The Yu/Wu Discourse in the Yuanchi of Ming Literati
Resource
臺大中文學報, 20, 195-237
Journal
臺大中文學報
Journal Issue
20
Pages
195-237
Date Issued
2004-06
Date
2004-06
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper is a study of the Ming yuanchi (園記, accounts/records of gardens). I focus on the question of how the Ming Literati responded to the vicissitudes, such as decay or sale, of their gardens. I argue that in the yuanchi, terms such as hsiaoyu (小有)，wuyu(無有), and wuyu(烏有) are reflections of the literati's various responses to the vicissitudes; as such, they contain important clues to the meatal/spiritual worlds of the Ming literati. My major contentions include the following three points. First, in contrast to the mundane pleasure of the garden and ownership within the real world, the literati, when faced with the decay or sale of their gardens, entered a different world where they began to ponder over the ontological meaningof life and attempted to dissolve all the artificial dualities such as small/large (小/大)and dispossessing/possessing (空/有). Second, the literati developecd an aesthetic idea of ownership which continues to highlight the individual uniqueness and exclusiveness of garden owership, but which now dwells on its aesthetic significance rather than its material significace. In this way, the literati attained a perspective where they could rise above the flux of the mundane world and thereby transcended the existential anxieties incurred by the vicissitudes of the gardens. Finally, the literati attempted to substitute gardens in the real world with imaginary gardens, that is to say, to counteract and transcend the limits of the real world by way of constructing and idea of possession in the imaginary world. In reality, all gardens are destined to decay and demise. In response, some of the literati sought to substitute the real (實) with the imaginary (虛); underlying their search was the same constant puzzlement: is it truly possible to construct a magnificent and eternal garden in the world of non-being? To sum up, this paper shows that facing the vicissitudes of gardens, the Ming literati continuously engaged in reinventing the meaning of garden ownership. In doing so, they displayed a concerted tendency to negotiate meanings between the materiality of possession and the ontology of being. The result was what I call a "Yu/Wu discourse" (有無論述).
Subjects
明代
園記
有
無
Ming dynasty
Yuanchi
Garden prose
Yu
Wu
Type
journal article
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