Water is the material base on which men rely for existence. Without water,without life orthe world. Meanwhile water is the important hope of people’s spirits. It bears the weight ofpeople’s happiness, anger, grief and joy. It is the vehicle for people’s ideological emotions. Sothere are a lot of water images in Xianqin literatures, and their connotations are very rich.This thesis includes six chapters. It uses the method of modle criticism much more on thebasis of appling many kinds of methods of folklore、characters、history、religion、culture etc.It goes deeply into Xianqin literatures and discusses the water images of Xianqin literaturesfrom different angles. The first chapter deals with the water images caused by water attribute. Water flowsdownward and it is weak, pure and impure. So there are different water images because of thedifferent characters and different shapes. The flowing water images were always the portraiture of people’s turbulent mood in TheBook of Songs. Sometimes they were the comfort of the people’s heart world. However, thewater images expressed his feelings which were at a loss and sad in Chuci of Quyuan’s worksand they were the vogue of appreciation of beautiful in Songyu’s; Xianqin Confucian thoughtthat the water tending downwards was the symbol of righteousness and valour. They canarouse a kind of up-and-coming and brave spirit. Taoism thonght they were the symbols ofvirtue and beneficent act. Both Confucian and Taoism thought the down water flowing to thesea had something with the rule; People can see water pure or impure and bearing the weightof people’s happiness, anger, grief and joy, containing the authors’ personality and socialideals. All people like pure water and dislike impure water in common. So pure water is thesymbols of goodness and impure water is the embodiment of evil. The pure and impure wateraroused people to understand the virtue and personality. The pure water image was theportraiture of lofty personality, the embodiment of happiness and the symbols of long life.The impure water images were opposite to that and became negative factors; Water is theweakest material but it is the strongest one in the world. “Water is the weakest and no one candefeat it.”2 So the ancient people specially believed in the weak principle and personalityideal. The second chapter deals with the water image caused by water function.There are manywater functions and particularly they contain washing、moistening、carrying、warning andviewing functions. The image of taking a bath was very complicated in Xianqin literature and its origin can be traced back to primitive fairy tale. The fairy tales of the bathed sun and the moon by Xiheand Changxi were filled with romance and imagination, expressed the good wishes of longlife. The image of taking a bath was the very important preparation of association betweenpeople and gods, expressed the respect to the gods and love between sexes. The image oftaking a bath interweaves cleanliness with dirty; Water is the source of things and lives.People and things live on the moisture of the water.The moisting water image had both frontaland negative effects. So both the virtue and wickness came from it; The carrying water imagesare very variety and its meaning changed with the time going. The carrying water imagemainly expressed sad feelings with heavy heart;Water was the original mirror, so the warningwater image became a kind of standard. If people’s heart was clear like water, they canbecome moral standard; Water has the effect of view.The water view images in Xianqinliterature formed varied pictures. Meanwhile they beared the weight of people’s spirit. Thevalue of water appreciation is different in different people’s eyes. The third chapter deals with the attitude images. The ancients impressed a lot when theysaw water. They always connected water with their attitude. Water is wisdom、source and theTao and it is the comprehensive vehicle of nine kinds of attitudes of benevolence、wisdom、righteousness、cleaner and valour. On one hand ...
