Throughout the 15(superscript th) century, i.e. the first half of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the writers in the Imperial Ministries were very influential in China. Deeply affected by the Imperial Government and neo-Confucianism, these writers preferred pure and refined articles eulogizing the flourishing ages of harmony, prosperity and peace. At the beginning of the 16(superscript th) century, however, this literary trend was displaced by classicism. Qu Yuan (ca.343-ca.277B.C.) was regarded a heretic of Confucianism and much criticized, hence the writers in the Imperial Ministries made few comments to Chuci, a poetry collection in which Qu's works were compiled. Due to the political, academic, regional and individual factors, some criticizers emerged in the 15(superscript th) century and expressed their opinions against the writers in the Imperial Ministries, and many of them were the natives of the present Jiangsu Province. These criticizers can be regarded as the pioneers of the 16(superscript th) century's classicists. Due to the unique nature of Chuci, the new academic characteristics would be immediately found in the discussions about Chuci, as long as there was a change in the academic trend in the traditional society dominated by Confucianism. This article therefore aims to carry out an investigation of the Chuci study of these pioneers of classicism from Jiangsu, and to examine how they interacted with the the writers in the Imperial Ministries through Chuci.