Tao Qian–related paintings created in ancient China can be divided into three categories: paintings inspired by Tao Qian’s literary pieces; paintings inspired by his anecdotes; portraits for Tao Qian. These paintings have made Tao Qian a cultural icon representative of aesthetics of placid rural seclusion. This article aims to reveal the aesthetic implications of Tao Qian as a cultural icon by finding information about lost paintings taking inspiration from him or assessing the authenticity of relevant ancient paintings preserved in museums or collected by collectors.

This paper systematically surveys the shared artistic issues that arose in both poetry criticism and creative practice in the Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern dynasties and continued through the Tang and Song dynasties and up to the present time. In this way the long-standing artistic tradition of tiwu 体物 (embodying objects) in Chinese classic poetry, which has long been neglected or disparaged, is uncovered. Furthermore, by analyzing the historical relationship that Chinese classical poems had, principally, with ci 词 (a form of Chinese lyric poetry) and prose, but also with painting, the author hopes to establish a connection between Chinese classical poetry and the artistic goal of “embodying objects” which was prevalent throughout the Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern dynasties and the Tang and Song dynasties. In this way it will be possible not only to identify a spirit of poetry that involves both artistic competition and scientific rationality, but also recognizes the specific forms of creative consciousness that contribute towards the realization of artistic originality in the practice of true artistic practice.

Zen Buddhism viewpoints exerted great influence on the world’s outlook of the poets of the late Northern Song dynasty. The essay aims to discuss the poetic and artistic concepts put forward by poets of the Song dynasty in the philosophical nature of Zen Buddhism. The Zen concepts that have enlightened the Song poets include “equality for all”, “being all-pervasive and all-inclusive”, “mastering the secrets”, “turning things around” and “the communication of the six roots”.

Yinyong xingqing 吟咏性情 (to express one’s state of mind by poetry) is a long-standing theme in Chinese poetics and a notion with diverse understanding. Although the term xingqing developed into an essential concept that was commonly adopted in poetic criticism during the Yuan dynasty, different critics have used the term in different senses. Of the various interpretations, two major views remain valuable in the history of thought on Chinese literature: one being naturalistic and the other individualistic. The viewpoints of other critics, of course, may also help to illustrate the development and evolution of ideas about literature during the Yuan dynasty.

The Ming dynasty was the prime time for workshop-produced, block-printed novels. This paper discusses the sources of fictional manuscripts from block-printing workshops: purchased novels, solicited contributions, organized writings and compilations in the workshops, novels compiled by block-printing workshop owners, and expounds on the subtle relationship between hand-copied editions and block-printed ones from four perspectives. Through analysis of the integration of block-printing workshops and lower scholars, it states that the existence of lower scholars represented by Deng Zhimo 邓志谟 was significant in the history of Chinese fiction, and marked the formation of the earliest professional novelist community’s in the history of ancient, original fiction in China. This paper places the characters shown into three classifications: the block-printing workshop owners’ sharp consciousness of participation, the dependence on older fiction editions, and the use local authors as the sources of fiction manuscripts for different publishing centers.

Dianjianglu 点将录 (the record of the ranked poets) should be considered a method of literary criticism with distinct characteristics in terms of its form and content. Dianjianglu has an independent form, an inclusive content and openness. It has both the casualness of traditional poetic verse and the commentary and preciseness of modern essays and books. In addition, dianjianglu expresses the essence of traditional Chinese literary criticism and also maintained a flexible form. Thus, the national characteristics and the modern significance of dianjianglu should be given more attention.