Liu Shun 
Confucianism and Literature in the Tang Dynasty (Two-Volume Set) Volume One [EPUB ebook] 

This book focuses on discussing the connections and characteristics between Confucianism and literature during the early and high Tang dynasties to the middle and late Tang periods. It re-evaluates the historical forms, functions, and status of Confucianism in different social and political contexts of the Tang era, such as the construction of identity in the early Tang, the debate between "classical" and "contemporary" during the reigns of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian, the cultural spirit of poetry in the high Tang, and the transformation of literature and Confucianism in the middle and late Tang. The book not only examines the general relationship between literature and politics but also pays attention to the significance of literature as a "political action." While focusing on the influence of Confucianism on literary concepts, themes, forms, styles, and even cognitive patterns, it also values literature as "a way of thinking."