The Relationship Between the "Back to the Ancients" Literary Drive and the Theory of Wang Yangming

In the literary and philosophical worlds of the Middle Ming Dynasty, the Back to the Ancients literary drive and the theory of Wang Yangming came out almost in the same time, representing the two forms of expression in the progressive trend of thought which advocated and carried forward the spirit of the subject and which opposed Neo-Confucianism and stressed passion at that time. Under the slogan of Back to the Ancients, they made transformations in the literary and philosophical worlds respectively, becoming most attractive in the academic world in Ming Dynasty. In the subsequent one hundred years, their relationship experienced the three stages of struggling together, developing differently, and the former altered by the latter, thus presenting a very complicated situation.