A Study on the features of the main characters in the masterpiece, “Luo-yang jie lan ji”

• Main Authors: Hao-Bin Huang, 黃浩彬
• Other Authors: Mei-hsiu Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/77687605457038628574

碩士 === 雲林科技大學 === 漢學資料整理研究所碩士班 === 98 === “The Stories about Buddhist Temples in Luoyang” (Luo-yang jie lan ji) written by Yang Xuanzhi was one of the three most representative books of the Northern Dynasty in the ancient China; the other two books were “The Commentary to the River Classic” (Shui Jing Zhu) written by Li Daoyuan and “The Family Instructions of Master Yan” (Yanshi jiaxun) written by Yan Zhitui. Meanwhile, this great work and “the Ballad of Mulan” had been highly regarded as the contemporary literary magnum opus of the Northern Dynasty. In this work, Yang Xuanzhi not only voiced concerns about royalty’s squandering on Buddhism religion, but also expressed profound criticism regarding the authorities’ chronic problems. Obviously, this book fully demonstrated Yang’s perspectives on social issues and individual aspiration of life. This work introduced various characteristics of Buddhism temples; besides, the features of main characters and historical events were either interpreted directly or criticized through metaphors. This masterwork consisted of numerous characters, which thoroughly displayed unique styles for every role relatively. The historical characters in this book were classified as witnesses, literators, military officers and the citizens of Liang. One or more representatives of each category were selected to explicate the essence of this book. By comparing “Luo-yang jie lan ji” with the Book of Wei (W?壾sh?? the official history of the Chinese Wei Dynasty), the Book of Northern Qi (B?尃 Q? Sh?? and the Book of Liang (Li?鴨g Sh??, this study mainly focused on analyzing the features of the main characters created and sculptured by Yang in this book, and on discussing the decisive factors which resulted in the difference between this masterpiece and other official historical books in terms of the features of the major roles.