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【Abstract】
Yao Yung-Kai was an excellent writer arising in the late period of Tong-Cheng Literary School during the end of Ching Dynasty and the early of Republic of China. His literary composition and annotated classics were more outstanding than any other contemporary writers. In the late period of Tong-Cheng Literary School, Yao insisted on literary composition and promoted classical literature. Having the deep literary inheritance and following the precept of Confucianism, Yao emphasized the Chinese textual criticism based on Neo-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu. Mencius Annotated Collections that Yao left was organized. Not only did he compare and analyze the styles of the articles, but classified the formal phrases and chapters. In this book, there were 165 annotations in total. The definitions in this book focused on patriotism, and its grammar stressed on the structure and on the strength of words. The Confucian Theories were passed down by Mencius in this book—Mencius. Mencius Annotated Collections also revealed Yao’s fulfillment and contribution to literature, especially on textual criticism.
The first chapter is the motivation and the purpose of the research. The classical literature had declined during the end of Ching Dynasty and the early of Republic of China. Yao Yung-Kai was responsible for rescuing the old academy of Tong-Cheng Literary School and rebuilt the current academy. The second chapter is on Yao’s literary inheritance, the influence of the Literary School on Tong-Cheng’s scholars, admiration for the contribution and participating in educational innovation of that time. In the meanwhile, learning Yao’s literary style, feature, and his achievement through research his literature works. The theory on affection and vividness that were greatly impacted on the scholars in Tong-Cheng Literary School discussed Yao’s literature. The third chapter focuses on the body of articles, the main concept, verbal definition in Mencius Annotated Collections which was analyzed with critical method, and knowing the status of Mencius Annotated Collections in the development on Ming-Ching Mencius classics. The fourth chapter is talking about the relation among Mencius’s theory on kind human nature, mercy & justice, and redemption of humans from essence, skills, debate on justice & benefit, monarchy, mercy & justice politics. The viewpoints were on worrying people worldwide, on the theory of kind human nature, and on the theory of national management. If only people are kind-hearted, mercy, and justice, their heart turn pure and bad news will cease so that it moves the world and that saves people thoroughly. In the fifth chapter, definition and grammar were analyzed in Mencius Annotated Collections.
Yao Yung-Kai’s origin of meaning & reason was analyzed from Fang Bao’s theory of definition & grammar. It revealed the importance of analyzing skills from the chapters, grammar, and concise sentences in Mencius Annotated Collections. If the article doesn’t follow the rules, it couldn’t make the formal article. The grammatical part was arranged from the chapters of Mencius Annotated Collections, analyzing the methods of reiterative sentences, irregularity, imagination, subject & object, and metaphor. The concise sentences were analyzed as examples, and then they were divided into compound sentences, metaphor, single sentence, double sentence, reiterative sentences, whole paragraph, and odd-number & even-number sentence. The skill of using words was emphasized so that it made the article marvelous. Definition and grammar are mutual and indispensable. The conclusion is that probing into the meaning and the value of literature with new or old era and into the influence on posterity.
Key Words: Yao Yung-Kai, Tong-Cheng Literary School, Definition and Grammar, Mencius Annotated Collections
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