Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2023 

The Jingdian, Zhengdian and Meidian of Chinese Literature

(Abstract)

Sha Hongbing

The poetic style, literary realm, and Confucian orthodoxy are several basic elements for the discussion of the models of Chinese literature. Meidian (beautiful works) refers to literary works with unique exploration of the language itself or the creation of a beautiful realm beyond words. Zhengdian (canon) refers to works that, in addition to the exploration and of beauty, also accord with the orthodox ideology of Confucianism and give full play to the function of practical application. In addition, with traditional poetry as the core, it extends upward to the pre-Qin thoughts of the hundred schools and to history, and downwards to ci, qu and fiction. Compared with zhengdian, these works do not entirely conform to the standard of Confucianism, and they are not all pure lyric and beautiful works compared with meidian. However, they are regarded as jingdian (classics) because of their outstanding literariness.