Adhere to the stance of Chinese culture and promote the construction of literary system

Author: Doloken (Director and Professor of the Center for the Inheritance and Development of Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture at Northwest University for Nationalities)

Since the mid-20th century, the refinement and construction of the "lyrical tradition" have provided important paradigm resources for Chinese literary research to surpass Western discourse and demonstrate its own aesthetic subjectivity. From Chen Shixiang's initial proposal to the systematic exposition by Gao Yougong, Yuwen Suo'an, and others, "lyricism" has been distilled as a fundamental characteristic that distinguishes Chinese literature from Western narrative traditions, and has profoundly influenced the way modern academia understands Chinese literature. However, the effectiveness of paradigms often comes with limitations in perspective: when the research focus continues to tilt towards aesthetic sensitivity, artistic conception creation, and personal emotional expression, the broader concern for civilization in the Chinese literary tradition, especially the "distinction between literature and Taoism" as an important proposition in Neo Confucianism, inevitably retreats to the edge of theoretical perspectives, or is simplified into moral dogma that suppresses literary nature, or is suspended outside the "pure literary" historical perspective and loses its depth of interpretation. In fact, the distinction between literature and Taoism is not limited to debates over creative techniques or stylistic functions, but is deeply related to the "unified" civilization order and has the nature of ideological propositions. From the establishment of ontology to the practice of culture and education, and then to the construction of Confucianism and culture, the theory of Neo Confucianism and culture has always been intertwined with the deep logic of Confucian value reconstruction, social education, and cultural identity, and has formed a complex discourse system that connects values, aesthetics, and governance in the millennium evolution. However, under the long-term dominance of the "lyrical tradition" paradigm, its significance and function in constructing a cultural community have not been fully recognized.

Paradigm Deviation: The Hidden Tradition of Literature and Taoism

The proposal of the Chinese "lyrical tradition" is an important cultural consciousness in the modern academic context. In the mid-20th century, Chen Shixiang was the first to summarize the basic characteristics of Chinese literature with the "lyrical tradition", believing that it was different from the Western literary tradition that mainly relied on narrative, with a focus on expressing emotions and pursuing an aesthetic effect of blending emotions and scenes. Subsequently, through the systematic exposition of scholars such as Gao Yougong and Yuwen Suo'an, this paradigm gradually became the mainstream discourse in Chinese literary research. From the Book of Songs and Chu Ci to Tang and Song poetry, its aesthetic context has been continuously sorted and strengthened.

The contribution of this paradigm cannot be ignored. It has found an independent value anchor for Chinese literature under the discourse system of Western literary theory, and is an important step towards the autonomy of Chinese literary theory. However, the lyrical tradition theory potentially uses "aesthetic self-discipline" as a criterion for evaluation, tending to separate literature from ideological, political, and social contexts, and screen and interpret classics purely from an aesthetic perspective. Under this standard, the literary theory of Song and Ming Neo Confucianism is often placed in opposition to aesthetic expression due to its prescriptive discourse on literary functions, and its advocacy of "literature as a means of conveying ideas" is often simplified into a tool based literary view.

The bias of this interpretation lies in the fact that it essentially cuts the traditional "miscellaneous literature" of ancient China based on the concept of "pure literature" of later generations, and extracts the cultural soil from which the relationship between literature and Taoism can be generated. In the overall structure of Chinese civilization, "literature" is not a pure artistic category independent of politics, religion, and ethics, but an inherent component of the ritual and music civilization system; The theoretical focus of the relationship between literature and Taoism is not on the dispute between form and content, but on deeper ideological propositions such as value unity, social education, and civilization inheritance. The theory of "lyrical tradition" highlights the artistic characteristics of Chinese literature, but weakens the focus on its cultural integration function, thus failing to fully explain the significance of Chinese literature in the construction of civilization in the historical process. In view of this, the true connotation and cultural value of the tradition of Neo Confucianism and Taoism need to be re recognized and excavated in a new academic perspective.

The Dimension of Civilization: The Inner Logic of Neo Confucianism, Literature, and Taoism

The 'great unification' of China not only includes the unity of territory and political integration, but also the unity of cultural values and the continuation of civilization order. The emergence and development of Neo Confucianism, literature, and Taoism have always been deeply related to the need for a unified civilization. From this perspective, the connotation of the relationship between Neo Confucianism, literature, and Taoism can be expanded into three interrelated dimensions: ontology, education, and integration.

The primary connotation of the relationship between literature and Taoism is to establish a unified ontological basis for the diverse literary works, so that literary creation and criticism have a place to rely on, and not lose their essence due to detachment from fundamental value principles. Zhou Dunyi proposed in "Wenci" of the "Tongshu" that "literature carries the Tao", which is often understood as taking the Tao as the foundation and literature as the end, but in fact, it also establishes the value source of literature. Starting from the basic premise of Neo Confucianism, the Tao points to the origin of all things in the universe and the common values of human society, while literature is the carrier through which the concept of the Tao is conveyed. Therefore, the theory of Wen Dao actually provides a unified value benchmark for diverse literary expressions, providing a basis for literary creation and unifying diverse aesthetic orientations under a common value orientation.

Cheng Yi's theory that "writing harms the Tao" does not oppose all articles, but rather the use of specialized language and phrases that are pleasing to the ears and eyes. Its purpose is to take the Confucian Way as the value basis and ensure that literary creation does not deviate from fundamental principles. Zhu Xi further pushed the relationship between literature and Taoism towards dialectical unity, proposing that "the Tao is the foundation of literature; the Wen is the branch and leaf of the Tao", explaining the inseparable nature of literature and Taoism through the organic relationship between the foundation and the branch and leaf. Zhu Xi replaced the external carrying relationship between the Tao and literature with an organic relationship between the root and branches, making the expression of literature subordinate to the guidance of the Tao, and the spirit of the Tao can also be unfolded through literature. The integrated pattern of literature and Taoism formed from this has provided a deep connection between literary activities in terms of value dimension and the spiritual order of cultural community.

The second connotation of the relationship between literature and Taoism is to achieve social education through literary works that carry Confucian ethics and morality, in order to rebuild the ethical order and value consensus of a unified society. Since the Zhou Dynasty, China has formed a tradition of governance based on "culture and education", with ritual, music, and education as the key components, which have long been an important part of the unified governance system. Some Song dynasty scholars reiterated the relationship between literature and Taoism, with a clear concern for reality, hoping to spread Confucian ethics through the mechanism of "literature as a carrier" and achieve the governance goal of transforming people into customs and rectifying people's hearts through literature.

Ouyang Xiu proposed in his "Reply to Wu Chong's Book of Xiucai": "Although the writings of sages may not be accessible, most of them are the victorious ones of the Tao. Writing is not difficult and comes naturally." His own poetry and prose creation is not only an aesthetic model of the ancient prose movement, but also a carrier of Confucianism's morality and the rectification of scholar style and official governance. His political essays hit the nail on the head with clear moral principles, while his lyrical writings blend emotion and reason, being warm and sincere, truly achieving the unity of aesthetic appeal and value guidance. After the Southern Song Dynasty, as Neo Confucianism gradually established its official status as a prominent school, the concept of culture and Taoism permeated into the social cultural and educational system through the imperial examination system and academy education. The cultural and educational system composed of the imperial examination and academies has led scholars to generally regard the "Four Books and Five Classics" as the foundation of their knowledge, and the Tang and Song ancient texts as the model for their writing, thus forming a shared set of value discourse. Even in the historical period of political separation, cultural value recognition has maintained basic continuity. Unlike political governance that relies on coercion, the education of literature is flexible and immersive. It touches people's hearts through aesthetic means, making morality no longer an external discipline, but gradually internalized into human consciousness.

The third connotation of the relationship between literature and Taoism is the dual construction of the Taoist tradition and the literary tradition, forming a coherent value inheritance and literary tradition, providing historical depth for the cultural identity of Chinese civilization. During the mid Tang Dynasty, Han Yu explicitly proposed the concept of "Dao Tong" and constructed a Confucian spirit inheritance network from Yao, Shun, Yu Tang to Confucius and Mencius; At the same time, he also initiated the ancient prose movement, opening up a tradition of ancient prose modeled after the prose of the pre Qin and Han dynasties. The fundamental intention of Han Yu was to maintain the unity of Chinese civilization by rebuilding the value inheritance and literary tradition of Confucianism during the era of the prevalence of Buddhism and regional separatism.

The Song Dynasty's proxy scholars inherited and transformed this idea. Zhu Xi officially established the lineage of Neo Confucianism from Confucius and Mencius to Zhou Dunyi, Er Cheng, Zhang Zai, and then to himself, and the lineage inherited the Taoist concept advocated by Han Yu. In this pattern, Dao Tong is the foundation of values, and Wen Tong is the thread of articles, forming a structure where Dao Tong governs Wen Tong. The construction of this unified ideology provides a coherent historical context for the inheritance of the values of Chinese civilization and the tradition of writing. In history, there have been changes in politics and the rise and fall of dynasties, but as long as the values and literary traditions jointly maintained by the Taoist and literary traditions continue, the foundation of Chinese civilization will not be interrupted. In the later Yuan and Qing dynasties, although the ruling class originated from the nomadic cultural tradition, they all respected the Confucian tradition and inherited the Tang and Song literary tradition to varying degrees. The underlying reason lies in the inherent connection between recognizing the cultural tradition and gaining cultural legitimacy. The value of the Taoist tradition over the cultural tradition has made the unification of China not only a spatial territorial integration, but also a temporal continuation of civilization, thereby strengthening the deep recognition of the unity of Chinese civilization.

Traditional Use: Intellectual Resources of Autonomous Systems

Re understanding the tradition of Neo Confucianism, literature, and Taoism should not be limited to the sorting of academic history. Its fundamental significance lies in responding to the practical needs of building an independent knowledge system for Chinese literary theory and the subjectivity of Chinese culture. This is not only a reflection on the limitations of existing research paradigms, but also a positive attempt to extract theoretical resources from the ideological context of Chinese civilization itself and respond to the propositions of the times. Specifically, the multiple functions of value unity, social education, and cultural inheritance contained in the theory of Neo Confucianism, literature, and Taoism provide important ideological basis for contemporary literary theory to re-establish its own value concerns and cultural responsibilities beyond the modern assumption of aesthetic autonomy.

Firstly, re examining the tradition of studying literature and Taoism can help reduce excessive reliance on Western literary paradigms and return to the problem context of Chinese literary theory itself. The ultimate goal of this path is to extract theoretical categories that can respond to local experiences from the theoretical framework of Chinese literary theory itself. In recent times, research on Chinese literary theory has to some extent borrowed Western concepts to interpret local literary experiences. Although it has its academic history background, it has also obscured the original problem consciousness of Chinese literary theory to a considerable extent. Chinese literary theory does not start with defining the essence of "literature" as its theoretical starting point, but focuses on analyzing the function and value of "literature". The Neo Confucianism theory of literature and Taoism is an important development of this tradition. We are reinterpreting this tradition today with the aim of returning to the problem context of Chinese literary theory itself, extracting literary theory categories and theoretical systems rooted in local experience.

Secondly, the ultimate goal of 'returning capital' is to 'start a new business'. Revisiting the tradition of studying literature and Taoism can provide a value core for the construction of contemporary cultural subjectivity, and solidify the cultural foundation for the construction of the Chinese national community in the new era. The inherent meaning of cultural subjectivity is value subjectivity. If there is only the uniqueness of aesthetic forms without the autonomy of value core, cultural subjectivity lacks substantive support. The tradition of Neo Confucianism emphasizes the integration of literature and Taoism, advocating that literary creation should carry values and ideals, as well as the historical memory and cultural consciousness of the Chinese nation. We should inherit the dialectical thinking contained in it, and achieve value guidance on the basis of respecting the laws of literary and aesthetic appreciation, so that aesthetic expression and spiritual pursuit complement each other, and build a contemporary literary and artistic relationship that is both based on tradition and oriented towards the times.

Therefore, the contemporary significance of emphasizing the relationship between literature and Taoism lies not in restoring the old era's ethical doctrines, but in continuing the spiritual tradition of "literature and Taoism", so that contemporary literary creation can be rooted in the Chinese cultural tradition, carrying the common values, ethical consensus, and spiritual pursuits of the Chinese nation in the new era, and thus preventing literature from falling into nihilism or formalism bias. The wisdom of integrating diverse aesthetic expressions with a unified value core in the cultural and Taoist traditions undoubtedly has important practical reference significance for cultivating a sense of community and consolidating the unified pattern of Chinese culture in a multicultural context.

The debate between literature and Taoism has been running through Chinese literary theory for thousands of years, and Neo Confucianism has pushed it to a systematic and philosophical level. It is deeply related to the unified civilization order of China and plays an important role in maintaining cultural unity and the continuation of civilization. In recent times, the research paradigm of "lyrical tradition" has highlighted the aesthetic characteristics of Chinese literature, but to some extent obscured the cultural and political functions of literary theory. Therefore, from the perspective of "returning to the original and opening up new", it is necessary to reveal the obscured tradition of literature and Taoism, delve into the internal logic of Neo Confucianism's theory of literature and Taoism, analyze its three dimensions of ontology, education, and integration, and ultimately return to the contemporary transformation, pointing to the construction path of an independent knowledge system, which has its academic history. The vitality of classics lies in the unremitting interpretation of later generations, and the value of traditional thinking is also reflected in the continuous activation of contemporary contexts. The civilization perspective of the debate on literature and Taoism is aimed at breaking away from the discourse dependence on Western literary theory, constructing a theoretical system rooted in the soil of Chinese civilization, and deepening the cultural consciousness of the Chinese national community through the reinterpretation of the relationship between literature and Taoism. This is not only an academic path for the reconstruction of subjectivity in Chinese literary theory, but also an ideological practice for the self confirmation of Chinese civilization in the contemporary context.

Guangming Daily (13th edition, August 17, 2026)

(Author Guangming Network)