A Research on "the Eight-legged Essay" in Mid-Ming Dynasty (1465~1566)

• Main Authors: Chi Tsao, 曹琦
• Other Authors: En-ting Chien
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/36366480161130490184

碩士 === 東吳大學 === 中國文學系 === 95 === 　　Since the exam of the eight-legged essay was abolished in late Qing dynasty, the eight-legged essay, which the elites were keen on learning, has been treated like garbage. Every elite in Ming and Qing dynesty had learned the eight-legged essay in their early lives. In other words, the eight-legged essay is an important part to understand the culture and the literature of Ming and Qing dynasty. However, we have very little knowledge to this form owing to people’s prejudice toward the eight-legged essay and caused long-term indifference since late Qing dynasty. Therefore, this study is based on previous researches on the eight-legged essay, and carries on to talk about this topic. 　　The theme of the thesis discuss about the origin and the development of eight-legged essay in the mid-Ming dynasty. Throughout the study, the value of this literary form in the civil service examinations system will be presented. Secondly, we will see the transformation of the eight-legged essay during the mid-Ming dynesty. And then, the evidences like representative writers of each period and literary works will be listed in the study. The “mid-Ming dynasty” in this thesis refers to the period from 1465A.D. to 1566A.D., which is the key time the eight-legged essay formated and had its transformation. Therefore, after the discussion about the origin, the formation and the transformation of the eight-legged essay will be discussed. The key points of each chapters are in the following: 　　Chapter one introduces the motivation, the range of this study, and the previous research results, and the basic knowledge of the eight-legged essay. 　　Chapter two brings out "the origin of the eight-legged essay", emphasizing the independent grain of development of the articles in the civil service examination system. The eight-legged essay is an unique product through the test of time after much arguing and reforming over the proper form of the examinations from Tang, Song to Yuan dynasty, and finally adopted the feudal regime and the examination system. Under the feudal regime, the content of the article must include the Confucian classics as the central topic. In addition, the form of the article used in the examinations must carry the element of fairness in order to distinguishe the good one in an equally fundation. Through long-term trial and error, the literary style was formed during 1465A.D. to 1487A.D. to meet the purposes. The eight-legged essay then has its undeniable value at its age. 　　Chapter three talks about the features of the eight-legged essay in mid-Ming dynasty, including its forms, content and style based on the former criticism and the text itself. In the forms, the title of the eight-legged essay in mid-Ming dynasty tend to become shorter and shorter; the structure of the legs became more prosaic of the pian-wen style; the length of the articles became longer and longer. In the content, the eight-legged essay in the mid-Ming dynasty had breakthrough the limits of Cheng-Zhu’s commentaries, and blends the Confucian classics into harmony. Both of these phenomena took place before the other changes. In style, the articles are simplicity and fluency, which are influenced by the examiners and major writers of the time. 　　Chapter four divides mid-Ming dynasty into two periods, 1465 to 1050 and 1506 to 1566. Representative authors and work collection will be introduced in this chapter. The first period included Qiu Jun丘濬, Wang Ao王鏊, Li Dong-yang李東陽, and Qian Fu錢福. Also those from the second period, Tang Shun-zhi唐順之, Xue Ying-qi薛應旂, Qu Jing-chun瞿景淳, Gui You-guang歸有光 are included. The trend of the eight-legged essay can be seen among the analysis of actual works and critically punctuates from previous scholars. 　　Chapter five concludes the entire key points, and also the research limits and the future expectations.