Advancing or Retreating: Elegance and Heaviness——on the state of mind and literary writing of scholars at the turn of the Song to Yuan Dynasty

In the late South Song Dynasty of China, the corruption in Court resulted in the decline of scholasticism. At the time of being conquered by the Mongolia nationality, scholars chose different life paths, some sticking to the national integrity, some retreating from posts, some keen to seek new posts in the new court. But, they all had their own elegance and pains. Their literary writing was a miniature of their state of mind and also a reflection of change of times.