Journal of East China Normal University (Philosoph ›› 2017, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (2): 107-115.doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2017.02.011

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Seeking for the Implication of Praise or Censure just from Literal Meaning: On the Characteristics of OUYANG Xiu's Study of Chunqiu from the Perspective of Yuyi Records

CHENG Wei   

  • Online:2017-03-15 Published:2017-03-23

Abstract: When he was exiled as the county magistrate of Yiling, OUYANG Xiu recorded his trip to Yiling in one volume of Yuyi Records(Records on Service). This book, for the first time, expressed his understanding of two purposes of the "writing styles of Chunqiu(Spring and Autumn Annals)": literally recording actual events and making praise or censure. While the latter was the consensus among the scholars of Chunqiu, the former was quite innovative. It is of great significance in the history of Confucian classics studies since it revealed OUYANG's efforts to reestablish objective criteria of interpreting Confucian classics in the new academic trend of "following the classics directly after abandoning traditional annotations" since the Mid-Tang Dynasty. Yuyi Records is unique, in which OUYANG made an innovative writing practice by adopting the "writing styles of Chunqiu" to record his own experience.

Key words: OUYANG Xiu, Yuyi Records, writing styles of Chunqiu, literal meaning, praise or censure