Abstract: In the late Ming and early Qing's poetry circle, a new poetics system, Bi Xing poetics, came into being with representatives of Zhu Heling, Feng Ban, He Shang, and Wu Qiao, who were discontented with the popular poetics of the time, for example, Seven-Scholar School's ancient poetics and the Jing-Ling School's natural disposition and soul theory. The Bi Xing poetics had four characteristics: multiplicity of structure, introverted aesthetic affection, the orthodox style, and strained interpretation of history. It became very popular after the advocates' detailed explanation and arguments. Significantly, this new poetics directly led to some remarkable phenomena, such as attaching importance to critical spirits in poetics, debating about poetic pros and cons of Tang and Song poetry, redefining Li Shangyin's poetic status, and emphasizing the use of Bi Xing in poetry writing and criticism.

Key words: Bi Xing, the Seven-Scholar School, the Jing-Ling School, the Jiang Nan poetry circle, poetics of the Qing dynasty