Journal of East China Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences) ›› 2024, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (1): 57-67.doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5579.2024.01.006

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As People in Troubled Times:A Study of Poems Themed with Wars and Separations in 1644

Wen Zhu   

  • Accepted:2023-12-13 Online:2024-01-15 Published:2024-01-29

Abstract:

In 1644, a year of Jiashen, there was a turning point in the transformation from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. During this period, the literati created a large number of poems themed with wars and separations in combination with their personal experiences. The horrifying Jiashen Incident brought them a psychological blow in addition to the hardships suffered from wars and separations. As a result, there were great differences between the emotions they expressed in poems before and after the incident. The literati also used poems to record the havoc and chaos during the wars and separations that they witnessed, providing detailed documentation about the change of dynasties absent from official historical records. Moreover, the homesickness that the literati presented in those poems themed with wars and separations could provide a special explanation for their life choices after the dynasty was changed.

Key words: the Jiashen Incident, transformation from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, poems themed with wars and separations