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I Chinese Literary Criticism Poetic Criticism before the Sung Dynasty Chinese poetic criticism has a long if somewhat erratic history, but in terms of sheer volume of output it can be said to have reached full bloom only in the Sung dynasty. The ear1iest material that in any way resembles literary criticism consists of scattered pronouncements in Chou dynasty documents on the didactic purpose of poetry, or the interpretation of poems in the Chou dynasty anthology of poetry, Shih ching (Book of odes) on moralistic grounds. Thus we find in the Shang shu (Book of history) the famous pronouncement: ‘Poetry is an expression of the wi11; singing is a chanting of the words.'l Confucius gave sanction to the 305 odes in several passages in the Lun司yü: ‘It is by the Odes that the mind is aroused.'2 ‘If you do not learn the Odes, you wi11 not be fit to converse with戶 'In the Book of Poetry are three hundred pieces, but the design of themall may be embraced in one sentence: “Having no depraved thoughts".'4 And final1y,‘Why do you not study the Book of Poetry? They serve to stimulate the mind. They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation. They teach the art of sociability. They show how to regulate feelings of resentment. From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one's father and the remoter one of serving one's prince. From them we become large1y acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants.'5 The Greater and Lesser Prefaces to the anthology, written in the first century A.D., set the precedent for a moralistic attitude toward poetry that led to many far-fetched and bizarre interpretations over the centuries.6 1 Shang shu, 11, 1/5 (Legge, p. 48). This part of the Shang shu is dated middle to late Chou period. 2 Lun-y札 VIII ， 8 (A11 translations of Lun-yü passages are from Legge). 3Ibid., XVI, 13. 4Ibid., 11, 2. 5Ibid., XVII, 9. 6 The Greater Preface says: 'Therefore, correctly to set forth the successes and failures [of government], to move Heaven and Earth, and to excite spiritual Beings to action, there is no readier instrument than poetry. The former kings by this regulated the duties of husband and wife, effectua11y inculcated fìlial obedience and reverence,secured attention to a11 the relations of society, adorned the transforming infiuence of instruction, and transformed manners and customs.' (tr. Legge, The Chinese classics, IV, part 1, Prolegomena, p. 34). 2 Chinese Literary Criticism The view that not a111iterary writing was necessarily an instrument designed to elevate or educate, that it might in fact have an identity of its own as literature, began to emerge in the third century A.D. And with this view came the first work that could be termed proper literary criticism, Ts'ao P'i's (187-226) ‘Lun wen' (Essay on literature). In a few short pages Ts'ao P'i discussed inter alia various forms of writing, including poetry,and the relative worth of certain writers in these forms. Most important in considering literature, he felt, was a certain vital force (ch 勾 which is to be found in varying degrees and forms in every writer. ‘\Vhether this vital force assumes a form clear-light or mud-heavy cannot be determined by force,' he said.7 One is born with it but cannot inherit it, nor can it be handed on through instruction. Much more pretentious yet stil1 a far cry from a detailed exposition on literature was Lu Chi's (261-303) ‘Wen 臼， (Fu on literature),8 which describes the creative process of the poet from the forming of the thought to the actual writing. It also describes the various genres and what is to be expected of each as wel1 as the techniques for writing good literature. Al1 this is written in beautiful1y ornate fu style. During the next few centuries scholars expressed their views on poetry in marginal notes,letters,prefaces,textual comments on individual poems, poems themselv凹， and paragraphs here and there in books of family instruction. Much of this activity stemmed from the desire expressed earlier by Ts'ao P'i to delineate just what literature was. The philosophers had been concerned with the function of writing for didactic or utilitarian purposes, that is, to teach a lesson or to impart information which would contribute to human well-being. 明Tith the emergence offu in the Han dynasty...

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