Ji Yun and Yuan Mei were the flagships of the scholars and the literati during Qianlong’s reign. Nonetheless, they represented two different types of officialdom. Ji forged a successful career as an official honored with a grand title in the imperial court, while Yuan experienced a number of frustrations throughout his career and was treated as an insignificant official by the imperial court. Besides, the northern gifted scholar Ji Yun had ever traveled to the border area, while the southern gifted scholar Yuan Mei spent his lifetime living in the Jiangnan area. Accordingly, they demonstrated two completely different trajectories of life experiences. Notes from Yuewei Studio (Yuewei Caotang Biji) written by Ji and What the Master Would Not Discuss (Zibuyu) written by Yuan were two literary sketches highly praised by the society. They embodied the mainstream aesthetic point of view during Qianlong’s reign.
A large number of studies on the two works either focused simply on specific topics that led to narrow horizons, or unfairly criticized the two works by comparing them with Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai Zhiyi). This dissertation instead places the two works in the historical context of the flourishing age under the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, which is an approach rarely employed in related studies. On a more specific basis, this dissertation conducts a systematic and synthetic analysis of the two works in terms of the perspective on “xiaoshuo” at that time as well as the political situation, academic thinking, and religious thought during Qianlong’s reign.
This dissertation proceeds in six chapters. Chapter one provides a literature review and an overview on the motive, purpose, scope and methods of this study.
Chapter two discusses the Catalog of the Complete Imperial Library (Siku Quanshu Zongmu) compiled under Qianlong’s commission. It reflected not only the painstaking effort of many brilliant scholars but also the academic mainstream during Qianlong’s reign. Recognizing the status of “xiaoshuo” in Siku Quanshu Zongmu is therefore a prerequisite to the understanding of the perspective on “xiaoshuo” at that time. This chapter firstly treats the category of “xiaoshuojia” in Zibu of Siku Quanshu Zongmu as the object of research, thereby explicating the opinions of the coeval literati and scholar-officials on this type of Chinese literature. It then investigates Ji’s and Yuan’s creative motives and perspectives on “xiaoshuo.” Finally, it clarifies the coeval intellectuals’ understanding of the differences between the mainstream perspective during Qianlong’s reign and those of the two scholars, and thereby reveals the differences and similarities between the two scholars’ perspectives on “xiaoshuo.”
Chapter three analyzes the stories regarding the Imperial Examination contained in Yuewei Caotang Biji and Zibuyu, thereby expounding Qianlong’s policy on this political institution. In aspects of examiner, candidate and the eight-legged essay, this chapter elaborates not only on how these actors dealt with this institutional constraint that was closely linked to their lives, but also on how they observed the defects in this examination system. Based on the images of government officials depicted in the two works, this chapter further explores how Ji and Yuan evaluated the quality of governance in their times and what counted as good governance for them.
Chapter four outlines the background to the academic development during the reigns of the Qianlong and Jiaqing Emperors, a period bursting with the greatest academic vitality in comparison with the other periods of the Qing Dynasty. It was also a period in which the paradigmatic contention between Neo-Confucianism and Sinology escalated. In view of the gradual loss of Neo-Confucianism’s vitality and practicability, some scholars appropriated the merits of Sinology to remedy the deficiencies of Neo-Confucianism, which unintentionally caused a new boom of Sinology. Living in an era of vigorous academic atmosphere, Ji and Yuan might be consciously or unconsciously influenced by the milieu. Their thoughts were definitely uplifted by the Zeitgeist, and their deeds inevitably bore the signature of their times. Analyzing the stories in Yuewei Caotang Biji and Zibuyu, this chapter explicates how Ji and Yuan fulfilled their respective academic aspirations.
Chapter five revolves around the religious concept of “karma.” Based on real political demands, the Qing Emperors maintained a fundamental arrangement, effectively integrating Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in a way that the first played the dominant role while the last two served as auxiliary forces. Analyzing the religion-related stories in Yuewei Caotang Biji and Zibuyu, this chapter illustrates Ji’s and Yuan’s attitudes about religious thoughts.
Chapter six concludes with a synthetic analysis of the findings derived from the previous chapters of this dissertation. It also collates and summarizes the general connotations of Yuewei Caotang Biji and Zibuyu, and finally puts forward some suggestions for further research.