On the Foundation,Composition,and Historical Significance of Wenlinguan in the Northern Qi Dynasty

The foundation of Wenlinguan in 572,a cultural institution in charge of sorting out and editing literary works,was an important event in the literature history of the Northern Dynasties.Most of the scholars working for Wenlinguan were accomplished in literature or Confucian lysenkoism.They were either Shandong writers or writers moving from the south to the north with the northern scholars as its backbone,and the age distribution of members of Wenlinguan was appropriate.The establishment of Wenlinguan signified a remarkable level of the literary development of the Northern Qi Dynasty and meanwhile,symbolized that the literature of the Northern Dynasties gradually caught up with the southern literature.