A review of criticism on Yu Xin

As a controversial writer of the ancient Chinese literary history, Yu Xin aroused continuous criticism since the South and North Dynasties. The criticism has basically followed the two parallel directions of praise and censure throughout the dynasties of Song, Jin, Ming, Qing till now. There are three main reasons responsible for the vagueness and obscurity in literary criticism: 1) the traditional political standard of person and the literary criticism model of “like author, like book”, 2) the practical emphasis of literary value in ancient China, and 3) the literary criticism approach of taking perceptual knowledge as the decisive factor.