This dissertation discusses the situation of using the Poems in prime Tang Dynasty from the dissemination perspective of the Poems. The study of Confucian Classics is three-fold: disseminating, interpreting and using the Classics. With the overview of the traditional study of Confucian Classics, ample research has been investigated to interpret the Classics in view of the Classics of Poems included in the Complete Catalogue of the Four Treasures. Little research, however, has been explored from the dissemination aspect. In addition, studies on using Confucian Classics were few and far between. Speaking of the Confucian Classics, before the Confucian time in Chou Dynasty when the education of poetry, writing, rites and music was adopted, the Classics of Poems were the learning materials for children of noble family. It was not until Confucius’ disciples mastered the Six Arts that the Six Classics, the Poems, the Book, the Changes, the Rites, the Music, and the Chun Qiu (the Spring and Autumn Annals), became the classics in Confucianism. The Emperor Hanwu banned hundreds of schools of thoughts and paid supreme tribute to Confucianism, thus setting up the Five Classics Doctorate. The books of Poetry, Writing, Changes, Rites and Chun Qiu became the profit-making pathway for all the intellectuals in China. During Tang and Prime Sui Dynasties, government officials were selected through the Imperial Examination System. The Five Classics of the Confucian classics were still the main test contents in the school education in Tang Dynasty and the Imperial Examination System for the intellectuals to become government officials. In addition, Chu Xi compiled the Four Books: the Analects of Confucius, the Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean (the latter two in the Book of Rites), which became the textbooks for test-takers in the Imperial Examination System in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Five Classics became the Thirteen Classics; the Confucian classics were hence studied by all the intellectuals in China. For the past thousands or hundreds of years, Chinese intellectuals have studied the classics day and night. What they had discussed was the Five Classics and the Thirteen Classics in the Confucian classics. The Classics has become the moral books and common memories for Chinese intellectuals. It is taken for granted that Chinese intellectuals tend to cite famous works while creating, which has been left under-researched. The fact is that the research value should not be discredited in the issues of receiving and disseminating the classics in the creations of Chinese intellectuals, who received and disseminated the classics whether knowingly or unknowingly. Instead, in the contemporary era when dissemination awareness is dominant, research on using the Classics in the traditional study of the Classics from the dissemination perspective has become the mainstream in order to join the bandwagon of the current thoughts of the era. More attention will be paid to the research area in connection with the global thoughts. The study was conducted in such an academic atmosphere with an aim to display the dissemination of the Classics in the traditional Chinese historical origins.
The Classics of Poems in the Five Classics is relatively familiar in the Confucian Classics. The Tang Poems is the peak of Chinese poetry, and the poems in prime Tang Dynasty are the top of the peak. The situation of reception and dissemination between two kinds of poems is the main focus of the study. The study is composed of seven chapters. Chapter One is the introduction that includes the research motivation, the overview of using the Classics, prior studies, research purpose and methodology. Chapter Two is the Poems and the Tang Poetry, divided into four parts, including the background of Confucian Classics, the educational imperial examination system, the poetry thoughts, and the analysis of Using Poems in Tang Poetry. Chapter Three is the analysis of Using Poems, discussed from the perspectives of Chang Yue and Chang Jiu-ling. Chapter Four is the analysis of Using Poems, discussed from the perspectives of Wang Chang-ling, Meng Hao-ran, and Wang Wei. Chapter Five is the analysis of Using Poems, discussed from the perspectives of Li Po, Kao Shi, and Chen Shen. Chapter Six is the analysis of Using Poems, discussed from the perspective of Du Fu. Chapter Seven concludes with the research results, significance and value, for the purpose of bringing innovation to the conventional studies of Confucian Classics, shedding light on the analysis of Using Poems in the Classics of Poems in Prime Tang Dynasty, and narrowing the gap of the extant literature on using the Classics in the existing research for future references.