A Study of the Elegant Ci Poetry Genre in the Southern Song Dynasty

Through tracing to the source and distinguishing development of the Chinese word Qing Ya(clarity and elegance),it is argued that the group of Ci poets,headed by Jiang Kui in the Southern Song Dynasty devoted themselves to pursuing a kind of graceful aesthetic inclination,different from the aesthetic inclination dominant in secular society,yet quite correspondent to previous poets' artistic spirit of pursuing elegance and Buddhists advocated idea of paying homage to clarity and gracefulness.In addition Ci critics of the past dynasties appraise the style of the Ci Poets of Jiang Kui School mostly with the two words of clear,refined.In this paper,this school of Ci poets is named Elegant Ci Poetry Genre based on previous researches,and a tentative study is also made on the development,membership,aesthetic taste,status in the history of Ci studies of the Elegant Ci Poetry Genre.