Chinese Literature: Hu Feng and Lu Ling (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), chapters 1-3. 39. Ai Qing xi'J·, Shilun E~ i! il (Treatise on poetry)(Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1980), 57. In the essay" Shi de sanbu" M'B" JJlXff (Excursion of poetry), Ai Qing argues for the importance of poetry by referring to Bai Juyi's statement" Poetry is that which is rooted in feeling, sprouting in language, flowering in sound, and fruiting in meaning." Bai's quote"~:; If. tli't# S'ia.¥ il.'! 1!¥ ii" is from" Yu Yuanjiu shu" t'5G 11.~(Letter to Yuan Zhen), in Bai] uyijijianjiao 8P: SJ:: lt3if~(Works of Bai juyi with annotations)(Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2003), vol. 5, 2790. 40. Xu Chi~~." Zuguosong xu"": fli~'L: J'!" I}(Preface to" ode to my mother country," 1959), quoted from Yan] iayan/l#: ik., ed., Ershi shiji zhongguo wenxueshi (History of modern Chinese literature of the twentieth century)(Beijing: Gaodengjiaoyu chubanshe, 2010), vol. 3, 40. The author of the chapter in which the quote appears is Wang Guangming+: J'tBJ].