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"Xi Bao Xuan Letters" is a collection of letters by Yao Nai in his middle and later years during the Qing Dynasty. It richly contains layers of literary theories, Confucian ideology, as well as trivial matters in life. Its narrative methods and perspectives are rare in Yao Nai's other collection of poems and essays, thus indispensable for Yao Nai research. Although, most researchers regard this book as an addition to the collection of his poetry and essays, and only quoting fragments of its content instead of discussing it as a whole. Therefore, this article focuses on "Xi Bao Xuan Letters", explores its extraordinariness from five aspects, including personages he communicates with, life trivia, literary theory, Confucian ideology, and art of his writing.
This article is divided into eight chapters based on the five aspects listed above; The first chapter explains the research motivation and purpose, reviews previous literature, define the research scope and approach, formulates the research methods and procedures, plans the research framework; the second chapter is "The Important Characters in Xibaoxuan Letters and Their Relationship with Yao Nai”. This chapter is divided into four parts, discuss about Yao Nai’s relationship and bound with his teachers, family and relatives, peers and friends, four masters and students of the TongCheng School respectively, building up the foundation to understand “Xi Bao Xuan Letters” ; Chapter 3 "The Trivial Life Matters " categorized into four writings including personal life, family life and Patriotism, experience inheritance, and Feng Shui burial custom, from which we could explore subtle sentiment in daily life; Chapter 4 "The Academic Viewpoints” in "Xi Bao Xuan Letters"" analyzes the Confucianism theory, the establishment of academic standpoint and study methods explained in the book;
In Chapter 5, "The Literary Perspective and Orientations in "Xi Bao Xuan Letters"”, the literary perspective of the book is discussed in 3 approaches include General Literature theory, Creation theory, and Criticism theory; Chapter 6 "The Writing Art of "Xi bao Xuan Letters"" presents the writing style, text art and common rhetoric techniques of "Xi Bao Xuan Letters" ; Chapter 7 "The Value and Influence of "Xi Bao Xuan Letters"" extends inside-out, elaborate the value of "Xi Bao Xuan Letters" in the related research field, how it completes the essays collection, demonstrate unique merger of scholars and literati's viewpoints. We also discuss how it deepen the knowledge of Yao's disciples and influence the later period of Tongcheng School; Chapter 8 is the conclusion.
This article sequentially extends from the outside to the inner, from the inner to the expansion of influence, hoping to fully present the beauty of " Xi Bao Xuan Letters ", thus deepen our knowledge of the study of Yao Nai and Tongcheng School.
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