How literature was viewed by the Ming Dynasty authorities during the reigns of Longqing and Wanli

Abstract

During the reigns of Longqing 枂^? and Wanli NS? of the Ming Dynasty, there were four celebrated premiers (Shoufu 櫀弲), who took literary works to mind for the benefit of their bureaucratic rule (Lizhi Tl?) and wanted to make literature serve politics. Among them, Xu Jie _悥6 claimed that morality comes first and literature second on the basis of the Six Classics and various other schools of thought. Gao Gong 氊b? seriously forbade profuse rhetoric and punished those who played with it. Zhang Juzheng _ \Ekc often oriented his poetics to politics and polity. And Shen Shixing u3e鰣L also placed politics before poetry, and practicality before artistry. They were, however, quite different in their personal lives when they dealt with literature, and some were capable of beautiful writing with no moral preaching at all. Moreover, they were tolerant of popular literary style when it did not affect their political activities.