Abstract: This paper investigates the fundamental concept of literary values in the Sixteen-State Period (304-439) in the Northern area in China. Different from the situation of the southern area where scholars mainly gathered in the towns, the scholars in the Northern area mostly lived in the village of clan community. The social environment of "the village opinion" (xiang lun) had decisive impact on the formation of humanistic values. The impact manifested mainly in two aspects. On the one hand, the formation of the village opinion in the society was inseparable from the village election since the Han and Wei Dynasties. As Confucianism was the fundamental pursuit of spiritual value, the scholars were especially concerned with the social satirical function of literature. On the other hand, the society with the village opinion was conservative and tradition-abiding, and some literary tradition from the Western Jin Dynasty was preserved.

Key words: the village opinion (xiang lun), the village society, the Sixteen States