What is it about?
how could Yan Yanzhi utilize his knowledge about calligraphy and painting to express himself in his poetry and Fu? What were the root causes and the modes of Yan Yanzhi’s tu xie ? Was Yan Yanzhi just arbitrary or specific to entertaining himself by tu xie?
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Why is it important?
Competent scholars have proven the importance of the “Discussion of the Literary Biographies” of Nanqi shu time and again, but few of those are cognizant of the potential role of official system in the development of literary Criticism. Moreover, there are still several unresolved problems concerning it. For example, how could Yan Yanzhi utilize his knowledge about calligraphy and painting to express himself in his poetry and Fu? What were the root causes and the modes of Yan Yanzhi’s tu xie ? Was Yan Yanzhi just arbitrary or specific to entertaining himself by tu xie?[ In fact, most of the contemporary scholars tend to deal with these problems prudently. As Wang Yunxi 王運熙 and Yang Ming 楊明 argued:“It is not quite clear about how Zhang Shi made his literary criticisms by selecting refined lines and how Yan Yanzhi expressed his emotions and political ambitions by paintings. Though a lot of Yan Yanzhi’s literary theories have spread to the present, it seems that they have nothing to do with calligraphy and painting.” See Wang Yunxi and Yang Ming, The volume of the Wei and Jin and the North and South Dynasties (220-589): The General History of Chinese Literary Criticism 中國文學批評通史·魏晉南北朝卷, (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chuban she, 1996), p. 313.] Obviously, it is necessary to make clear the multiple factors that produced the mode of tu xie. Furthermore, it is also important to figure out which role that the painting played in Yan Yanzhi’s pluralistic writings. Xiao Zixian offers only a starting point for these discussions, which will be addressed in the following sections.
Perspectives
Tu xie 圖寫 mentioned by Xiao Zixian in his “Discussion of the Literary Biographies”文學傳論 of Nanqi shu南齊書 has been a puzzle so far. As the following indicates, it represented the artistic integration between literature and painting. Meanwhile, it was an important mean of political education of Confucian officials in the Eastern Palace or the Imperial College. With the multiple identities as a writer, official and Confucian scholar, Yan Yan zhi’s official service provided convenience for him to appreciate and contact court paintings. Following the traditions of tu zan圖贊 and tu song圖頌 created by Cai Yong, Cao Zhi, and Gu Kaizhi, Yan Yan zhi was inspired by various painting themes and incorporate them with his emotions and political ambitions to his literary works, which prompted him to be a new benchmark in this field in early Southern Dynasties. Until Tang and Song Dynasty(618-1279), with the popularization of painting training, painting began to become more commercialized and secularized. As a result, tu xie’s function of political enlightenment was weakening and became increasingly basic accomplishment and skills of a scholar.
Bao Sun
Qufu Normal University
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This page is a summary of: Tu Xie: Political Education and Artistic Integration in Early Southern Dynasties, September 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004715547_009.
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