Discrimination of the Concepts of Yili,Shifa and Yifa from the Perspective of Essay Writing Methods
The concepts of Yili(essay structuring methods)and Shifa(history writing methods)affected the development of essay writing methods in varying degrees.Highlighting thoughts of essays,these two con-cepts also affected the viewpoints of the theory of Yifa(essay writing principles)that emphasizes the thoughts of essays and the connection of thoughts with corresponding methods.The thoughts of Confucian classics studies or historiography are somewhat the common values recognized by scholars of all ages,while the thoughts of an essay often reflect the author's learning and spiritual temperament.The concepts of Yili,Shifa and Yifa all emphasize the"methods"of essay writing and material selection,but they differ significantly in connotation and denotation.Specifically,Confucian classics scholars emphasized the usage of words and sentences,believing that"one can praise or criticize a person even with a single word",while the foundation of Shifa lies in the stylistic rules and layout.In his seminal work Shi Tong(Generality of Historiography),the Tang scholar Liu Zhiji summarized the narrative history writing method,which was further accepted by the Ming scholars in their commentaries on Zuo Zhuan(The Chronicle of Zuo)and Shi Ji(Records of the Grand Historian).On this basis,the Qing scholar Fang Bao put forward his theory of Yifa to reduce the flashy writ-ing methods used since the Ming,advocating that writing methods should change with thoughts and priority should be given to essay organization,which set the tendency of the Qing essay writing studies.
essay writing methodstheory of YifaYiliShifaFang Baothe Qing dynasty
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