ABSTRACT
Wang Guowei lived during the period in which China’s last dynasty, the Qing, was losing its power. When Wang was 18, in 1894, the first Sino-Japanese War broke out, which led to the utter defeat of China’s naval forces and ended in the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. The shi and the ci are quite different; shi poets and ci poets are also quite different. Wang felt that what Song writers expressed in their shi poetry could not compare in genuineness or sincerity with what they expressed in their ci poetry. Wang Guowei actually did not use the language of “sageliness.” Wang Guowei was not particularly clear in his statements about the notion of jingjie. Wang is careful to point out that jingjie need not be a scene like a classroom or a garden. Actually the emotions of pleasure and anger, sorrow and joy, each can form a jingjie in people’s hearts.
