Comment on Zeng Guofan's Inheriting and Docking of Tong-cheng Group

Zeng Guofan respected the elder generations of the Tong-cheng Group so much that his literary theory followed its tradition.He inherited Dai Mingshi's and praised highly their natural essays.Han Yu,one member of the Tong-cheng Group,was respected the most,whose essays once won high praise from Zeng,because of the heroic atmosphere embodied in them.Zeng followed the style of connecting Confucian orthodoxy with the writing orthodoxy,and held the view that literature should be with the state affairs.He created the Xiang-xiang Group-a modified branch of Tong-cheng Group,which made the Tong-cheng essays extend half a century.