Abstract:

The literature in the Wei and Jin Dynasties has always been known as the manifestation of the elegance style of that time, and this is due to the fact that the traditional style of elegance had been impacted. However, since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the literati, including Zhong Changtong, had made efforts to reconstruct a new style of elegance while abandoning its tradition. The relationship between abandonment and reconstruction was complex. In terms of deconstruction, it was mainly the change of times and the fate of literati that formed a concept of literature as well as its knowledge system different from that in the Han Dynasty. Fon instance, the beauty of qi and the style of gorgeousness were pursued in the poetry in the Jian’an period. The rise of the “metaphysical learning” in the Zhengshi period and Buddhism also helped to deconstruct the traditional style of elegance. The literary writing of emperors and literati in the Wei and Jin Dynasties organically integrated abandonment and reconstruction, and create a literary form that combines political cultivation and aesthetics, thus laying a good foundation for the development of literature in the Tang Dynasty.

Key words: the style of elegance, literature in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, abandonment of the Six Classics, reconstruction of tradition