Digital Humanities Research ›› 2026, Vol. 6 ›› Issue (2): 79-98.

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How Does “Wen” Carry the “Dao”? A Knowledge-Graph-Based Study of the Transformation of the Guwen Movement

  

  • Online:2026-06-28 Published:2026-07-16

Abstract:

Based on multidimensional annotation and relational analysis of prose style,genre,and knowledge structure in 57,043 digitized texts by 226 Tang-Song authors from Quan Tangwen and Quan Songwen,this article finds that the Guwen Movement was not only a shift from parallel prose to plain prose,but also a reorganization of genre functions and modes of knowledge organization.The data show a relatively stable trend toward plain prose,the decline of fu,the rise of letters and argumentative genres,and a concentration of classical and historical discourse,indicating that Tang-Song literati gradually expanded the expressive forms of writing for statecraft. The guwen writers represented by the Tang-Song Eight Masters were especially inclined to organize classical and historical knowledge and articulate political and ethical judgments through plain prose,argumentative writing,prefaces,and letters.From the perspective of intellectual history,this transformation corresponds to Neo-Confucian attention to concrete affairs and the “wen-thingsDao” structure,showing that “writing to carry the Dao” increasingly turned toward a form of statecraft writing that intervened in reality and shaped thought through knowledge-based argumentation.

Key words: Guwen Movement , digital humanities , knowledge gra , phgenre , Dao , Tang-Song Eight Masters

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