Political Conception of Literature in the Tang Dynasty

The relationship between politics and literature was a very sensitive issue in literary conception in the ancient China. So the rulers from the Han to the Tang Dynasty all managed to normalize literary scholars with their elaberate criteria, which appeared in such historical political ducuments as Decrees or Imperial Edicts to Appeal to Men of Worth and Ability. In contrast to those pre-Tang dynasties, literature in the Tang Dynasty synthesized Confucianism, rhetorics, wits and tactics and moral character all into a cultural substance. This affirmed and required distinctivity of literature and meanwhile emphasized and advocated politicality of literature. This trend of Chinese literature is well-oriented because it did not restore the literary concept of combining writing and academic study into one in the Han Dynasty nor did it partially seek the sphere of rhetorical brilliance and prosodic beauty.