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Pages

231-294

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Language

English

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Abstract

During the late Ming, a trend of moral exhortation became influential and permeated many different aspects of the society, including literature. Apart from traditional genres such as dramas and novels, literary works written on didactic themes can also be found amongst the widely circulated “morality books” (shanshu 善書), which were published to propagate orthodox ethical standards and values among the common public, and generally advise people to do good and refrain from bad deeds. A long-forgotten example of a morality book that combines literature and didacticism is the Xingxin yan 醒心諺 (Proverbs for Awakening Minds), an uncommon collection of 210 morally instructive ci-poems (詞) composed by the late-Ming local militia member Cheng Gongyuan 程公遠. Among these 210 poems, 206 are composed to the ci-poetic tune pattern “Xijiang yue 西江月” (“West River Moon”), which was frequently used in didactic ci-poetry in the Ming period due to its simple and easy-to- recite rhythmic structure. Cheng’s ci-poems are of low literary quality due to their use of vulgar language; however, they nonetheless effectively conveyed exhortative messages to people from all walks of life. By examining Cheng’s poems that touch upon different themes, this article seeks to obtain a better understanding of how his works responded to the social trend of moral exhortation in the late Ming, as well as the reasons why Cheng chose to compose unrefined ci-poems lacking literary quality.