Song Lian and His Fundamental Role in Directing the Literature in Ming Dynasty

Song Lian is a great litterateur on the historical intersection. His literary theories and compositional practice played a fundamental role in characteristic formation of the literature in Ming Dynasty, the distinction with former literature and influence on later literature. Song's The Origin of Literature is a masterpiece in the history of Chinese literary criticism with concentrated expression of Song Lian's literary ideas, and his representative achievement in prose. Song's The Origin of Literature also influenced the Ming examinees and then awakened the Qing literati by uncovering the subtleties of the eight-part essay which was the imperial examination in Ming Dynasty.