Understanding the Development of Poetics in the Qianlong Dynasty through the Poetic Activities of Yuan Mei

The vague knowledge of the time when Yuan Mei had an influence on the poetry circle and the time when the poetics of disposition and inspiration was popular always puzzles the academia, which affects the understanding of the relationship between Yuan Mei and the significant ideological trends of poetics during the Emperor Qianlong period, such as the poetics of Shen Deqian and the poetics of Weng Fanggang. By carefully analyzing the literature about Yuan Mei's poetic activities and the construction of his self-consciousness, it can be seen that the process of Yuan Mei going into the poetry circle and becoming famous contains three stages:in the first stage, from the 1st year to the 16th year of Emperor Qianlong, Yuan Mei was first known by others in the poetry circle; then came the second stage, from the 17th year to the 24th year of Emperor Qianlong, he became famous and popular; finally came the third stage, from the 25th year to the 32nd year of Emperor Qianlong, he mastered the discourse power in the poetic world. Solving this problem is of great significance for understanding the relationship between Yuan Mei's poetics of disposition and inspiration and some other schools of poetry (Shen Deqian's poetics of style theory, the former poetics of disposition and inspiration of Xue Xue and the other members, and Weng Fanggang's poetics of scholars), which is helpful in clarifying the historical context of poetics in the Qianlong Dynasty.