Chinese Rhetoric and Writing - An Introduction for Language Teachers, 2012a

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Chapter 5 particularly during the Qing Dynasty. However, in the earlier Song dynasty, the Shuyuan put an emphasis on the writing of prose masters or Shanzhang, and down-played the role of being examination preparation courses. The Shuyuan students studied, what were for them, contemporary essays on their own rather than reading the Classics and Histories in their preparation for the imperial civil service examinations. However, by the time of the Northern Song Dynasty in the thirteenth century, examination courses had become an essential component of the Shuyuan curriculum. Examination courses became even more dominant in the Ming and Qing dynasties (Yang and Peng 25). Examinations fell into two types: those held by the government; and those held by the local government officials. In addition, there were also examinations within the Shuyuan and which were administered by the Shanzhang. The frequency of examinations varied from Shuyuan to Shuyuan, ranging from one to six examinations per month. The major content of the Shuyuan examinations included one baguwen based on Four Books, and one shitie poem (standard exam poem). The examination courses were primarily to prepare students for the Imperial Examination (or Civil Service Examination). There were also awards for top achievers. As shitie poems and baguwen essays comprised the major content of the imperial civil examinations, it is important for the readers to have some background knowledge of these unique genres of writing. We have discussed and illustrated baguwen essays in the previous chapter, so we briefly describe the shitie poem in this section. The shitie poem was a format for testing poetry writing in the imperial civil service examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties, basically from the mid-seventeenth century until the turn of the twentieth century. In addition to the encoded and implied meanings in the poetry, the very specific requirements for rhyming, symmetry, tonal balance and couplet styles also make these shitie poems difficult to write or compose. In this, they resemble the medieval cursus. The form originated in the Tang dynasty. Like the baguwen, the format of shitie poem changed over time. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, it comprised four or six couplets, while in the Qing Dynasty, it became eight couplets to complement the eight-legged style. Each couplet contained two five-character verses, and the verses had to be rhymed in various ways. There were many other specific requirements for composing Shitie poems. For example, certain rhymes such as a repetition rhyme and a synonym rhyme had to be avoided. The titles of Shitie poems were usually taken from a verse in a classical poem, or from a proverb. Those who took the civil service examinations had to be very knowledgeable about these verses and proverbs so that they could elaborate on them, and follow the explicit regulations for shitie poem writing. This made the intensive and extensive reading in the earlier stages of Shuyuan education described earlier so essential. 102
Shuyuan and Chinese Writing Training and Practice THE SHUYUAN’S COLLECTION OF BOOKS One of the major functions of the Shuyuan was to collect and print books. The Shuyuan’s collection of books fell into three categories, namely “books for the public”, “books for teaching and learning”, and “academic books”. The “books for the public” offered an extensive range, covering Jing (Confucian classics), Shi (historical records), Zi (philosophical writings), and Ji (belleslettres). The “books for teaching and learning” included textbooks and other curriculum teaching materials and references, and they were mostly related to specific courses within the curriculum. The “academic books” included research findings of Shuyuan staff and students. The latter two categories were unique to Shuyuan, and they were accorded high value. The “books for the public” were classified into four sections, namely the Classics, the Histories, Philosophy and Belles-lettres pieces. Even though some will by now be familiar to readers, here we give a full list of titles under the Classics and Histories categories to show how diverse these were. Section 1 included “Jing (Classics)”, and comprised the Yi Jing (The Book of Change), the Shu Jing (The Book of History), the Shi Jing (The Book of Songs), the Li Ji (The Book of Rites), the Yue (The Book of Music), the Chun Qiu (The Spring and Autumn Annals), the Xiao Jing (The Classic of Filial Piety), the Si Shu (Four Books), i.e., the Lun Yu (The Analects), the Mengzi (The Book of Mencius), the Da Xue (The Great Learning), the Zhong Yong (The Doctrine of the Mean), the Xiao Xue (The Lesser Learning); and a number of dictionaries such as the Erya. Section 2 included Shi (Histories), comprising the Zheng Shi (Standard Dynastic Histories), the Bian Nian (Annals or Chronicles), the Ji Shi Ben Mo (Historical Events in their Entirety), the Bie Shi (Alternative Histories), the Za Shi (Miscellaneous Histories), the Zhao Ling Zou Yi (Edicts and Memorials), Zhuanji (Biographies), Shi Chao (Historical excerpts), Zaiji (Regional Histories), Shi Ling (Seasonal Ordinances), Di Li (The Geographical Gazetteer), Zhi Guan (Offices: official ranks and titles), Zheng Shu (Political Treaties and Ordinances), Mu Lu (Bibliographies) and Shi Ping (Historical Critiques). Section 3 focused on the major philosophers including the Confucians, the Buddhists, the Taoists and a number of other sects and texts, including books on agriculture, medicine and magic and divination. Section 4 comprised Ji (Belles-lettres) which is where the Wenxin Diaolong was found as were other books of literary criticism and general collections of prose and poetry. The “books for teaching and learning”, included annotations and commentaries of the classics and histories by influential scholars and the final category of “academic books”, included academic works by various Shuyuan staff 103
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CHINESE RHETORIC AND WRITING AN INT
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PERSPECTIVES ON WRITING Series Edit
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The WAC Clearinghouse, Fort Collins
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CHINESE RHETORIC AND WRITING: AN IN
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Introduction that there are more sp
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Introduction in Beijing, where he a
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Introduction Chapter 1 also demonst
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Introduction common, along with the
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12
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Chapter 1 called various branches o
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Chapter 1 plea, or speech, into eit
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Chapter 1 the temple and the hall,
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Chapter 1 were used to successively
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Chapter 1 from Emperor to subject,
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Chapter 1 getting confused, who soa
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Chapter 1 similarities of the advic
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Chapter 1 to create an environment
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2 THE LITERARY BACKGROUND AND RHETO
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Literary Background and Rhetorical
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Chapter 8 everlasting truth. Dewey
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Chapter 8 We now turn to briefly re
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Chapter 8 Was BE an imperialist con
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Chapter 8 Wang defines double-faced
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9 PARTY POLITICS, THE CULTURAL REVO
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Party Politics, the Cultural Revolu
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Chapter 10 UNIVERSITY WRITING COURS
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Chapter 10 but a weak and incompati
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Chapter 10 writing process, for exa
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Chapter 10 and task for 2000 was a
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Chapter 10 writing compositions] is
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Chapter 10 common for non-Chinese m
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Conclusion BECAUSE x n +THEREFORE x
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Conclusion current lack of an accep
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Works Cited Chafe, Wallace L. “Gi
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Works Cited “Four Examination Ess
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Works Cited Kirkpatrick, Andy. “A
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Works Cited Ma, Zhengping. Advanced
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Works Cited Sun, Shaozhen. “Prefa
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Works Cited Yang, Ling, and David C
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NOTES This chronological division
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Chinese Rhetoric and Writing (biogr
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