Confucius said, "Quality is better than literature, and literature is better than quality. Gentleness is a gentleman. " Confucius used the word "gentleness" to describe a gentleman's demeanor. "The Analects of Confucius Yongye": "Confucius said: quality is better than literature, literature is better than history, gentle and gentle, and then a gentleman." The so-called "quality" refers to people's internal character, and "literature" refers to people's external appearance. "Gentleness" means that people should have both kind character and polite decoration. Of course, Confucius' view of "gentleness" is aimed at how to "grow up". Confucius said, "Literature can also be used by adults." Zhu explained this way: "an adult or a whole person speaks ... honesty is enough to nourish the soul;" Courage is versatile enough, but also polite and happy, so as to achieve virtue inside and literature outside. ..... and he is also a man. " (Notes to Four Books) That is to say, people can be cultivated through the cultivation of rites and music, so that they can become real people. Therefore, Confucianism basically regards the unity of literature and quality as a model of perfection, that is, taking people as the core and attributing all human actions to the value of people themselves. This spiritual value orientation has also become the key to the sustainable inheritance of China culture. Although the concept of "tenderness" has ethical significance at first, it also has literary significance, that is, it has great potential for expansion and transformation. Liu Xiang, Yang Xiong and others in the Han Dynasty inherited and developed Confucius' view of literary quality. Liu Xiang said in the article "Shuo Yuan Xiu Wen": "Those who have accomplishment and literary accomplishment are called gentlemen, and those who have accomplishment and no literary accomplishment are called Ye Yi. Zi Sangbozi changed his fields and wanted to be humane. " This is the most direct continuation of Confucius' thought. Confucius once said, "Can it be simple? Jane, Ye Yi also; It is rude to change players. " In this regard, Yang Xiong also put forward a view that is basically consistent with Confucius: "Nothing is wild, nothing is good, and nothing is polite." (cultivate one's morality by observing the law). In his view, as an important norm of Confucius' gentleman, the basic requirement of "courtesy" is "the deputy of elegance and reality", that is, elegance and reality, that is, quality and literature should be consistent. However, on the one hand, Yang Xiong put forward the viewpoint of "literacy class" based on natural phenomena, which is very important. He said: "Wen, Yin gathers its essence, Yang scatters its Wen, genre, and everything is surprised." (Tai Wenxuan Shou) The problem of literary quality first evolved into a natural phenomenon, which has more factual basis than Confucius' pure "establishing people". Confucius' reasoning initiated the tradition of preaching and teaching, that is, starting from people and returning to people. Yang Xiong first turned the unity of literature and quality into a natural phenomenon, and then raised this relationship to a literary theory. Of course, Yang Xiong not only recognized Confucius' view of establishing human beings, but also regarded saints as the true representative of the unity of literature and quality: "saints also have literature." For example, in the article "Xuan Ying", Yang Xiong has clearly treated the quality of literature as literary criticism: "Literature depends on quality, words on emotion. If you look at him, you will know what he wants. " This is the origin of literary theory in the true literary sense of later generations. Therefore, Wang Chong, in Yang Xiong's later years, has consciously taken the viewpoint of the unity of literature and quality as the standard of literary criticism: "From the outside to the inside, he is self-boasting." (Renqi) Therefore, from the "literature" of Confucius to the "genre" of Yang Xiong, the problem of literary theory has undergone a major change. Confucius' ethical literary theory only provided the possibility of poetic expression for future generations, while Yang Xiong "settled for second best" and reformed literary problems twice. They explained the concept of the unity of literature and quality from the perspectives of personnel and nature respectively. Confucius is based on human relations, while Yang Xiong is based on nature, thus losing the strong ethical and educational color of traditional Confucianism. The most important point of Liu Xie's literary theory is to summarize the thoughts of predecessors, especially to absorb and draw lessons from the views of Confucius and Yang Xiong. He put forward the concept of "three talents" with "heaven, earth and man" as the core, especially in the concept of "literature is based on Tao" and "harmony between man and nature" This is a problem directly related to literary ontology, thus establishing the core of literary theory system. As the original saying goes, "Tao follows the sage's prose, and the sage is Ming Dow because of the prose". In Liu Xie's view, "Tao", as an objective existence beyond material reality, is actually expressed by "saint" with the help of "literature", which actually includes three levels of "natural beauty", "artificial beauty" and "artistic beauty". The so-called literary view of "heaven is natural" means that "literature originates from nature and its changes and rhythms, which stimulates people's emotions, so it is expressed by' words', so literature is artistic beauty". Therefore, Liu Xie solved the ontological problem of literature with the viewpoint of "three talents", and laid the foundation of literature firmly on nature. People-centered, heaven and earth (just like "literature and quality") constitute two inseparable parts of all natural things, and they are unified in a universe centered on "people". "Therefore, the second instrument is self-generated, only the people are involved, and the spirit is convinced, which is called three talents." It can be seen that Liu Xie's exposition on the relationship between literature and quality not only combines the cultural traditions of Confucius and Mencius and the Han Dynasty, but also has distinct characteristics of the times. Liu Xie said: "It is a gentleman to carve his seal and make the text immortal and rich with courtesy." This shows that if an article is to be done properly, it must highlight the nature and quality of literature. It is not to destroy quality with literature, nor to destroy literature with quality, but to ensure the aesthetic independence of both quality and literature. It should be said that this view is materialistic, positive and progressive. "Literature can't destroy quality" means emphasizing the incommensurability of literature and quality, and both of them should abide by their own aesthetic norms. They are not mutually cancelled, but mutually unified and coexist. Therefore, the view that "literature does not destroy quality" has also become a powerful weapon for Liu Xie to criticize formalism. Abstract: The theory of literary quality based on the unity of literary quality is the theoretical starting point of Wen Xin Diao Long. Liu Xie first summed up the literary theories of past dynasties and promoted them in the sense of literature. Specifically, Liu Xie's literary theory includes three theoretical levels: first, on the basis of summarizing predecessors, he put forward the view that "literature does not destroy quality", which is a new literary thought developed to meet the needs of the times; Secondly, the relationship between literature and quality is creatively transformed, and vivid categories such as "emotion", "style" and "hidden show" are put forward. Thirdly, the theoretical proposition of "qualitative change without writing" is put forward. The unity of literature and quality is not only the highest standard of literary evaluation, but also the legal basis of the construction of literary history. Keywords: Liu Xie; Wen Xin Diao Long; The unity of literature and quality; "Literature does not destroy quality"; Transformation; China Library ClassificationNo.: I 206.2 Document IdentificationNo.: A Liu Xie has made important contributions to the formation and development of China's classical literary theory, one of which is the development of literary theory. From the Southern Dynasties to the early Tang Dynasty, the "core issue" discussed by academic circles at that time was the theory of literary quality with the unity of literary quality as the leading tendency, and it was Liu Xie who initiated this discussion. He first summed up the literary theories of past dynasties, and promoted them in the sense of literature, and put forward some very creative opinions. These thoughts are all embodied in his Wen Xin Diao Long, which is praised by later generations as "big and thoughtful". Therefore, this paper attempts to make a comprehensive and in-depth discussion on Liu Xie's literary theory based on Wen Xin Diao Long. First, the literary concept centered on "literary immortality" is always associated with a certain social and cultural environment. The formation of Liu Xie's literary theory was also based on the specific society and culture at that time. The period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties is not only a period of widening cultural differences between the North and the South, but also a period of mutual blending and hodgepodge. Due to geographical and political differences, "Jiangzuo Palace is more expensive than Qing Dynasty; Harmony means sincerity and justice, which is more important than temperament. (2) Specifically, that is, "the Southern Dynasties were dominated by the metaphysical thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi; In the north, it mainly relies on the old cultural foundation of the Han Dynasty, so Confucianism still dominates, and the literary view of practical use has far-reaching influence. Because of this division, southern literary thoughts focus on' fate' and northern literary thoughts focus on classics. In the south, there are many gorgeous lyric poems, while in the north, there are more simple reasoning articles. The development of literature in the Southern Dynasties tends to be' new changes', while the literature in the North tends to worship the past. "Therefore, the cultural characteristics of respecting quality and emphasizing literature will inevitably make the Northern and Southern Dynasties take each other as the reference and regard quality and literature as the highest cultural pursuit. Therefore, it is not surprising that the theory of literary quality became the mainstream form of literary criticism discourse at that time. Compared with the previous generation, China's literary concept was relatively mature in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and people had a broad and profound understanding of "Wen". Before Liu Xie, a large number of works on "Wen" appeared, such as Cao Pi's Classic Papers, Cao Zhi's Letters with Yang Dezu, Ying's On Wen Zhi, Lu Ji's On Wen Fu, Zhi Yu's On Liu Wen Bie and On Hanlin. But as Liu Xie said, besides Huan Tan, Serina Liu and others, they also have the common defects of "winding path leading to a secluded place", or "dense and impenetrable", or "improper identification of fakes", or "flashy and fragmentary", or "skillful but little work", or "shallow and neglecting Hanlin". Obviously, Liu Xie maintains a profound insight into this. In such a cultural space, what Liu Xie should do is not only to adapt to the requirements of the era of great cultural integration, but also to base himself on the excavation of traditional cultural resources, so as to "borrow the past to adapt to the present". This requires an academic position of "doing something but not doing something": "having similarities and differences, disdaining the past and the present, dividing the muscle and dividing the field, and only compromising matters" (preface). The so-called "compromise" means taking an objective and critical attitude and not going beyond any moral standards and social behavior boundaries. At that time, perhaps it was the classic criticism categories such as literature and quality that could really meet people's academic needs. Confucian philosophers were the first to put forward the idea of the unity of literature and quality. Confucius used the word' gentleness' to describe a gentleman's demeanor. " "The Analects of Confucius Yongye": "Confucius said: quality is better than literature, literature is better than history, gentle and gentle, and then a gentleman. "The so-called' quality' refers to people's internal character, and' text' refers to people's external appearance." Gentleness "means that people should have both kind character and polite decoration." Of course, Confucius' view of "gentleness" is aimed at how to "grow up". Confucius said, "Literature can also be used by adults." Zhu explained this way: "an adult or a whole person speaks ... honesty is enough to nourish the soul;" Courage is versatile enough, but also polite and happy, so as to achieve virtue inside and literature outside. ..... and he is also a man. " (Notes to Four Books) That is to say, people can be cultivated through the cultivation of rites and music, so that they can become real people. Therefore, Confucianism basically regards the unity of literature and quality as a model of perfection, that is, taking people as the core and attributing all human actions to the value of people themselves. This spiritual value orientation has also become the key to the sustainable inheritance of China culture. Although the concept of "tenderness" has ethical significance at first, it also has literary significance, that is, it has great potential for expansion and transformation. Liu Xiang, Yang Xiong and others in the Han Dynasty inherited and developed Confucius' view of literary quality. Liu Xiang said in the article "Shuo Yuan Xiu Wen": "Those who have accomplishment and literary accomplishment are called gentlemen, and those who have accomplishment and no literary accomplishment are called Ye Yi. Zi Sangbozi changed his fields and wanted to be humane. " This is the most direct continuation of Confucius' thought. Confucius once said, "Can it be simple? Jane, Ye Yi also; It is rude to change players. " In this regard, Yang Xiong also put forward a view that is basically consistent with Confucius: "Nothing is wild, nothing is good, and nothing is polite." (cultivate one's morality by observing the law). In his view, as an important norm of Confucius' gentleman, the basic requirement of "courtesy" is "the deputy of elegance and reality", that is, elegance and reality, that is, quality and literature should be consistent. However, on the one hand, Yang Xiong put forward the viewpoint of "literacy class" based on natural phenomena, which is very important. He said: "Wen, Yin gathers its essence, Yang scatters its Wen, genre, and everything is surprised." (Tai Wenxuan Shou) The problem of literary quality first evolved into a natural phenomenon, which has more factual basis than Confucius' pure "establishing people". Confucius' reasoning initiated the tradition of preaching and teaching, that is, starting from people and returning to people. Yang Xiong first turned the unity of literature and quality into a natural phenomenon, and then raised this relationship to a literary theory. Of course, Yang Xiong not only recognized Confucius' view of establishing human beings, but also regarded saints as the true representative of the unity of literature and quality: "saints also have literature." For example, in the article "Xuan Ying", Yang Xiong has clearly treated the quality of literature as literary criticism: "Literature depends on quality, words on emotion. If you look at him, you will know what he wants. " This is the origin of literary theory in the true literary sense of later generations. Therefore, Wang Chong, in Yang Xiong's later years, has consciously taken the viewpoint of the unity of literature and quality as the standard of literary criticism: "From the outside to the inside, he is self-boasting." (Renqi) Therefore, from the "literature" of Confucius to the "genre" of Yang Xiong, the problem of literary theory has undergone a major change. Confucius' ethical literary theory only provided the possibility of poetic expression for future generations, while Yang Xiong "settled for second best" and reformed literary problems twice. They explained the concept of the unity of literature and quality from the perspectives of personnel and nature respectively. Confucius is based on human relations, while Yang Xiong is based on nature, thus losing the strong ethical and educational color of traditional Confucianism. The most important point of Liu Xie's literary theory is to summarize the thoughts of predecessors, especially to absorb and draw lessons from the views of Confucius and Yang Xiong. He put forward the concept of "three talents" with "heaven, earth and man" as the core, especially in the concept of "literature is based on Tao" and "harmony between man and nature" This is a problem directly related to literary ontology, thus establishing the core of literary theory system. As the original saying goes, "Tao follows the sage's prose, and the sage is Ming Dow because of the prose". In Liu Xie's view, "Tao", as an objective existence beyond material reality, is actually expressed by "saint" with the help of "literature", which actually includes three levels of "natural beauty", "artificial beauty" and "artistic beauty". The so-called literary view of "heaven is natural" means that "literature originates from nature and its changes and rhythms, which stimulates people's emotions, so it is expressed by' words', so literature is artistic beauty". Therefore, Liu Xie solved the ontological problem of literature with the viewpoint of "three talents", and laid the foundation of literature firmly on nature. People-centered, heaven and earth (just like "literature and quality") constitute two inseparable parts of all natural things, and they are unified in a universe centered on "people". "Therefore, the second instrument is self-generated, only the people are involved, and the spirit is convinced, which is called three talents." It can be seen that Liu Xie's exposition on the relationship between literature and quality not only combines the cultural traditions of Confucius and Mencius and the Han Dynasty, but also has distinct characteristics of the times. Liu Xie said: "It is a gentleman to carve his seal and make the text immortal and rich with courtesy." This shows that if an article is to be done properly, it must highlight the nature and quality of literature. It is not to destroy quality with literature, nor to destroy literature with quality, but to ensure the aesthetic independence of both quality and literature. It should be said that this view is materialistic, positive and progressive. "Literature can't destroy quality" means emphasizing the incommensurability of literature and quality, and both of them should abide by their own aesthetic norms. They are not mutually cancelled, but mutually unified and coexist. Therefore, the view that "literature does not destroy quality" has also become a powerful weapon for Liu Xie to criticize formalism. Second, the creative transformation of the relationship between culture and quality. In fact, Confucius' view of "being gentle, respectful and frugal" is the classic paradigm and the highest criterion for later generations to "be a man" and "write" Although Yang Xiong's view of literary genre is a creative transformation of Confucius' view of literary genre, the thinking logic contained in it is still Confucian. Naturally, it is impossible for Liu Xie to fundamentally surpass his predecessors. His basic criterion for judging the works of writers of past dynasties is also Confucius-style-"literary quality is commensurate." He said: "Xun Kuang studied Buddhism, but the images were given names, the quality of literature was commensurate, and the feelings of Confucianism were solid." (Cailue) Whether in the process of literary creation of "naming things by images" or in the materialized literary works, "literary quality is commensurate" is bound to become the dominant literary aesthetic spirit. Of course, if Liu Xie wants to strongly criticize the formalistic style of writing at that time, he must adopt new discourse strategies, such as putting forward some specific and operable literary theory categories. After all, the view of "the unity of literature and quality" is only a broad theoretical form and cannot be used for conscious criticism. Although there is eternal truth, there is still inertia in thinking, such as lack of sensitivity to the times. Therefore, Liu Xie creatively transformed the relationship between literature and quality and put forward a series of vivid aesthetic categories. 1, "love" Emotional quotient (EQ) is a key issue in Liu Xie's article EQ. So, what is the relationship between emotion and excavation? Is there a difference between the two? It must be noted that a basic viewpoint put forward by Liu Xie in this article is: "Those who love literature are classics, and those who resign are the latitude of reason." People have always had different interpretations of this sentence. But to really understand this view, we must contact the writing theme of this article. In fact, Liu Xie has a strong pertinence. He has been aware of the trend of "literary talent is better than quality decline" and criticized the creative tendency of imitating modern poets in the literary world, that is, the so-called "abuse of truth, elegance, proximity to teachers' words, so the body is sparse and the articles are more prosperous." Liu Xie believes that one of the fundamental defects in the creation of modern ci poetry is "creating feelings for the text". Therefore, starting from the basic process of literary creation, he put forward two problems: "writing for love" and "combining words with words". This is actually the two stages of literary creation, namely, subjective emotional experience and objective writing process. This is actually a regular feature of literary creation. If we pay too much attention to the former, it is bound to appear "creating feelings for literature"; If we only pay attention to the latter, it will be "coquettish and annoying", "boastful" and "tedious and indifferent". Therefore, Liu Xie's position is very clear, that is, to maintain the natural balance between emotion and adoption. Of course, the starting point of Liu Xie's argument is also obvious. First of all, he affirmed that "sage's words", the so-called "articles", were all "adopted". "Mining" is one of the necessary conditions of the article itself. Because there are three principles in the way of writing, namely, form, sound and emotion. Both form and sound belong to the category of "Cai", so the word "Wen" is actually the product of the combination of emotion and talent. Mr. Huang Kan said: "The purpose of this article is to control the decadent wind at that time and trace it back to its source. Therefore, its ridicule is only based on emotion, but it is not too much to blame for the simplicity and humility of the article. No one who wipes wood has failed to be straightforward. " Then he said, "Yanhe's words are of good quality, but they are also obvious." This view should be said to be very appropriate. It can be said that "the theory of emotion" is the further development of "literary theory" and the "literary connotation renewal and formal creation" of "literary theory". ⑥ 2. "Body". The externalization of emotions discussed in the chapter "Body" means that emotions should be "hidden or even revealed" and "displayed from the inside out". The dominant and external level is "body". Liu Xie summed it up as "eight styles", namely: elegance, elegance, simplicity, simplicity, complexity, splendor, novelty and lightness. The formation basis of "eight-body" is mainly due to the different emotional nature of everyone. "Eight-body movements, learning success, and strength are caused by blood gas; Qi is based on real ambition, and ambition is based on definite words, not emotional. " In fact, what Liu Xie wants to explain is the direct relationship between "eight styles" and "feelings", and different feelings produce different styles (styles). The style characteristics of literature are formed by the writer's personal internal factors. It should be noted that Cao Pi has long put forward the view that "literature is based on qi". He believes that writing articles depends on his own feelings and talents. Cao Pi mainly reveals the secret of creation from the standpoint of writer's theory, while Liu Xie traces the external aesthetic character of his works to the "different fields" of the writer's personality based on the theory of works, thus uncovering the real reason of "complicated rhetoric".

Third, the literary history perspective of "qualitative change" The relationship between literature and the times is a subject that any literary critic has to face. I don't know the tradition of literature, let alone the development of literature. This actually involves how to construct the history of literature. The construction of literary history is not the historical presentation of literature in the objective historical era, but the diachronic presentation of literary development in the context of the development and evolution of literary concepts. "The history of literature can neither rely on the direct confession of thoughts nor rely on the juxtaposition of historical events. It must achieve harmony between thoughts and historical events, and run them into inseparable harmony, so that thoughts are hidden in the expression of historical events, and the argument of historical events can fit thoughts. " Therefore, the "writing" of literary history should first draw a "literary space" and proceed according to certain standards. This standard is not centered on the description of political economy like the construction of traditional historiography, nor is it based on the division of dynasties to represent the history of literature, but should be based on the narrative judgment of literary factors. Of course, it is impossible to have such a conscious sense of literary history in Liu Xie's era. Liu Xie's unique contribution lies in placing literature under the broad social, historical and cultural conditions, and closely combining the evaluation of writers' works of past dynasties with the background of the times, which is especially reflected in the chapter of time series. This paper is devoted to the close relationship between literature and the times. At the beginning of the article, I wrote: "Time has changed, quality has changed, and it makes sense in ancient and modern times. Can you say? " It means that the laws of the development and change of ancient and modern literature can be summarized in the interactive relationship between the times and the development of literature. In fact, Liu Xie put forward a very important theoretical proposition on how to construct the history of literature-"quality and literature replace change". This is his practice of criticizing the history of literature by using the concept of unity of literature and quality, and it is also a practice of judging writers and works of past dynasties by using the standard of unity of literature and quality, and summing up the basic laws of literary development and its evolution reasons. The theoretical proposition of "quality writing replaces change" can be interpreted from several levels: First, "quality writing". Qualitative writing can be regarded as a specific signifier and two prescribed categories respectively. As far as the former is concerned, it refers to literary works composed of quality and literature or literature itself. As far as the latter is concerned, it refers to two aesthetic characteristics or fashions: "emphasizing quality" and "emphasizing literature". The "sense" of "quality changes at any time" is to examine the diachronic changes of literary development from a macro perspective, and actually refers to the changing relationship between "literature" and the times. However, this relationship is built by commenting on writers and works of each era. Therefore, the focus of the relationship between literature and quality will shift, and every era, every work and every writer will have the bias of "emphasizing quality" or "emphasizing literature". In this way, they formed a complex relationship network. Second, the "generation". A "generation" can be either a historical era or a literary era. From the perspective of literary history, literary times and historical times can overlap, such as Jian 'an literature represented by Cao Shi and his son. At the same time, they can cross. For example, the influence of metaphysics on literary creation in Wei and Jin Dynasties is not a simple question. In a word, "generation" creates a historical space for literary speech. Third, "change". "Change" has a temporal meaning and a sense of identity with reality. Mainly manifested in the writer's strong sense of the times. Liu Xie put forward the viewpoint that "literature should keep pace with the times" in Time Series, that is, literature should keep pace with the times. Preface, sentiment, general changes and other articles also contain strong feelings of criticizing current events and maintaining the literary world. All these show that Liu Xie has a grand sense of history based on a great sense of history (Hegelian). Fourth, "quality" and "generation change". The relationship between them is the core of the theoretical proposition of "replacing change with quality". First of all, Liu Xie affirmed the objective fact that "the times are changing and developing, and so is literature". He believes that the rhetoric of Tang, Yu, Xia, Shang, Zhou, Han, Wei, Jin, Song and Qi has changed in each generation, such as "the secular quality of Tao and Tang, simple folk songs and Yu Qian's songs, which are graceful and graceful, are words from the heart and words of joy"; "The Western Jin Dynasty inherited the current, and the literati suffered from it lightly, which is the article of' the beauty of algae and rhyme'". Pet-name ruby each generation presents a different literary scene. Therefore, the development of literature since Tang Yao is a literary process of "reflecting ten generations and adopting nine changes". Secondly, Liu Xie saw the regular characteristics of the development of literature itself from the phenomenon of "ten generations and nine changes". Liu Xie noticed that this process showed the general trend of literary development from "emphasizing quality" to "emphasizing literature". For example, the style of Chu Ci is very "heavy" compared with the Book of Songs. As Wang Guowei said: "Literature has a generation", literature is generated in the process of change and is a historical process of dynamic development. As far as a specific era is concerned, there will be more representative or distinctive styles, such as the ballads of the Three Dynasties, Tang poetry, Song lyrics, Yuanqu, Ming and Qing novels and so on. Chuci, which originated in the Warring States period, represents a completely different style from the Book of Songs. The Book of Songs is very qualitative, but some changes have taken place in The Songs of the South. Distinguish the similarities and differences between Sao's description of Chu Ci and the Book of Songs. The core of Liu Xie's writing this article is to emphasize the idea of "change" in a "unchanged". First of all, he admitted that The Songs of Chu, as a "strange" and "different" article after The Book of Songs, was mainly attributed to the reason why Chu people were so talented. However, Liu Xie also emphasized the view that "Li Sao's prose is based on classics", and "Songs of Chu" inherited the general idea of "The Book of Songs". However, the strange words, strange talks, narrow aspirations and dissolute meanings in Chu Ci are "strange classics", and "although they take the meaning of melting classics, they also cast their big words". Liu Xie highly praised Chu Ci, and at the end of the article, he put forward the viewpoint of "thinking strangely without losing correctness, playing showily without falling into reality", arguing that both the selection of content and the use of gorgeous words in Chu Ci are correct. What we should pay attention to is that the ancient literati in China have always had a yearning for the ancient times. It is a great tradition of ancient literati to discuss history by quality. A large number of documents show that in the era of Confucius, people used the concepts of "quality" and "culture" to describe the ancient cultural characteristics, that is, the so-called "quality of Yu, Xia, Shang, Shang and Zhou". Such as "The Analects of Confucius for Politics": "Yin gains and loses, so you can know"; "Book of Rites": "The quality of Yu Xia, the culture of Yin and Zhou Dynasties, is the best. Danger, summer, and its quality; The quality of Yin and Zhou is beyond words. " "Reform in the Spring and Autumn Dynasties": "The king takes the system, one business and one summer, one quality and one article." And note the cloud: "Xia, Yin Shangzhi, Zhou." The historical biography of Du Zhou: "Yin is due to Xia, Zhou is due to Yin" and so on. Liu Xie also fully inherited this historical and cultural tradition. For example, in "General Compilation", he said: "Huang Tang is mellow, Xia Yu is good, and Shang and Zhou Dynasties are elegant." There is another cloud: "The Yellow Pavilion breaks bamboo, and its quality is the highest." In terms of time series, his understanding of the cultural characteristics of ancient times has not changed at all, and he is very admired, even at the expense of "learning from the past", touting the peaceful scene of his own time as "crossing the Zhou Dynasty", and the prosperity of the three generations of literature can be described as incisively and vividly.

Liu Xie's evaluation of the development of literature in past dynasties by the unified standard of quality and literature seems to have returned to the ancient tradition of "discussing history by quality" before and after the Spring and Autumn Period, but it is actually a deep concern for the times. Take Tongbian as an example. Although this paper also expounds the idea of "change", it emphasizes the change of "communication". The so-called "communication" is a continuation of the inheritance time and a kind of "change" since ancient times, and "communication" is based on all-round changes in the same era and space, both vertical and horizontal. Liu Xie believes that the premise of "change" is "communication". To "adapt to change", literature can only innovate on the basis of inheritance. As far as "writing style" is concerned, it is a relatively constant invariant, while "the number of variants" is a problem that varies from person to person. "Singing in the Nine Dynasties and Writing in Harmony" is not only a summary of the past dynasties, but also shows the high requirements for composition. Therefore, only when "we are still living in the imperial edict, we should consider the difference between quality and literature, and include elegance and vulgarity" can we "change with words" Liu Xie also put forward the idea of "expressing feelings with emotion and responding with anger", which profoundly expounded the difficulty of composition, and this difficulty actually lies in the "unity of quality and writing". The so-called "emotion" and "negative attitude", as the requirements of general changes, are essentially the requirements for writers' internal cultivation and also a state of mind achieved by composition. Obviously, Liu Xie's thought was aimed at the bad style of writing at that time. In fact, under the background of "Jing Zong" academic tradition, Liu Xie could not completely get rid of the shackles of Confucianism. As the saying goes, Liu Xie's understanding of the relationship between literature and quality is not only based on inheriting traditional ideas, but also involves many factors of "change", which actually goes far beyond the narrow understanding that "respecting quality" and "respecting literature" are the fashion of the times. "Literariness" is no longer synonymous with pure human nature as Confucius said, but "Metamorphosis" is a literary theory category with aesthetic as the leading connotation, and the significance of literariness is more aesthetic connotation such as emotion, style, style and beauty.

In China's classical literary theory, there are probably Shen Yue, for example, he thinks that Jian 'an literature is endowed with literature (Song Xie Shu's Biography of Lingyun), Yuan Hongdao's "Time-varying Theory" (preface to Xuetaoge Collection) and Ye Xie's "Great Change" (original poem), but their influence is not as good as Liu Xie's "qualitative literary generation". Re-interpretation of Liu Xie's literary theory of Lai