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  2013, Vol. 43 Issue (3): 83-92    DOI: 10.3785/j.issn.1008-942X.2012.08.031
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Climate, Phenophase and Regionalism in Classical Chinese Literature
Zeng Daxing

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Abstract  

Literary geography, a subject that has attracted Chinese critics attention since the late 1980s, offers an avenue of enquiry into the relationship between literary studies and geography. There are two major subfields of geography: physical geography and human geography. Physical geography studies landforms and geographic patterns of water, species distribution, climate and natural disasters. Human geography includes the study of politics, economy, culture, education and religion with an emphasis on the relations of and across space and place. Literary writings reflect the influences of both physical geography and human geography. In this paper, the relationship between regional climate and literature is discussed. The most notable feature of climate is its diversity: variations in regions and variations over time. The features of climate determine that of phenological events: in others words, the spatial and temporal changes of phenological events are related to variations in climate.  The climate distinction between South China and North China is chiefly determined by latitude, which brings about the variations of phenological events, and differentiates the characteristics of poetic writings from north to south. For example, the poem ″At a Borderfortress″ by Zhou Pu who lived in North China, features quite differently from ″Road to Lingnan″ by Zhu Qingyu who lived in South China, though they are sharing a similar topic. Because of the influence from the monsoon winds, temperature distinction between the East and the West is bigger than that between the South and the North. Such a climatic distinction from east to west and accordingly the diversity of phenophase were already perceived by our ancestors. The different features of Chen Shens poem ″A Song of White Snow in Farewell to FieldClear Wu Going Home,″ Lü Weis ″Memories of Changan: Twelve Poems No.8,″ and Li Pos ″Journey over Changgan Bridge″ well reflect such distinctions and diversities. Besides longitude and latitude, variations in land elevation also contribute to the climatic differences. The different features of Li Pos ″At a BorderFortress″ and ″Ballads of Four Seasons: Summer″ provide an example of the diversity of climate and phenophase as affected by altitude.  Climate and phenological occurrence change in historical times. Such temporal differences also play a part in the poets perceptions of regional experience, which can be evinced in classical Chinese poetry. For example, Yuan Zhens ″Writing about Qujiangs Autumn to Echo Letian (Bai Juyi)″ and Su Shis ″Apricot,″ which were written in the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty respectively, may well reflect such differences. The former indicates that there were plums in the Guanzhong area (the middle part of Shanxi), while the latter indicates none.  By studying the regionality of climate, phenophase and literature as well as their interactions, we are able to understand the relationship between literature and the geographical environment from a very unique perspective.

Key wordsclimate      phenology      literature      classical poetry      difference      regional     
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Zeng Daxing
Cite this article:   
Zeng Daxing. Climate, Phenophase and Regionalism in Classical Chinese Literature[J]. , 2013, 43(3): 83-92.
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https://www.zjujournals.com/soc/EN/10.3785/j.issn.1008-942X.2012.08.031     OR     https://www.zjujournals.com/soc/EN/Y2013/V43/I3/83
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