "Jian'an Style" by later generations. The Jian'an Style had a far-reaching impact on the development of literature in later ages.