Expurgation, Interpretation, and Imitation: The Reception of Li Bai's Poetry in the Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty marked a stage of systematic transformation in the history of the literary reception of Li Bai. This paper examines the historical landscape and profound implications of Li Bai's reception in the Qing Dynasty from three dimensions: textual expurgation, poetic interpretation, and creative imitation. The study shows that: at the textual level, the tendency to pare down Yuefu and ancient-style poems in accordance with the rules of regulated verse, and the voices opposing such expurgation, constituted a poetic contestation; at the evaluative level, Li Bai studies broke through the traditional framework of "the merits of Li Bai versus Du Fu", giving rise to multiple paths of interpretation, and the image of the poet shifted from a moral reference point to an independent academic and spiritual symbol; at the creative level, the imitation of Li Bai by Qing-dynasty writers diverged into three paths: spiritual inheritance, implicit allusion to imagery, and reversal of conception. Examined through the lens of cultural memory theory, the reception of Li Bai in the Qing Dynasty was essentially a cultural practice of reconstructing the canon. It not only reflected the pluralistic pattern of Qing-dynasty poetics, but also refracted the political logic by which the dynasty constructed its ruling legitimacy through the interpretation of classics.