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142 J. Yuan

The Book of Songs? I can inspire you; teach you to observe, communicate with
others, express complaints; guide you to serve your parents at home and the ruler
at court; and teach you the names of many birds and beasts, trees and plants.”
Confucius said to his son Boyu (伯鱼 532 B.C.E−483 B.C.E.), “Have you learned
the Ballads of Zhounan and Zhaonan? If not, you will be like a man standing with
your face to a wall.” Although these lines are a commonplace, most of the poetry
educators had not directly linked them to being mild and gentle, sincere and
broadminded.” Shen attributed these lines to being mild and gentle, sincere
and broadminded with the purpose of using Confucius’ authority to strengthen
poetry education. Shen advocated the poetry education characterized by the
notion of being mild and gentle, sincere and broadminded, in order to revive the
literary and artistic edification in the Qing Dynasty and to oppose the trend of
intellectual liberation since the Ming Dynasty. He was therefore ridiculed by Yuan
Mei (袁枚 1716–1797), a progressive literary figure of the time, who advocated
natural expression of feelings (性灵说).
On the eve of the Revolution of 1911, Lu Xun (鲁迅 1881–1936) wrote “The
)
Power of the Mara Poet” (《摩罗诗力说》to make a fierce attack on the traditional
poetry education doctrine. He said: “For example, in Chinese poetry, Emperor
Shun said, ‘Poetry gives expression to aspirations,’ but later scholars argued that
poetry should improve people’s temperament. The 300 or so poems of The Book of
Songs feature pure thoughts, without any evil ideas. If poetry is said to give
expression to aspirations, why is it said to improve human nature? By stipulating
that poetry should feature pure themes, the poet cannot always express his true
thoughts and aspirations. To place freedom under strict supervision and restraint
is probably the essence of the teaching of poetry, right? In this way, the subsequent
writings (on poetry), as a matter of fact, have not been able to go beyond the
limitation that poetry should either give expression to aspirations or be pure in
thought.” Lu Xun believed that since poetry is meant to give expression to aspi-
rations, poets should be allowed to speak freely. Why should they be told to
contain their emotions to achieve the so-called purpose of “having no depraved
thoughts”? This is tantamount to “spurring the poets forward and holding them
back at the same time.” Under the influence of this literary concept of traditional
literature, even renowned poets such as Qu Yuan (屈原 ca.340 B.C.E.–ca.278
B.C.E.) could not help much. Lu Xun added, “Qu Yuan boldly spoke up, saying
what others dared not say. However, there are still many gaudy words and
poignant tones in his works, while the voice of defiance and challenge is never
presented. Therefore, his poems do not have the power to move future genera-
tions.” As traditional Chinese literature was considered beautiful for not chal-
lenging people’s heart, it caused the people to be slack. Lu Xun said, “If their heart
is not challenged, it will wither or shrivel.” (Lu, 1958, pp. 200–201) From the