The regional cultural characteristics reflected in “Ballads from the States” of the Book of Songs 诗经·国风 is a classic topic and also a hotspot in modern research on the Book of Songs. However, existing studies on the regional cultures of “Ballads from the States” have yet to address its relationship with folk customs. Unlike the Songs of Chu 楚辞, “Ballads from the States” exhibits a consistent cultural style. This comparison is often interpreted as indicating that Chu had a unique culture, with its people being superstitious and favoring shamanistic practices, while the northern states were seen as a cohesive entity with simple folk customs. The 15 states where these ballads were collected span from present-day Shaanxi to Shandong. Each area should have its own distinct folk customs and religious beliefs. However, these characteristics are not reflected in “Ballads from the States.” The reasons for this likely relate to the cultural traditions of the northern feudal states. Specifically, the northern feudal states emphasized the feudal clan system, refined language, and rejected local supernatural beliefs. Although these ballads moved beyond the court to celebrate the joys and sorrows of daily life, they continue to uphold the tradition of refined language and culture.

It is commonly believed that the exaggeration and embellishment in Han epideictic rhapsodies (dafu 大赋) are closely related to the Han literati’s praising the unification and unprecedented strength of the Han court. Recent academic discussions on the relationship between Han epideictic rhapsodies and local gazetteers suggest that the exaggeration and embellishment in Han epideictic rhapsodies are also influenced by factors from local and regional perspectives. This influence is reflected not only in writing techniques and materials but also in the perspectives and positions of expression. The exaggerated and embellished style of Han epideictic rhapsodies is primarily linked to the regional backgrounds of early authors, who hailed from the Six States and often served various feudal lords. It may also have drawn inspiration from the localized, homeland-celebrating tendencies of regional gazetteer writing. The exaggeration and embellishment in Han epideictic rhapsodies simultaneously embody their local characteristics; the combination of these two aspects has a certain impact on the concurrent practices and effects of collecting poetry to understand the customs.

The reason why Jiangnan 江南 becomes a specialized and widely accepted concept, rich in both concrete and symbolic meaning in Chinese culture, lies not only in its prominent economic and cultural status but also in the continuous efforts of generations of literati to associate the concept with literature and imagery. The tribute system that originated in the pre-Qin period underscores the power center’s desire for and appropriation of local products, which brought the specialties of the Jiangnan region to greater public attention. This marks the historical precondition for Jiangnan’s transformation into a cultural image rather than merely a geographical designation. As these local products increasingly appeared in literary texts, an imagery process of Jiangnan specialties took shape within the literary field. Two successive waves of southern literati migrating northward during the Six Dynasties continually emphasized and reinforced an aesthetic perspective centered on Jiangnan. This led to two major changes in the aesthetic image of Jiangnan. Firstly, the patterns of aesthetic activities have transformed into a more positive one. Secondly, it is the landscape rather than local products that becomes the main aesthetic object. The southward migration of the Jin court, which triggered the southward shift of the cultural center, marked a significant turning point in the evolution of the Jiangnan image, bringing about dual transformations in both patterns of aesthetics and cultural psychology. The continuous reinforcement of the regional aesthetic perspective and the gradual formation of a shared cultural concept of Jiangnan constitute two decisive factors in the historical formation of the image of Jiangnan.

The “special form of Huajian Lyric” 花间别调 stands in contrast to the “original form of Huajian Lyric” 花间本色. The definition of the connotation of “special form of Huajian Lyric” should begin with its subject matter and content, followed by an examination of its stylistic features and techniques. The originator of the “special form of Huajian Lyric” was Huangfu Song 皇甫松, and its main body consists of a group of Lyrics of Local Customs in Nanyue 南粤风土词, comprising 35 lyrics by five lyricists across three generations. Among them, Li Xun 李珣 is the representative lyricist of Lyrics of Local Customs in Nanyue. The rise of Lyrics of Local Customs in Nanyue was an important literary phenomenon during the late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties, closely connected with the trade exchanges between Shu 蜀 and Yue 粤 regions at the time. Trade between Shu and Yue was relatively frequent in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, with both water and land routes. As a result, literati from the Shu region were able to travel to Nanyue, where they were inspired by the unique scenery of Lingnan 岭南. This altered the traditional prejudices toward Lingnan and introduced fresh subject matter into Huajian Lyric while also prompting a new understanding of the image of women in Nanyue, thereby breaking through the conventional representations of women in Huajian Lyric. The “Bamboo Branch Lyric” 竹枝词, a form of folk songs in Bashu 巴蜀, which was transmitted to Lingnan via the Shu-Yue trade routes, influenced the Lyrics of Local Customs in Nanyue in terms of content, form, and musical style.

The blending of the southern and northern literary styles is one of the major characteristics of the literary circle of the Yuan Dynasty. After the Mongols conquered the Jin and extended their rule over the northern regions, and before they achieved the unification of the state in the Yuan Dynasty, due to the prolonged separation between the Song regime in the south and the Jin regime in the north, characterized by limited cultural exchange, divergent scholarly traditions, and different geographical conditions, the academic backgrounds of literati in the south and the north differed, and so did the focuses of their poetry and prose. The northern literary circle inherited the tradition of the Jin Dynasty, and the southern literary circle inherited the tradition of the Song Dynasty. They each cultivated a distinctive literary style. After Kublai Khan 忽必烈, the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, commissioned Cheng Jufu 程钜夫 to seek talent in the Jiangnan region, with southern scholars, such as Zhao Mengfu 赵孟頫, Zhang Bochun 张伯淳, and Yuan Jue 袁桷, entering the Yuan court, a large number of southern scholars migrated north. The Hanlin National History Academy 翰林国 史院 and Kuizhang Hall 奎章阁 became vibrant hubs where northern and southern scholars, famous officials, and literati from various ethnic backgrounds mingled. As northern literati, such as Yao Sui 姚燧 and Lu Zhi 卢挚, journeyed south, the enhanced exchanges between northern and southern scholars further promoted the blending of northern and southern literary styles. As a result, the literary circle of the Yuan Dynasty gradually formed a grand literary style characterized by its simplicity, inclusiveness, majesty, tranquility, elegance, and harmony.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, literati exhibited a distinct collective trend, with regional literary societies emerging as a prominent cultural phenomenon. These local literary societies endeavored to safeguard their literary sanctuaries, construct local literary genealogies, form regional literary discourses, and enhance the status of grassroots literature. They left behind a wealth of works. It is essential to consider regional societies as a significant part when researching Ming and Qing poetry and prose, study the numerous literati and their creations within the context of grassroots writing, and reproduce the literary scenes and landscapes of specific regional spaces. By doing so, one can understand the particular mechanism in the development of Ming and Qing poetry and prose. This approach is essential not only for the study of Ming and Qing literature but also for shifting the research of Chinese literature history from a focus on temporal dimensions, macro perspectives, texts, and mainstream development to taking a more balanced consideration of time and space, macro and regional contexts, texts and experiences, and the interplay between mainstream and peripheral narratives.

Examining Huizhou culture provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between regional culture and ancient Chinese literature. The concept of “regional culture” primarily refers to the sum of various cultural elements, including ideas and local customs, that form within a specific geographical space and accumulate over time, possessing unique characteristics. Based on this, several key issues regarding the relationship between regional culture and literature should be clarified: first, the isomorphic relationship between regional culture and literature; second, cultural downward diffusion and grassroots literary creation; third, economic support and cultural context; and fourth, elite consciousness and local perspectives. These issues pertain not only to the relationship between regional culture and literature but also involve the expansion of literary research spaces and the understanding of the landscape of literary history.