关键词: 幼属文, 早仕, 文才, 才学关系

Abstract: The Trend of early writing training among aristocrats during the Southern Dynasties is derived from the concept of "selecting officials by reputation" since the late Eastern Han Dynasty. After the Jin Dynasty, the demonstration of literary skills had become one of the main methods of gaining reputation, and aristocrats thus had to get adequate training in writing skills since their childhood. Because of the fear of early death, aristocrats in the Southern Dynasties inclined to start their political career at very early age, so they could promptly rise to the positions high enough to enhance their family interests. To get a good start in political career, descendants of aristocrats had to advance the beginning of literary training, even before the studying of Confucian and historical classics. As a result, more and more teenagers showed their talent in literature before getting abundant knowledge, and literary theorists like Liu Xie and Zhong Rong started to attribute the defining factor of literary ability to talent rather than learning. This opinion had been succeeded by later generations of literati and scholars, constructing the fashion of talent worship in ancient Chinese literary criticism.

Key words: early writing training, early involvement in politics, literary talent, talent-learning relationship