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Abstract Throughout his life, Weizhen Yang travelled to the Wu region including Gu’su, Hu’zhou, Song’jiang and Kun’shan for many times. He first set foot on the land in the fifth year of Tai’ding (1328 A.D.) after leaving the then capital and composed ancient Yuefu poems and responded to those by Xiaoguang Li. In the years that followed, Weizhen Yang visited the Wu region for several times and even settled down in Song’jiang later on in his life until death. Yang’s trips to Wu directly fueled the advancement of the ancient Yuefu movement and reshaped the literary landscape at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. With his influence, not only was the center of the ancient Yuefu movement moved from Hangzhou to Song’jiang, but also the literature community in Southeast China emerged in the late Yuan Dynasty, leading to the highlight of the literature arena moving to the south and the shift and redirection of the development of literature.
There are four most important visits to the Wu region of Yang that have great significance on the poetic style at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, especially with respect to the ancient Yuefu movement, namely, the 1328 and 1346 visits to Gu’su and the 1349 and 1359 ones to Song’jiang. The reasons why Yang paid repeated visits to the Wu region and eventually chose to live in Song’jiang were rather complex. To name just a few, first, the profound historical legacy, rich cultural heritage and long literary tradition are critical in attracting Yang to the Wu region and Song’jiang, in particular; second, the stunning natural scenery strongly interested Yang; third, the Wu region provided a relatively tranquil living environment for Yang; besides, Yang’s relocation to Song’jiang was also aimed at promoting the ancient Yuefu movement that he led, extending its influence and gaining more attention; finally, the maritime cargo shipping allowed by the Yuan Empire alongside China’s southeastern coastal line vitalized the urban economy of cities like Song’jiang and Tai’cang. Scholars from other places of the country tended to settle and gather in Wu for its prosperous business, soaring local population, cultural diversity and an environment featuring openness, inclusiveness and freedom. Through multiple times of teaching, visiting and eventually settling down in the Wu region, Yang convened a large group of local poets and those came to study and hide from disasters from the outside, which further enlarged the scope where the ancient Yuefu movement exerted influence, transferred its center from Qian’tang to Song’jiang and climaxed the movement.
Yang’s travels to Wu pushed forward the ancient Yuefu movement, enabled its thriving and also left far-reaching impact on the reshaping of the literary landscape at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. On the one hand, the Southeast China centered in Wu’zhong suddenly became the highlight of the poetic arena of that period. Relying on the platform and finance offered by Ying Gu, an affluent businessperson and scholar in Kun’shan, Yang actively engaged himself in hosting salons and academic meetings by fully utilizing his talent, ingenuity, temperament and influence as the leader of the scholars. Renowned scholars from the southeast and even across the country came over because of Yang. Together, they versified relentlessly, making it the center of China’s poetic arena. On the other hand, large groups of general citizens and scholars who did not work as officials participated a lot in the literary movements initiated by Yang, writing Yuefu poems in response to each other. This contributed to the popularity of poetry in the lower class and more of those people became the backbone of the poetic community. During his stay in the Wu region, Yang mostly presented himself in the community as an ordinary scholar with no big difference from the general public. Moreover, the pursuit of poetry being regular and available to everyone had always been part of his poetic ideal. Also, the majority of those who communicated and travelled with Yang were scholars without official titles and ordinary people were often found as the protagonists or receivers of the articles and poems in his collection. Therefore, it is fair to say that Yang’s literary activities in Wu helped the formation of the literature with the general public as major contributors, rendering the focus of literature closer to the grassroots.
In terms of the major trend of the development of the Chinese literature, it is true that immense historic changes took place at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, but regrettably, literature embraced again the development mode with upper-class scholars as main contributors and political education as the primary goal after the low ebb at the beginning of the newly established Ming Dynasty and the intensified tyrannical monarchy. Later on, literature took on a new look characterized by an increasingly elegant and formal style that better met the needs of the ruling class.
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Published: 03 June 2023
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