Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 11, 2024

“Fu as History” Tradition in Chinese Classical Literature

(Abstract)

Wang Sihao

The theory of “Fu as History” emerged from the historiographical tendencies of Fu(rhyme prose) writing in the Han dynasty, gained its self-awareness in Liu Xie’s concept of Fu as “quoted extensively from classics and histories,” and was solidified in Ni Fan’s elaboration on the narratives of the rise and fall of nations in Yu Xin’s Lament for the South. Fu’s inclusion in historical records and its depiction of historical events revealed contemporary narratives and perspectives, while later historians used Fu both to validate historical accounts and to reflect the “three expertise of historians,” creating an academic paradigm of “mutual interpretation between Fu and history.” The four main narrative modes of Fu—politicoreligious relations, unification, homeland nostalgia, and travelogue—transcend the “Fu as History” microtradition that followed from the “Poetry as History” of Du Fu’s poems and established a macrotradition of classics and history. As a core concept of “Fu as History,” Fu’s writing technique not only resolved the rejection crisis of “Poetry as History” with the philosophy of “Fu’s stylistics and poetry as history,” but also inspired the theory of “Fu’s stylistics and Ci as history” to enhance the style-centered awareness of Ci literature. These innovations distinguish “Fu as History” from historical verse traditions and position it as a significant method of literary hermeneutics and criticism in Chinese literature.